VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol has been simmering for the past few years. This year the market has heated up. Many large businesses have jumped on the VoIP bandwagon and have realized savings of 50-percent or more off their phone bills. VoIP providers are competing to add to or replace large PBX systems for the corporations and add web conferencing capabilities plus wireless VoIP (wVoIP) over LAN’s as well.

Hospitals and other large, fragmented workforces are discovering the value of using wireless VoIP phones to converse with one another quickly and efficiently while in different wings, floors or buildings of a large facility. This kind of wireless VoIP setup can have huge cost savings over cell phones and is more efficient that using pagers.

While business VoIP has caught on in the corporate landscape, residential VoIP is still trying to take hold. This is largely because of a couple of current disadvantages of VoIP. First, not all current VoIP systems have power backups. When the power goes out in a residence, the landline is still operational. Since VoIP works over a high-speed Internet connection, which requires power, if the power goes down, so does the VoIP connection. This will be of concern to many concerned about emergency situations. The good news is that many VoIP hardware providers are starting to deliver systems with power backup to address just this issue.

The second drawback of residential VoIP is that not all current VoIP service providers offer full, 24-7 emergency 911 service. After hour calls in Florida, may be mistakenly rerouted to Idaho for instance. This is also about to change. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all phone service providers offer e911 service as standard. According to the FCC, “All interconnected VoIP providers must automatically provide E9-1-1 services to all customers as a standard, mandatory feature without customers having to specifically request this service. VoIP providers may not allow their customers the option to “opt-out” of E9-1-1 service.”

Clearly, though, residential VoIP is heading towards direct competition with the local phone companies’ coveted landlines. A couple of years ago at a meeting in SBC’s Publishing division, one of the executive managers cried, “Landlines, we need to stop losing landlines!” This was in response to cell phone companies taking away market share from the local Baby Bells. Now that VoIP is on the radar, the executive management teams for the local and long-distance phone companies must be huddling in their back offices, trying to figure out how they will stop the bleeding in the years to come.

With VoIP costing far less that traditional local and long-distance phone service and overcoming the last of the residential hurdles, one can be sure that consumers will soon be taking notice. Many will also start wearing t-shirt like “VoIP VIP” and “Got VoIP?” to herald in the new era in telecommunications.

Copyright © 2005 VoIP Service Providers3

VoIP Service Providers - Marvin Bellnick writes for VoIP Service Providers, a company dedicated to publishing the latest happenings in the Voice Over IP industry.

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Have you been considering VoIP for your phone service? Are you still on the fence as to whether or not to try this technology?

Are you the type of person who enjoys technology and the benefits you can derive from it? Do you currently have a broadband internet connection? Do you want to continue to use your existing phone? Do you like to save money?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions above, you’re probably a VoIP candidate.

The service itself is quite good, but not yet as reliable as the plain old telephone service. (POTS) Having said that, with the push towards this technology, the vendors are driven to providing a better service all the time. New advances in the technology itself are being incorporated into the networks on a regular basis. I for one have gone through a couple service upgrades with my own personal VoIP provider. It just keeps getting better and better. With competition heating up, you can rest assured that technology issues will be overcome sooner rather than later.

Ok, you’re on the fence and deciding whether or not you should make the change. Let’s go over a couple things that you should know before making your purchasing decision.

First up, what type of broadband access do you currently use? If you’re using DSL and you’re looking to use VoIP as your ‘primary’ phone service, check with your existing phone provider. Make sure you can still use your DSL without primary phone service being provided by your local phone company. I happen to live in an area where the RBOC does NOT allow for this. Basically, if I use DSL I could use VoIP has a secondary phone line, but I would not be able to cancel my phone service and keep my DSL. DSL without phone service is called ‘naked DSL’ and is not yet generally available. You can check our site for naked DSL providers. I for one use cable broadband access so the local phone company doesn’t even enter the picture.

Next, let’s make sure we all understand that VoIP runs over your broadband internet connection. VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol. Simply put, it runs over the internet and NOT on the copper wires in your existing home telephone jacks. Basically this means that those phone jacks in your house would NOT work with VoIP. Your phone base plugs into an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter). If you want to have multiple handsets through out your home, you could use the cordless systems that come with a base and multiple handsets. I myself use a cordless phone so the phone base plugs into the ATA. This provides me the freedom to use my handset anywhere in the house.

Another point certainly worth mentioning is power and your existing ISP. If the power goes out in your home, your phone doesn’t work. If you currently use a cordless phone where the base plugs into an electrical outlet, this same behavior occurs now. Loose power and you loose your phone. In addition, if your ISP (internet service provider) drops service or has an outage, you loose your phone as well. Some make a big deal out of this, but fail to understand that you can setup your service with alternate numbers. I for example, use my cellular phone number as my backup. If my internet connection goes down, anyone trying to call me will be automatically routed to my cellular phone. I never miss a call!

These are just a couple or many points to consider when making the switch. To be honest, it’s very simple and painless to switch to VoIP. The best part is that many of the vendors offer trial periods. If you’re still on the fence, you can sign up for service and feel comfortable in the fact that you can drop the service if not satisfied. No risk involved.

If you’re still in the investigative stage, that’s ok too. Visit our web site where we offer many informative articles on VoIP as well as utilities to gauge the speed of your existing broadband connection. Once you’re armed with the information you need, we also offer access to a variety of vendors offer great service at a great price.

You don’t need to sit on the fence much longer. Get the facts, get the details and choose a vendor that offers you a free trial period.

VoIP can be a great solution for your home or office.

FullService Broadband Provider. Unbiased, informative information on broadband technology made possible through Try Right Technology, Inc. Copyright 2006

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Would you be able to answer this question if you were asked,”Who is the leading and number one Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company in the nation today?” I bet that you would! You have seen their many commercials and would be correct if you answered,Vonage. Now, would you be able to name the company in that lonely number two spot? They don’t have any commercials, so maybe not! Well,if you guessed SunRocket then you would have been correct.

SunRocket is an innovative and so called,”up and coming player”, in the Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) game. SunRocket VoIP is now number two, but striving through many innovations to be number one! They call themselves the “no gotcha” phone company because they advertise a set price and then don’t load up your bill with nebulous charges like some local phone companies that we are all familiar with. SunRocket’s gaol is simply to bring to the public the very best, risk-free, easy to use Internet phone service with no hidden charges, and no other “gotchas”.

They were the very first VoIP company to offer a $199($16.58/month) flat fee service for a years use of their VoIP! They call this the $199 SunRocket Annual Edition and I must agree that there isn’t any other company offering anything close to this. For paying annually(all at once) a consumer gets two phone numbers with enhanced voice mail, over a dozen built in calling features(call waiting etc.), unlimited calling in the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico, and up to 100 free minutes for international calling, and a couple of free phones! Now, how long will they remain number two offering all of this?

Paul Ericson is the chairman and co-founder of SunRocket along with Joyce Dorris. They are both former MCI executives who had a hand in creating MCI’s 1-800-COLLECT campaign(Remember…these advertisements were everywhere). They are used to thinking “outside the box” and started SunRocket in 2004 to brake the mold on conventional and VoIP phone service choices that were available to consumers in the marketplace at that time. They aimed to create a true “no gotcha company” that was easy to use, low in price, without contracts, and with a money back guarantee if a consumer decides that VoIP isn’t for them! They also took great strides to put solid and expanding capitol sources together to assure that the quality of what they were building was not jeopardized because they ran out of or short of money.

SunRocket has accomplished putting together a solid company that fills the needs of what consumers are looking for today in a phone company. If service, low cost, features and options galore, are what you are looking for then take a good look at SunRocket because they deliver in all of these areas.

Hugh J. McMarlin has many online endeavors and his informational VoIP site, http://www.voip-carrier-4u.com is his latest. Read his other articles on
SunRocket the “no gotcha” company. You can also learn more about the pros and cons of VoIP by reading his article on the
Pros and Cons of VoIP.

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