Newsletter #90 VoIP - Why Is It Important?

Created on 12/08/04

A special hello to all new subscribers. This article is on the Web at this address.

The last newsletter (29th June, 2004) was "Building a Great B2B Website"

VoIP (or Voice over IP) is something you should be hearing lots about lately, why? Because it is changing the telecommunications world dramatically.

So what is VoIP? It is the ability to send voice information digitally in discrete packets rather than via the circuit-based protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) run by telecommunication providers. In simple terms you can make telephone calls using an Internet connection. This is important because generally users pay their local Internet connection charges regardless of where they are calling in the world. Widespread use of VoIP would threaten the traditional distance and time-based pricing models used by telecoms worldwide.

So what, there are plenty of companies offering cheap toll calls, many using VoIP? That's true but there a number of recent developments and trends that will accelerate VoIP growth.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERNET STRATEGY -- If you or your company are planning an Internet development why not give us a call? Often we find that business managers or owners don't see all the possibilities or fully understand how the Internet can be used within their business. First consultation free. Check out this page or just reply to this email.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Broadband Internet

Usage is growing rapidly and becoming ubiquitous, especially in the business market in developed countries. 55% of adult Internet users now have access to high speed Internet in the US.

With broadband connections VoIP can support higher quality calls, close to what is available currently on the traditional switched network. Also because broadband connections are 'always on' your Internet device is normally always available to make calls.

Wi-Fi

In April last year we wrote a newsletter Wi-Fi, Why Not? where we explained why Wi-Fi was such an important new technology as it allowed a broadband connection to be shared within a certain area. We also talked about how several companies were planning to add Wi-Fi to mobile phones - well it is actually about to happen.

According to news sources Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and NEC will all be releasing hybrid phones later this year. These hybrids phones will let people make connections using a local wireless Internet access point and automatically switch over to a cell phone network whenever necessary. In theory a customer could start a call on an office Wi-Fi network, switch to their normal cellphone network when they leave the building and then conclude the call on a home Wi-Fi network - all without interruption. That's the theory anyway.

Now these phones will initially be expensive and targeted at business customers, but experts believe that within two years the consumer will be the focus.

Computer-based VoIP

There are at least two companies that are making big plays in this market.

1. Skype http://www.skype.com/ is a (P2P) "peer-to-peer" software-based, technology that lets any computer user talk to almost any telephone in the world. Until recently this software only allowed you to talk to other Skype users, computer-to-computer for free.
   
   However now what the company calls SkypeOut also allows you to call almost any land or mobile phone line in the world at ridiculously low prices. For example you can call any cellphone or landline in the US, from anywhere in the world, for €0.02 or around US 2 cents a minute!
   
   Calls can be made from an enormous range of Internet appliances and users can carry their entire Skype account in keychain storage.
   
2. Vonage http://www.vonage.com/ provide you with a free phone adaptor that you plug into your broadband Internet connection. Because Vonage uses VoIP they can offer your phone calls at very low prices eg. $US 29.99 per month for unlimited calls in the US and Canada. Note this service seems to be available to US and Canadian residents only.

When you look at the trends and developments we've described it's obvious that VoIP will be a huge force on the telecommunications landscape. Particularly at risk are the traditional telecoms with huge public switched networks and those companies who spent $billions on wireless 3G licences.

To the fore will be Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and others who seize the opportunities like Skype and Vonage.

"..like a laser entering a crystal, the influence of the Internet refracted immediately and colored everything it touched." James Daly Business 2.0

Newbies

Power Users

The easiest way to open a file that you use very often is by using a keyboard shortcut. In Explorer, select the file you want, right click and select "Create a Shortcut". The shortcut will save by default in the same directory, but you can move it to the desktop or elsewhere if you like. Right click on the shortcut and choose "Properties" and the "Shortcut" tab. Click in the "Shortcut key" box and go "Ctrl"+"Shift"+ the key you want and click on "OK". When you next use this combination of keys, your file will open automatically.

For previous tips visit the Power Hot Tips page.

A useful tool for Web Developers is Prog which displays Google search results with additional details: PageRank, incoming links and metadata. It is obvious after a few searches that PageRank (Google's calculation of how important the page based on link popularity) isn't the sole determinant of how a page ranks. Hmmm.... Netinsites No.2 for "Internet Strategy" http://www.webmasterbrain.com/prog/

Based on Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, h2g2 is the unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything. According to the site: "It's like an encyclopedia, only better because all of the entries are written by people like you!" http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/

No new articles this month.

To search through all the articles in our online database use the search function on any page of our Website.

"The human mind treats a new idea the same way that the body treats a strange protein - it rejects it." Sir Peter Medawar

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

To access previous newsletters visit our newsletter archive.

If you want to subscribe to this newsletter just visit www.netinsites.com and use the box at the top right.

Best wishes

Alex Garden

Internet Strategy | Website Design | Website Promotion | Web Text Messaging | Email Newsletters | Online Sports Games | Content Management