Advantages Offered By Residential Voip
Author: Michael Brown

Residential Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) enables the
home user to use their Internet connection make telephone
calls. This advancement has made it possible for many people to
have advanced calling features installed on their home phones at
little or no extra cost. The cost of calling has also come down
by anywhere from one-third to half the cost of conventional
telephony service.

Among the many special features that are typically included
with a VoIP phone service are caller ID, call waiting, call
forwarding, and three-way calling. One of the most important
abilities of VoIP is unparalleled number retention. A VoIP
phone functions with equal ease regardless of real-world
location so long as it is supplied sufficient Internet
bandwidth. This is especially useful for users who don't want
to lose a phone number when they move from one city to another.
VoIP phones can be configured to receive all facilities that
Web-based administration make possible.

A VoIP phone does, however, require a connection to broadband
Internet. This is important because anything less does not have
the necessary bandwidth to route voice traffic. Lower bandwidth
connections will suffer from traffic congestion, which results
in a severe reduction in voice quality.

There are hundreds of companies today that are providing
residential VoIP phone service. Consumers must consider their
needs before selecting one package over another. Fortunately,
most service providers offer a variety of packages, making it
easy to test the waters with a basic package providing limited
usage. Then, if satisfied with the service, the user can
upgrade to an unlimited USA and Canada calls package or an
unlimited business package. This makes it easy to keep phone
bills properly in line with individual needs.

Currently, the leading VoIP companies are AT&T CallVantage,
Lingo, Verizon, Packet8, and of course Vonage. All these
services come highly rated, so a customer is likely to find
them more than adequate to supply their residential VoIP needs.
However, there are several smaller VoIP companies that, while
charging much lower rates, may have difficulty providing
adequate service.

There are, of course, some disadvantages in switching to a VoIP
phone. Typically it is necessary to register the address the
phone will be at for location identification before it will be
possible to make 911 calls. Also, the service is unlikely to
work during power outages unless special provisions are made to
supply it with another source of power. Furthermore, VoIP
services may not offer white page listings, though some
customers consider this an advantage.

However, the vast majority of consumers consider these to be
minor inconveniences. They are significantly outweighed by the
advantages of VoIP. In fact, it may not be wrong to say that
the balance is tilted so far in favor of VoIP phones that it
will only a question of time before VoIP home phones will
replace landline phones altogether.

About The Author: Michael Brown writes for several online
magazines, including http://piluf.com and http://volal.com