VOIP Internet Phone Center

(IP 8100-2) Vtech Cordless VoIP Phone Brief list of Features:

• 5.8GHz digital
• Caller ID
• Voice mail
• Call conferencing
• Two handsets
• For use with Vonage
• Current price: $149.99

(IP 8100-2) Vtech Cordless VoIP Phone Details:

Broadband phone system: This system cordless VoIP phone is designed specifically for use with the Vonage phone service. The Vonage Internet phone service provides you with local & long distance calls for one very low cost. Vonage service gives you secure online access to great features such as phone books, call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, conferencing, call forwarding & lots more. You need to sign up for the Vonage service separately.

5.8GHz digital system: 5.8GHz digital spread-spectrum technology provides the best performance available with improved audio quality, more range and better security.

Expandable: This cordless VoIP phone’s base unit come with two handsets, and can handle up to four! Have a phone in any room because extra handsets don’t require another phone jack.

Be hands free: The cordless VoIP phone handsets have speakerphone capability as well as out-put jacks to plug-in optional headsets so you can enjoy the convenience of hands free conversation when using the cordless VoIP phone’s.

Phone memory: This cordless VoIP phone system can store as much as 50 names & numbers on both its built-in caller ID memory and phone book.

Cool extras: The VoIP handsets have a few handy extras; 3-line LED displays, back-lit keys and some useful belt clips.

Networking features: The system’s base unit runs as both a phone adapter plus a router, and has both LAN & WAN ports. With the firewall and the other security features provided, you can talk in confidence knowing your conversations will be private and heard by the people on the call alone.

(IP 8100-2) Vtech Cordless VoIP Phone Specifications:

Technology
Technology: 5.8GHz digital
Expandable: Yes

Caller ID
Call waiting caller ID: Yes
Caller ID memory: 50
Caller ID on base: No

General features
Battery type: Vtech batteries 80-5808-00-00 or 89-1324-00-00
Back-lit handset keys: Yes
Multilingual capability: Yes
Headset compatible: Yes
Keypad on base: No
Conference capable: Yes
Multiline capable: Yes
Warranty Parts: 12 Months
Warranty Labor: 12 Months

(IP 8100-2) Vtech Cordless VoIP Phone Ratings:

Sound quality: 4.3
Range: 4.3
Durability: 3.8
Cost/Benefit: 4.2
Overall: 4.2

Summary: A great cordless VoIP phone system packed with plenty of features, a quality build and output. Highly recommended.

Service Name: Skype
Price: Free
System Requirements: 400-MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM, 10MB hard drive space, microphone & sound card, speakers or headphones, Internet connection, Microsoft Windows XP or 2000

Skype is currently the largest VoIP provider and is the fastest growing VoIP company. It is safe to say Skype are here to stay as the leading global Internet telephony company.

Skype was founded August of 2003 by same people who started the well known Kazaa peer-to-peer software used for file sharing over it’s network. Skype claims that it is the premiere true peer-to-peer VoIP telephony system. The same technology used in Kazaa that made it what it is and ever so popular is also powering Skype’s VoIP internet phone calls.

What makes Skype so different is Skype doesn’t make use of a central server for processing user data & connection information. Every Computer that runs the Skype software exists as a node in a vast network of Skype users all sharing the operating system load. There is a shared information database which allows a Skype users to see who is online at any point they wish. The VoIP calls are able to be routed via other Skype users or nodes if direct communication is not possible.

The concept of Skype is to end up with a self-running network of users where everyone on the Skype network is able to communicate for free in a similar way to the instant messenger programs like ICQ or MSN Messenger but in this case using voice rather than text. Skype is opening the path for free global VoIP telephony making use of the power broadband internet has to offer in allowing computer users to engage in unlimited, high quality internet based voice phone calls over a peer-to-peer program. Your calling from and calling to location and distance are now made irrelevant; all you need is an internet connection which is becoming much less of an issue these days with the introduction and fast expansion of Wireless networks in public places. Skype imposes no time constraints of costs for making calls. Just as with the ICQ & MSN messenger type services you can have ‘buddy’ lists and also search the Skype user database for more people to connect and chat with.

If you want to chat for free you can’t go wrong with one of the largest VoIP providers: Skype.

Get free VOIP testing from the website TestYourVoIP, a service provided by Brix Networks. Their free VOIP testing service enables you to test how well your internet connection will perform with VOIP calls.

Their tests utilize Java to provide easy testing for small local setups. As an additional service for VOIP testing TestYourVoIP also have a “Golden Phone” test service which is able to be run via any phone, VOIP program or device that has the ability to make phone calls over the standard phone network. Brix Networks have multiple test locations over the US & the rest of the world.

The VOIP testing services provided by Brix Networks use the International Telecommunications Union standard “Mean Opinion Score” (MOS) for the calls and help effectively diagnose a bad call because their VOIP test results display which factors caused the MOS to become reduced.

The TestYourVoIP Website:
TestYourVoIP.com

Being such a new technology you may be wondering is voice over IP reliable?

Standard Land-based phones are powered by their phone lines so if a power failure occurs they are able to stay ‘live’ because back-up generators or batteries residing at the telephone exchange keep providing power down the phone lines to the individual phones. With household based VOIP hardware utilizing broadband modems plus other equipment dependant on and powered by the supplied household electricity, the ability to use your VOIP service will greatly depend on whether or not your power supply and internet service are up and running. In the case of a power-cut or outage you could continue to use your VOIP service with the use of a uninterpretable power supply or a generator added to your hardware’s power supply line.

As well as the power supply issue, broadband connections can sometimes have a fairly undesirable level of reliability. IP packets can get lost or delayed at any time down the network between VOIP users, which will result in a temporary drop-out in voice. This is more likely in a congested high traffic network where there are long distances and/or inter-working between end points.

These points may sound drastic and make VOIP seem very unreliable, however, they really only cover fairly uncommon situations and as long as you do not rely on VOIP services for all your emergency calls you will be fine and most likely very impressed with the quality provided by VOIP. Try one of the many free VOIP services and see for yourself!

The VOIP technology is reported as still having a few shortcomings which has caused some individuals to believe that VOIP is not quite ready for a widespread deployment across the globe. On the other hand, many industry experts are predicting the year 2005 as the year of inflection, which will be the year where more IP PBX ports will ship than legacy digital PBX ports.

There are many advantages to VOIP Telephony. The core VOIP telephony advantages are listed for you below:

• VOIP is a much freer innovation than the standard phone system we use every day. This results in innovation progress running at market rates rather than the much slower pace of the multilateral International Telecommunications Union (ITU) committee process. This means more new advanced technology updates and at a much faster rate.
• The major VOIP telephony advantage is that it has a much lower cost. Generally a VOIP phone service will cost far less than the equivalent service from standard telephone service. This is due to normal ‘traditional’ phone services existing as government entities or monopolies. VOIP is also cheaper to run because it uses a single network to carry data and voice, which is particularly true when an existing under-utilized network capacity can handle the extra requirements of VOIP without the need for further costs. In some cases VOIP calls can be made for FREE; sometimes even international calls. Of course the internet connection is still paid for in order to utilize VOIP but as internet users already pay for this and no additional costs are required when using VOIP the VOIP calls are viewed as free. There are a few services that now provide a service for free VOIP calls such as Skype and Free World Dialup.
• There is much more functionality with VOIP when compared with standard phone services. VOIP makes it easy to do some things that would be hard to impossible with a traditional style phone system.
• Incoming phone calls get routed automatically through to your VOIP phone where ever you are on the network. Because of this you can take your VOIP phone with you on a trip and at any location you connect to the internet you will be able to receive all your incoming calls.
• A VOIP telephony advantage for call center agents with a VOIP phone is that they are able to work easily from any location that has an internet connection.
• As well as the usual voice conversation there is so much more that can be done with VOIP telephony. Information and control on a call is easily provided. You can send and receive data files or messages whilst in a voice conversation, audio conferencing is possible, manage address books and pass information regarding other VOIP users (i.e. friends and colleagues) online status with the possibility to add them in on a conversation.

There are so many VOIP telephony advantages and many of the services currently have free elements of their service that it is certainly worth investigating VOIP further. You very well may end up saving money on your phone bill!

Voice over IP (also called VoIP, IP Telephony, Internet telephony, and Digital Phone) is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other IP-based network. The voice data flows over a general-purpose packet-switched network, instead of traditional dedicated, circuit-switched voice transmission lines.

Protocols used to carry voice signals over the IP network are commonly referred to as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols.

Voice over IP traffic may be deployed on any IP network, including ones lacking a connection to the rest of the Internet, for instance on a private building-wide LAN.

[source: Wikipedia.org]