VoIP Bandwith

A long-standing question for potential VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) consumers is “How much bandwidth does a VoIP phone require to make quality telephone calls?”

First of all, Bandwidth is defined as the ability to transfer data (such as a VoIP telephone call) from one point to another in a fixed amount of time. The higher the bandwidth speed you have, the more data you can send over your Broadband Internet connection.

There are two types of bandwidth at your location: upload bandwidth and download bandwidth. The Upload Bandwidth is the amount of data you can send to the Internet and download bandwidth is the amount of data you can receive from the Internet. The more Internet bandwidth you have from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) the better.

In most cases, the normal VoIP telephone call will use up 90 Kbps (kilobits per second). If you have a Broadband Internet service provider that doesn’t offer much bandwidth then most VoIP providers give you the option to lower the VoIP voice quality by lowering the bandwidth used for VoIP calls to 60 Kbps or, to really conserve your bandwidth, 30 Kbps. Most people can’t tell the difference between the three settings. We suggest you use the high sound quality setting (90 Kpbs in most cases), if bandwidth is not an issue. High VoIP voice quality is generally the default setting but if you are running into a situation where your bandwidth is limited then you can adjust your VoIP bandwidth to one of the lower settings. Some consumers with 128 Kbps upload connections can receive less VoIP service quality due to a poor quality ISP (Internet Service Provider). By selecting a lower quality VoIP bandwidth setting, this problem can be avoided.

If you plan on using a VoIP service provider, should you get a DSL or a Cable Internet access provider? In general, DSL upload bandwidth starts at 128k where as Cable Internet upload bandwidth starts at around 600k. Cable Internet is a little bit more expensive, but it is also about 4-5 times faster than residential DSL and a bit friendlier to a VoIP telephone call. Having said that, both DSL and cable modem high-speed services provide sufficient broadband Internet access bandwidth to support any of the top VoIP service providers. If you are experiencing low Broadband Internet Service provider bandwidth, we suggest you try Packet8 VoIP. Packet8 VoIP boasts an advanced compression technology in which each active voice line uses approximately only 23Kbps of total data throughput, upstream and downstream.

The amount of bandwidth that a VoIP provider requires to make a quality telephone call is only one thing to consider when choosing a VoIP service provider. In fact, there are many things to consider when choosing a VoIP provider. An educated consumer generally results in a satisfied consumer.

VoIP Carriers

The popularity of VoIP carrier services has grown over the time. There has also been a concomitant increase in the number of VoIP carriers that are catering to this spurt in demand. And many times, choosing the best carriers becomes a formidable task. In this article, we discuss some of the guidelines that need to be followed in choosing VoIP carriers that would be most likely to satisfy user needs.

1. The first and foremost step in choosing best carrier pertains to assessment of specific needs. A potential subscriber has to gauge individual requirements in order of priority. Some people may be interested in making long distance calls. Others could be interested in acquiring local numbers in distant lands. Still others could go for specialized services such as 3 way conference calling, call blocking, etc. among other things.

2. VoIP is an emerging technology wherein innovation plays a major part. Potential users should keep this in mind while selecting a carrier. Carriers offering attractive and sophisticated services should be preferred.

3. Cost is another major factor that needs to be taken into account. As it is, VoIP technology ensures lower telephony costs as compared to traditional phone networks. Moreover, the carriers that can minimize the “charges that are passed on to the consumers” need to be identified and favored. It makes sense to go with lower costs – even for innovative solutions such as IP telephony.

4. Last but not the least, potential users should give proper attention to the fine print while choosing the carriers to know more about the terms and conditions. Like they say, it is better to be safe than sorry.

The above mentioned points should be taken into account and one would be sure of zeroing in on the best and the most innovative carrier VoIP. Choosing the best one would not be such a formidable task after all!

VoIP Canada

It seems the New York Times has discovered that VOIP is alive and well in Canada. In an article today, the paper’s Canadian business corresponent Bernard Simon talks about how Canada’s incumbent carriers are facing a “serious threat to their long-entrenched dominance”. At best, this assessment is overly optimistic when you consider that Internet telephony players such as Vonage and Primus are just starting to offer the service to consumers. A more accurate take is that the Internet is allowing new competitors to enter the market without having to make massive infrastructure investments. This environment compares with the late-1990s when competitive carriers such as Norigen and OCI Communications took a stab at taking on Bell Canada – only to fail miserably after spending hundreds of millions of dollars. Before VOIP takes off in Canada, there needs to be regulatory changes that has kept the price of local service at low levels. VOIP also needs to become more user-friendly so that its installation in a multi-phone household can be plug and play.

VoIP Basics

It could be quite intimidating for the new person to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) with most articles or literature using significant amounts of jargon. This article will provide an overview of the terminology used in the VoIP arena but will not go into the actual detail of how VoIP works. Other articles by this author have been written in relation to basics of VoIP.

The first crucial term is VoIP which is the acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol or Voice Over IP being the ability to make telephone calls over the internet. Other relevant terms are included below along with a layman’s explanation:

ATA – Analog Telephone Adaptor – A device which converts analog telephone signal into a digital format for transmission over the Internet.

Codec – A compression/decompression algorithm used in IP telephony.

Ethernet – Used for Local Area Networks (LANs) and is a packet based transmission protocol.

PSTN – Public Switched Telephone Network – that is the standard landline based phone system.

QoS – Quality of Service – Refers to performance of the transmission system. For example is there any echo or delay.

SIP – Session Initiation Protocol – An application layer protocol that manages multimedia communications sessions.

VoIP Phone – Telephone device that looks like an ordinary telephone that connects to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) however has an Ethernet port to allow connection to a TCP/IP computer network.

So next time you are reading some literature or articles on VoIP where the writers or authors do not define the acronyms, you will know a little more about what exactly they are trying to say. Whilst there are obviously many more acronyms and jargon associated with VoIP, this article provides a starting point. It is suggested that this article should be read in conjunction with previous articles relating to the basics of VoIP.

VoIP Basic Architecture

VoIP technology seems to be great! But confused about how to go about it? That’s the common refrain of people wanting to graduate from a dial-up connection on to VoIP. The applications of VoIP technology are so surreal, so amazing that this dilemma is not exactly uncalled for.

But before we go into the applications of VoIP, let’s first understand as to what is VoIP. VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is a technological innovation allowing you to send data, audio & video concurrently over the internet, this transforms into minimal use of the available bandwidth thereby offering mind blowing transmission speeds.

VoIP has the potential to fulfill all your communication needs be it telephony, data transfer, video conferencing… your imagination is the limit. To move onto the big league, you would have to contact a VoIP service provider. These VoIP providers buy bandwidths from wholesale VoIP providers & sell it to individual customers at a premium.

Today the UK VoIP market is flush with a wide variety of VoIP providers, in order to truly enjoy VoIP you must be able to pick & choose the best provider as per your individual needs. This seems easy but it is not so, the VoIP carriers in their eagerness to corner larger chunks of the VoIP market often forgo quality & reliability.

But as it is said that ‘to every problem there’s a solution’, you can get past this hiccup on your way to super fast communication by taking expert advice from independent VoIP link providers. These websites being independent & impartial provide you with instant links to the best VoIP carrier in your area.

This way on one hand you get a broad overview about VoIP services & on the other hand ensure effortless transition in to the VoIP arena.