what do you think about voip technology?
142015
I think quite a bit about it.  I use it here in the house to provide 6 handsets and three lines out.(2 VOIP 1 landline).  I run it all via an asterisk server.  In the year or so that I have been doing this, I have had a few problems but nothing that was hard to fix. Besides, I like to be able to set what hours people can call me or if they can call me (based on caller id)
1052101
VOIP is the best ever.  It hooks into your regular telephone so you can't tell a difference!  The only thing is when dialing you have to dial the area code (atleast for Vonage that's what I use).  When you get voicemails you can also opt to receive email notification which lets you listen to the message.  You pay no long distance to US and Canada (they have different plans too).  VOIP is definately not too new to consider.  As long as you have your high speed internet connection you have phone service and no long distance bill.
124271
IP telephony\nThe two-way transmission of voice over a packet-switched IP network, which is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. The terms "IP telephony" and "voice over IP" (VoIP) are synonymous. However, the term VoIP is widely used for the actual services offered (see VoIP for more details), while IP telephony often refers to the technology behind it. In addition, IP telephony is an umbrella term for all realtime applications over IP, including voice over instant messaging (IM) and videoconferencing.\n\nStarting in the late 1990s, the Internet and its TCP/IP protocol suite began to turn the data communications and telephone industry upside down. IP has become the universal transport for almost all data and video communications worldwide. It is increasingly becoming the infrastructure for voice traffic as well. Today, every communications carrier has built or is using an IP backbone for some or all of its voice services. In addition, large enterprises are either already using IP for some amount of internal voice traffic or have plans to implement it or create test beds.\n\n\nData Over Voice Became Voice Over Data\n\nData was first transmitted over telephone networks, starting in the 1960s, and by the late 1980s, data routinely traveled over digital voice circuits. By the 1990s, the majority of worldwide communications traffic had changed from voice to data, and as IP networks began to flourish, the economics of using IP for voice began to emerge.\n\nAlthough the backbone of the global telephone network had been converted to digital for some time, the circuit-switched nature of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) is wasteful. Even though one person talks and the other listens, both "to" and "from" channels are always dedicated. In addition, newer voice codecs cut the digital requirement from the traditional 64 Kbps (PCM) down to 8 Kbps with respectable quality. Thus, the bandwidth requirement for voice on an IP network is 1/16th that of the PSTN's dedicated, digital circuits.\n\n\nVarying Quality\n\nStarting in the mid-1990s, advertiser-supported, free telephone service from PC to PC or between phones and PCs using the public Internet became popular, especially for international calls. Call quality over the Internet can be erratic because the Internet provides no guarantee of quality of service (QoS). However, when an organization has control over its network, quality can be excellent. Private enterprises with their own IP networks, as well as major telcos and IP telephony carriers that have developed IP backbones, can provide voice quality that competes with the traditional PSTN. See infranet.\n\n\nTransport and Signaling\n\nIP telephony uses two protocols: one for transport and another for signaling. Transport is provided by UDP over IP for voice packets and either UDP or TCP over IP for signals. Signaling commands that establish and terminate the call as well as provide special features such as call forwarding, call waiting and conference calling are defined in a signaling protocol such as H.323, SIP, MGCP or MEGACO (see IP telephony signaling protocol).\n\nThe integration of packet-switched IP with the traditional SS7-based telephone system is a complex undertaking with numerous protocols competing for attention. See ITXC and IP on Everything.
496954
VoIP can work on 'conventional' telephone or TV cables an with a telephone or via computer with headset as well as.\nWith telephone the quality isn't worse sensibly. Using computer the situation not so good, but the speech is well understandable.\nI use both of them, this is my experience.
563221
Vonage\nComcast\nTimeWarner\n...etc.
500883
It is all of the interface required to make a VoIP phone work.  If you do not want to use their official box, you can also purchase one of your own.  Most networking companies sell routers with built-in VoIP capabilities.
137573
There are several good ones out there.  I like broadvoice myself but there are lots of choices.  For a business, I recommend setting up your own Asterisk PBX server (it's FREE! and it's not that hard for someone reasonably technically savvy).  With your own PBX you have TOTAL control about how the phones work in your business along with the low cost of VoIP
371941
I have been using VOnage for 2 years without any trouble. I would definitely recommend them to others. They are alsmost done with the implementation of E911 on thier networks. I dont believe any other VoIP providers are even close to Vonage.
5688
Google Talk is great.\n\nThe sound quality is great and the ease of use is even better. Google's take on VoIP - simple and useful.\n\nAlso, Google just released the API for GTalk so 3rd Party programs will start to appear making GTalk even more useful. \n\nFinally, since it is so small (less than a MB) go ahead and try it. It isn't meant to compete with AIM or MSN Messenger, instead use it for the great quality and ease of use.
1038704
I've checked voipdiscount few days ago (they advertised themselves as a FREE PC-to-Phone call service for some selected countries) and I didn't like that you have to pay 10 euros every three months - sounds like a hidden 3.33 euros monthly fee to me. Of course if you make a lot of calls, it's nothing (you get 20 hours or something of free phone calls), but I make only few calls a month, and I prefer Skype for this reason.
291038
voip is voice over internet protocol\n\nwhat are you talking about?
1171255
I use skype i find it pretty good  i havent tried the voicemail service yet  because you have to pay for it.\n\nBut other than that the sound quality is, in my opinion just as good as my normal phone.\n\nright now skype has a promotional offer where skype out calls from within the USA and Canada are free.
388484
You can talk about slingbox (product that allows people to record videos at home and then sent it to your laptop anyway in the world).\n\nPerhaps you can find a way to relate this technology to telecommunications by recording home video and sending video emails to someone's laptop.  Now there is a million dollar idea!
251977
It is not sufficient to just have a VOIP phone service like Lingo or Vonage. You need internet connectivity via Cable or DSL to take your call to the internet. Your wireless router could be a DSL gateway which has an incoming DSL and outgoing wireless or ethernet ports. But the bottom line is that you will require internet connection. If this is via cable, u do require a cable modem, if it is DSL, you can make do with a wireless DSL router.
218975
You can use Skype for that I believe
721698
You can setup some voip gateway or proxy (Asterisk or SER/OpenSER) and a billing system. then you can register clients and allow them to call anywhere using soft phone. and bill them using cdrs. If you need further info contact me at asterisk.expert@yahoo.com
108305
Had to chuckle at this one.. Besides the fact that it totally f*cks up entire corporations, slows down or stops a form of communication which is the next best thing to a phone call, and causes people to spend hours banging their heads against their computers ???? Nothing...\n\nIf you can create a virus, make yourself a million working for a tech corp. If you're that flipping smart, do some good with it.