VOIP Phone Systems – Best Voice Over IP

Hosted VoIP vs. VoIP PBX

When it comes to hosted VoIP vs. VoIP PBX products and all that this company has to offer, it is a good idea to take a look at the side-by-side comparison of hosted VoIP vs. VoIP PBX and what each has to offer new customers looking for the best VoIP solutions.

When you are comparing how normal hosted VoIP vs. VoIP PBX, it is important to look at what hosted VoIP companies have to offer compared with all of the features offered by Virtual VoIP PBX. Virtual PBX is a VoIP provider that offers some of the best deals in Voice over IP communication services. There are a few other types of hosted VoIP companies out there that specialize in VoIP of the hosted variety. There are pros and cons to using both types of the VoIP services that are available. It all depends on what you are looking for in terms of VoIP features and services and how much you are willing to pay each month. Keep reading to learn the differences between hosted VoIP versus VoIP PBX.

Hosted VoIP vs. VoIP PBX:

To get to the bottom of the differences between hosted VoIP services and Virtual PBX, it is important to take a look at both types of VoIP services so consumers can make the best decisions for their VoIP business or at-home needs. For example, Virtual PBX offers a variety of plans that are specific to your VoIP needs either at an office or with companies with typical phone use. Virtual PBX services are also good for employees that work in offices or home offices with a broadband Internet connection. These are the Virtual PBX flat-rate plans, but Virtual PBX also offers usage-based plans for VoIP as well. On the other hand, hosted VoIP services might be a little more specific to those larger companies that have many employees making regular calls and need a reliable form of communication with plenty of features wrapped into the package. Let’s take a look at each of these types of VoIP services individually to see how Virtual PBX compares to hosted VoIP services.

Hosted VoIP Features and Services:

With hosted VoIP services, this is usually an ideal service for a complete, professional business phone system. Usually hosted VoIP services are incredibly cheap totaling only about $20 in service each month, however that is dependent on how many phone lines you have for your business or operation. These kinds of hosted VoIP plans also come complete with many types of features like multiple line accessibility, auto attendant and employee voice mail. There are also VoIP features that are specific to your business needs like three-way calling, conference calling, call transfer, call logging history and much more. To find the best hosted VoIP plans, it is important to know what kinds of VoIP features you are in need of and find the best prices for the most services. There are so many hosted VoIP providers available online and offer low monthly pricing. You often don’t even need to purchase any equipment when you choose hosted VoIP, which is one of the selling points to go with hosted VoIP services. Instead of purchasing all new phones, you can simply add the service to your already-existing phones and use the service quickly after signing up for the hosted VoIP service.

Virtual VoIP PBX:

There are many ways to take advantage of Virtual PBX and the services this company has to offer. First, you can choose which way you would like to pay for the plan. Some plans are ideal for usage based, while others are good for flat-rate plans. The companies who have all employees with typical phone use or if they work from home, flat-rate plans are a great choice and start at about $19.99 per month. On the other hand, usage-based plans are great for companies with low phone use or for employees that frequently communicate using cell phones or land lines. These plans only start at $9.99 per month, allow you to pay only for minutes used and can accommodate unlimited users. There are also a variety of unique features that are available with Virtual VoIP PBX services including a greeting manager, Smart ID, Call preview detail, Voicemail interrupt, custom ring-to locations, call blocking, call waiting signal, agent wrap-up time and so much more when you sign up for any virtual VoIP PBX plan.

To choose the best VoIP plan for you and your business, it might be a good idea to check out some more of the hosted VoIP plans to determine if any of those fit your cost requirements and fulfill your VoIP needs. It is also a great idea to check out Virtual PBX online to find out more about this best VoIP provider and to learn if this would be a good fit for all of your VoIP communication needs.

Wi-Fi VoIP

Wi-Fi VoIP refers to being able to use your voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, service while out of the office or travelling. Read this article to find out how to use Wi-Fi VoIP technology and the advantages of VoIP.

There are so many benefits to switching to Wi-Fi VoIP including the fact that it is often free for many users depending on the service. That is when it becomes important to find the best Wi-Fi VoIP provider. Using Voice over IP technology is a great way to communicate.

For those looking for a way to cut down on their landline, mobile phone or business calling costs, Wi-Fi VoIP might be a great option to consider. There are many ways to use Wi-Fi VoIP technology as well as many options to get started on saving money by making the switch. The only catch is that there must be a Wi-Fi connection available in order to get a signal to use the VoIP technology. If you are new to VoIP and have no idea about how Wi-Fi and VoIP work, then keep reading to learn more about these technologies and how you can save money on communication costs by taking advantage of the perks of using VoIP.

What is VoIP?

VoIP technology involves using a voice over IP (Internet protocol) that includes communication protocols and being sent back and forth to delivery voice communications and data over the IP. Usually IP is done over the Internet networks. VoIP works on a variety of devices from traditional dialer phones as well as mobile phones and other similar VoIP accessible devices. The Wi-Fi simply just works as the type of Internet connection. There are many pros and cons to using a Wi-Fi connection to communicate via VoIP.

How to Use Wi-Fi VoIP Technology:

When using the Wi-Fi VoIP technology it is vital to have access to a Wi-Fi connection, or the technology will not work unless the phone or device already has a backup LAN connection. However, if you are out and about, and do not have a connection to a wireless network, then the phone call or data transfer will not be able to be completed. Fortunately many of these VoIP services that can easily be accessed by Wi-Fi are often times provided for free with very cheap calls made out of the United States. While it may not always be the most reliable form of communication because there may not be a Wi-Fi connection everywhere you travel, there are options to save money with your regular calling plan because you can always use the Wi-Fi service for free if it is available. In order for this to take place, the phone must have a VoIP adapter or be able to make calls via VoIP. Many businesses opt to give employees mobile phones that either have adapters for VoIP access or have the built in technology. This is a great way for those employees to use their phones for cheap while traveling for work or while out of the office, as long as they have access to a Wi-Fi connection.

The Advantages of VoIP:

This Wi-Fi VoIP technology helps not only individuals cut down on their communication spending costs, but also the costs businesses use to pay for their employees to communicate and conduct business while traveling or on-the-go. Other advantages to using Wi-Fi VoIP is that anyone can get this kind of a service for free. In fact, companies like Google with the Google Talk technology allows users to make calls to other Gmail contacts via the web or using their mobile phone. Google does not charge for the calls and only charges a low cents per-message fee. With more and more businesses, hotels, restaurants and cities getting and spreading the Wi-Fi technology, the Wi-Fi VoIP capabilities are also a lot more available and extensive than they used to be, which means this type of communication is definitely more reliable.

To find the best Wi-Fi VoIP plan, check with your mobile VoIP provider to learn if your phone is already capable of making these types of calls. There are also many mobile VoIP adapter and phone providers on the web, so you can choose which company offers the best deals to help accommodate your communication costs whether you are looking to fill individual communication costs, or the needs of dozens of employees. There are many Wi-Fi VoIP options to choose from.

IP Telephony

IP Telephony is offered by Cisco, one of the top VoIP providers. This article explains how IP Telephony works and what features you may be able to expect when using IP Telephony technology for your business communication needs.

IP telephony is a VoIP phone system that is available through Cisco. The IP telephony system works by transmitting voice communication over the network or Internet using standards-based Internet Protocol. IP telephony is a great way to extend communications in a business setting.

Many businesses are taking advantage of the IP telephony systems to use with all employees throughout the company in each workspace, remote offices and even with mobile or at-home employees. The technology IP telephony has to offer has been found to be beneficial to employees of all types in various working capacities. With Cisco Unified Communications, the voice, video, data and mobile applications on a fixed or mobile network all work successfully together with the IP telephony system.

What is VoIP?

Voice over IP is a type of communication that uses standard protocols and transmission technologies in order to delivery voice, data and multimedia sessions over a network or (IP) Internet Protocol networks like the Internet. VoIP works differently than traditional public switched telephone networks (PSTN) because the information is transported over the Internet rather than the PSTN. To get technical, the information is divided into IP packages through a digitization process and then transferred from the analog voice signal. From this point the signal is then encoded and sent over IP to the packet-switched network where it is changed back into actual voice to be delivered to the recipient.

Many businesses are opting to go with a VoIP phone system because it is a time saver as well as more economical overall. The phone system itself might be more cost upfront, but will later prove to be a worthwhile investment because of the cost savings with infrastructure costs and lower monthly bills. The savings when it comes to being able to get more work done because of a more effective and efficient telephone system, is also highly valuable and worth the added cost upfront. Another cost savings is found when businesses tend to do a lot of overseas communication, which can ultimately cost a fortune. However, with VoIP technology, the pricing for International calling is substantially cheaper per call and overall monthly bills.

Features With IP Telephony:

With IP telephony, users can get access to highly secure, reliable, scalable communications that take advantage of a company’s LAN and WAN, and make it easy to accommodate for any size business. Other features include the ability to improve employee flexibility and productivity in a variety of ways. The IP telephony communication technology works well to deliver voice, video, mobility and presence services to IP phones, media processing devices, mobile devices, VoIP gateways and multimedia applications. Because of its expansive ability to do it all, IP telephony is a worthy investment to consider when trying to choose the best VoIP phone system.

How it Works:

When choosing a Cisco IP phone system like IP telephony, it is important to know that the technology is both wired and wireless versions and can provide handset functionality as well for those who do much of their business over the phone. Some of the Cisco IP phone systems also include VoIP video chat as well, which can be an added convenience for group meetings and conference communications with remote locations. There is also the added convenience of Softphones products like the Cisco IP communicator and Cisco Unified Personal Communicator to extend voice and multimedia functionality to Windows and Mac computers.

To learn more about IP telephony and how to get your business setup with Cisco communication systems, be sure to check out the Cisco website. On the website you can find access to video tutorials and information about how to learn the basics of VoIP and how it can work for your business. You can also learn how to find the best savings for your company and how to find the right phone systems and technology that will work for the type of business you have and what your primary services are including how you communicate the most to outside clients and interoffice communications. Be sure to call any Cisco reps if you have any additional questions about how to learn more about IP telephony.

Free VoIP

When it comes to free VoIP you want to make sure you are getting the best VoIP technology and services available. Take a look at this article to learn the pros and cons of using a free VoIP service and for tips on choosing the best free VoIP provider services.

With the advances in Voice over IP technologies over the past few years, it is no wonder that free VoIP is everywhere. Particularly to use with mobile devices and smart phones, free VoIP is a great way to save money and is easy to use for just about everyone.

Because of the expansion of both residential and mobile VoIP technology, it is obvious as to why this technology is becoming more and more popular as well as less expensive to use. In fact, many mobile VoIP providers are actually doing so for free. Taking advantage of free VoIP is a great way to save money on your cell phone bill every month if you tend to use lots of voice minutes. There are a few major companies that offer free VoIP like Google Voice and more. It is important to understand how VoIP works before choosing the best VoIP provider for you.

What is VoIP?

Voice over IP technology means to use communication protocols and transmission technology to delivery voice and data multimedia over Internet Protocol. VoIP technology works differently than traditional phone calling through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in that it is transported over the Internet instead of going through the PSTN. The actual data and voice is delivered through IP packets that are transferred from the digitization of the analog voice signal. The signal is then encoded and then sent over IP to a packet-switched network. In order to receive the information, the reverse process is then followed in order to accept the phone call or data information.

Benefits to VoIP technology:

Many are switching to include VoIP technology into their daily communication system because it saves them money. Especially during tough economic times like we are currently experiencing, there are plenty of reasons to maximize your usage of free VoIP because it can easily save a regular mobile phone customer on their communication costs. This kind of technology can be offered for free because it saves so much bandwidth and is easier to use that it is not a product that typically should cost any money. However, there are other cheap VoIP providers out there that do charge a small monthly fee, or per call fee. Usually the free VoIP is found with mobile phone technology. Like Google Voice can work for fee if you sign up for an account and use it on your cell phone. However, residential VoIP still costs a small monthly fee. Many businesses have also been making the switch to VoIP services, which also does cost a monthly charge. For those who have access to the Internet, VoIP is a smart economical choice for both home, office or personal mobile use. Features like voicemail, call forwarding, automatic redial and caller ID tools that go along with all kinds of VoIP technology are a great way to cash in on the savings with free VoIP technology.

If you are one of those people with a cell phone that never uses up the number of voice minutes you need each month and find you don’t need VoIP to save money on your monthly cell phone bill, don’t rule out this technology just yet. One of the biggest conveniences to using free VoIP is that it cuts down significantly on the cost of international dialing. Many may have friends and loved ones overseas and outside of the United States. Through a traditional PSTN system these kind of calls can get incredibly expensive. However, with mobile VoIP you can call for free or for a much lower fee. In addition to free VoIP technology like Google Voice, you can also get in some face-to-face time with companies like Skype. This is a video chat service that can be done on the computer giving you the chance to video chat for free. Google Voice is also available directly over the computer. If you have a headset for your computer, using a system like Skype or Google Voice is a great way to talk over the computer using free VoIP. This is a great and helpful tool especially if you are an employee that works from home, although just about everyone can benefit from using this technology.

Types of VoIP Phones

There are two types of VoIP phones, softphones and hardware phone. In this article we compare the different types of VoIP phones to help you decide what phone would best suit your Voice over IP needs.

Before we can discuss the types of VoIP phones we must understand what a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones are. This article explains two types of VoIP phones, the VoIP Softphones and the VoIP Hardware Phones. Keep reading to learn which type of VoIP phone will work best for you.

What Is a VoIP Phone?

A VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone is a device that is capable of using the VoIP protocol to participate in a phone conversation. A VoIP phone can be a hardware phone or a softphone—software that runs on a computer connected to a high-speed Internet connection. A VoIP phone may be enabled only for the VoIP protocol or be designed for a different protocol all together and able to be pressed into service for VoIP nevertheless, or it could be designed to work with multiple protocols. A VoIP hardware phone may be wired or wireless.

What Are Types of VoIP Phones?

The main divisions of VoIP phone are softphones and hardware phones.

• Types of VoIP Softphones

A number of VoIP softphones are free. Some of these include paid upgrades that users may optionally select. Examples of VoIP softphones are AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Apple’s iChat, Google Talk, Skype, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. Some of these softphones are made only for specific operating systems—for example, the desktop version of Google Talk is only for Windows XP or later on a Windows operating system. Softphones typically come with a number of features that make multi-faceted interactions possible, like instant messaging, video chatting, file transferring, desktop sharing, and more. The quality of reception may vary with the softphone, and within the softphone, depending on who you are phoning and time of day.

• Types of VoIP Hardware Phones

VoIP hardware phones can be old-fashioned landlines, sometimes referred to as PSTN phones (Public Switched Telephone Network), and cordless phones designed for that network can become VoIP phones by means of an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) connecting them to an Ethernet modem or router connected to a high speed Internet connection.

VoIP phones can also be built-for-VoIP phones that have design and features similar to any other home or business phone. These phones, unlike analog phones pulled into VoIP service, usually work only with VoIP—they do not adapt to analog use as a rule, unless they specifically say that they do, in which case, you can plug them in with a PSTN line. Another use of VoIP phones is intra-office calls.

Finally, there are dual-modality phones that combine VoIP capability with WiFi. These phones are made to use VoIP when a wireless Internet or ATA is available and use cell towers for a signal when not. This set-up gives a phone owner flexibility that can be missing in both a dedicated VoIP phone on the one hand and a cell phone on the other hand. Where there are no wireless networks, the cell phone can be used. In indoor situations or where a cell signal is limited, the VoIP phone may be able to kick in.

VoIP hardware phones in a business or home setting can also be combined with a compatible local PBX (Private Branch Exchange) to route phones outside their LAN (local area network) to the outside world. VoIP providers who specialize in business phones are equipped to address needs such as these.

Best VoIP Phone Systems

Choosing the best VoIP phone systems may be different for you than your neighbor. This article reviews how VoIP systems work and what benefits you may get by switching to VoIP. Learn what VoIP can do for you and your business, only then should you decide which VoIP phone systems will work best for you and your business.

There are a few ways to go about finding the best VoIP phone systems. To do this, it is important to know what features make up the best VoIP phone systems. Voice over IP is a useful technology that more and more businesses are cashing in on. Keep reading to learn more.

More and more businesses and individuals with at-home offices are beginning to make the switch to a VoIP phone system rather than the traditional phone line. There are many benefits to finding the best VoIP phone. There are a few ways you can find the best VoIP phone systems for your business or at-home needs. One of these ways is by reading VoIP phone system reviews. You can check out reviews on some of the best VoIP phones out on the market. This is a great chance to contrast and compare the systems with the best features for the lowest monthly price.

Many businesses and individuals choose to go with VoIP technology because it reduces overall communication and infrastructure costs. There are also many other benefits, but first let’s take a look at what exactly VoIP technology is and how it works.

VoIP technology:

VoIP is a technology that engages the use of various communication protocols and transmission technology. This system works by delivering the communication transmission, which is converted into a voice or multimedia data and then is delivered over IP (Internet Protocol) networks like the Internet. VoIP is a newer technology and is different that the traditional method of making phone calls through the old wire system (Public Switched Telephone Network) because it is delivered with a digital signal rather than analog. The data is transferred into IP packets, which is then encoded and sent over the IP or Internet to be delivered. The reverse process works in order to answer the phone call.

Benefits to using VoIP technology:

There are quite a few benefits to finding the best VoIP phone systems including lower costs overall. While many businesses may see more cost initially with a VoIP phone system, the savings later on as well as the more reliable service and variety of features makes the switch a worthy investment. Some of the VoIP features include the ability to route calls over existing data networks. This helps avoid the need for separate data and voice networks, which cuts down on infrastructure costs. Conference calls are also much easier and are considered to be more secure. This is a great feature for businesses thinking of making the switch. There are other features like call forwarding, automatic redial as well as caller ID. These are often free tools offered with the VoIP phone systems rather than being an additional cost like with many of the traditional phone service providers. Security features are some of the most essential features with the best VoIP phone systems. It is important to find a VoIP provider that offers the best and most secure services. The secure connection with VoIP technology is made using standardized protocols like Secure Real-time Transport Protocol. While traditional phone services might have a tough time keeping calls secure during digitizing and digital transmission, VoIP technology doesn’t have any of these same security risks because the transmission is made through encryption and authenticating the existing data stream.

In our review of some of the best VoIP phones, we found the reason that most companies make the switch to VoIP technology is because of location independence. When using VoIP phone systems you can get access to anywhere your provider has a fast and stable Internet connection. Multimedia features provide easy integration through the VoIP phone, like video conversations using Skype as well as message or data file exchange, address book management, audio conferencing and much more. Be sure to look for all of these features when trying to find the best VoIP phone system. Especially if you plan to use this VoIP phone system for business purposes, it is important to get the best value for your dollar. Do price comparisons as well check out VoIP provider reviews to find the best system for you and your business enterprise.

Voice Over IP Security

We are all aware communications transmitted via the Internet are subject to vulnerabilities and hackers. Having Voice Over IP security attached to your VoIP phone system and making sure your VoIP provider has the proper security is essential to your privacy. With Voice Over IP security measures in place you can avoid SPAM.

Voice Over IP Security entails a number of steps you should take to make sure your voice over internet protocol telephone calls are secure. Read this article to learn how you can protect your VOIP with voice over IP security measures including antivirus software, SPIT, and more.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. This is a means of carrying phone calls without using the older Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). As digital telephony has grown in popularity and as the capabilities of VoIP phones have grown, the use of an Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) to turn a broadband connection into a telephone network has been the choice of more and more individuals and businesses.

Like every other technology, Voice over IP has its security issues. To beef up your Voice over IP security, here are some things to be aware of and some steps to take:

With a growing network of computers infected by viruses or malware and used to participate in Distributed Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, it is important to make sure your computers are clean before linking your VoIP phone service to them so that you don’t put your phone connectivity at risk. This means maintaining up-to-date antivirus software and having a good firewall setup, as well as employing an anti-spam tool to limit malware arriving by email.
Besides the risk from viruses and malware, the very fact that VoIP calls are carried over the Internet creates security risks that don’t exist with calls transmitted through the PSTN.
SPIT (Spam over Internet Telephony) is spam that overwhelms a phone number with voicemails. The phone calls are dialed automatically and pre-recorded.
Unless a VoIP solution is encrypted, and not all are, the calls made on it are open to eavesdropping. For anyone interested in keeping their data secure, a system with encryption is important, whether on a softphone or a handheld model. There are free, open-source solution that are known as Public Secure VoIP.
In 2009, a search query exposed Google Voice voicemail that had been crawled and indexed by Google’s bots has been dealt with by a change to the protocols, according to a Google employee responding to a Help Forum query on September 29, 2009.
It is also important to assess the security of the website from which you order your VoIP service. You should find that it has the lock and green address bar on pages that are supposed to be secure, as well as some indication that the site is secure, such as a Thawte secure site emblem, a McAfee Secure emblem with a testing date, etc.
If your VoIP service is connected to a router, you should make sure that steps have been taken to make the router as secure as possible. For example, this includes changing the default user name and password that the router came with and choosing an appropriate type of Wireless Security Mode if you are using a wireless network, i.e., not WEP—Wired Equivalent Privacy, but WPA—Wi-Fi Protected Access. Make sure to save your changes before exiting the router management program.

How to Select a VoIP Phone

Do you want to know how to select a VoIP phone? This article helps explain how VoIP works and how to use that information to choose what VoIP phone system may work best for you or your business. Also learn the benefits of VoIP phone systems.

Are you looking for a VoIP phone? Do you need to know how to select a VoIP phone system? Naturally you want to find the best voice over IP. Read on to find out what voice over IP is, how VoIP phones work, the benefits of VoIP phones, and how to select a VoIP phone system.

With an increase in digital communication technology, many businesses are switching to VoIP phone systems. In this article, we are exploring the benefits of VoIP and how to go about selecting a VoIP phone system. The added benefits of having a VoIP phone system for your business is often considered worth the added initial cost of setting up a VoIP phone system.

What is VoIP?

Voice over IP is using various technologies including communication protocols and transmission technologies to deliver voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet protocol (IP) networks like the Internet.
VoIP is different than traditional phone calls in that it is transported via the Internet rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The IP packets are transferred from the digitization of the analog voice signal, which is then encoded and sent over IP over a packet-switched network. In order to receive the message being sent over IP, a similar process is followed in the reverse order to accept the call.

What are VoIP phone systems?

The history of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) really began to take off among consumer markets in 2004 with the introduction of mass market VoIP services like VoIP phone systems. Subscribers place and receive phone calls in the same manner as if they were using a PSTN. Many full-service VoIP phone companies provide subscribing customers with an inbound and outbound calling service with direct inbound dialing. Many of VoIP phone companies offer unlimited domestic calling for a set monthly charge. This is why there is usually a subscription service associated with VoIP phone systems.

How to select a VoIP phone system:

There are many different types of VoIP phone systems available. However, the key on how to select a VoIP phone system is finding the best Voice over IP phone system that is best for you and your company. The cost associated with VoIP phone systems are often higher than a traditional phone system for the purchase of an entire VoIP phone system for your business or office. However, with the variety of services included with this type of product, buying a VoIP phone system is typically an investment for the company.
Some of these great VoIP phone system features include: easy to integrate into current business applications, more control over conference style calling, without having to use a third-party system and reliability of service. Even if there does happen to have a failure occur over the network, the phone can still make and receive calls through the PSTN. Calls can also be forwarded from your work phone to your cell phone for added convenience during times where you might be out of the office.

Benefits of VoIP phone systems:

Many small businesses and large corporations are switching to using VoIP phone systems because of the bandwidth efficiency and cost savings associate with VoIP technology.
VoIP phone technology allows for voice and data communication to be transmitted over a single network. This can greatly reduce infrastructure costs to the company in comparison to traditional copper-wire telephone systems.
VoIP phone systems are also generally more user friendly and offer easier use and simple integration.
Conference calling is made easier and more secure.
Other features like call forwarding, automatic redial and caller ID features are also added benefits to using a VoIP phone system.

Overall, while costs might initially be higher for a VoIP phone system, they are a great investment to help save you money and adds a variety of conveniences to your business practices.