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Serving Western North Carolina since 1990 |
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PCC @ your Service |
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Volume 3, Issue 1, January 28, 2005 |
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Voice over IP (VOIP) will change the way we think about communication services. This technology allows you to purchase phone services from many different vendors. As long as you have a high-speed broadband Internet connection, you can obtain phone services from a variety of companies. The phone company monopoly is finally over. This technology allows the free market to set phone service prices. This technology uses the Internet for voice calls. A Broadband Phone Adapter is connected to your home or office network. You can then connect a standard phone to this device. Voice calls are broken into packets and sent across the Internet. At the other end, the packets are put back together and sent to their final destination over standard phone lines. Local Number Portability (LNP) promises that you can keep your existing phone number. That promise is upheld in large metropolitan areas. In the Asheville area, the best you can do is a number with a local prefix. Even that is not offered by all VOIP vendors at this time. For an extra monthly charge, you can get a toll-free number. With Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) you are limited to a phone number in the area of your home or office. With VOIP, you could be located in Asheville and have a number local to Atlanta. This would be advantageous for businesses with a majority of customers in a certain area, or for individuals with family in another area. You can take your Broadband Phone Adapter with you and have your phone service wherever you go. Once set up, you can plug your Broadband Phone Adapter into any high-speed Internet connection and make and receive phone calls just as if you were in your home or office. Some VOIP vendors offer “Softphones.” This is software that allows you to make and receive phone calls over your computer using a standard computer headset. Anywhere you can get high-speed Internet with your laptop computer, you can make and receive phone calls. The quality of the call is almost as good as a POTS call. The quality can be affected by available bandwidth. If you are part of a peer-to-peer network such as KAZA or if a computer on your network is infected with viruses, you may notice substantial problems with your service. Fax machines, modems, and some security systems have problems with VOIP connections. As this technology matures, even these problems will be overcome. |
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Voice over IP, The New Phone Company |
