VoIP
A new way for companies and the public to handle their need for an answer service is to use a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. VoIP is an internet protocol used for the transmission of telephony signals over the World Wide Web in compressed digital audio form. Whereas previously widespread use of VoIP was impossible due to the expense of maintaining a web connection of sufficient speed and capacity, the increased prevalence of high speed broadband connections has ensured that its use is now within the capability of small businesses and even private individuals.
Competition
A number of firms have rapidly developed to exploit this new market, with companies such as Skype and Vonage offering free or cheap calls over the World Wide Web; many established telecommunications companies have responded and now offer VoIP packages of their own. This fierce competition means that many packages are available that can significantly reduce the phone bills of users.
Use
Aside from the standard features of making and receiving voice calls and acting as a virtual answering service, VoIP has a number of advantages over traditional telecommunications, or rather it makes functionality available to the everyday user that was previously only available at a high price.
Conference calling and user ID usually come as standard rather than being additional services as is often the case with conventional phone services; similarly it is much easier to implement advanced call security, negating the need to obtain expensive additional devices.
Another advantage of VoIP over standard telecoms is the ease of integration with the many useful applications available to PC users. Instead of making do with a phone with a limited user interface and memory for numbers, users can access a fully featured database of contacts, containing many pieces of information. Similarly, it is a straightforward matter for the user to access call logs, billing details and other technical information that would usually require a request to the company holding the data.
Quality Issues
As with any communications technology, there are issues over quality and clarity. Since the data for VoIP is transmitted digitally in the form of packets of data, any factors which can cause any of these packets to be lost will result in degradation of call quality and possible loss of information. Such factors could include the failure of network servers (in theory resulting in rerouting, but increasing the possibility of packet loss) and network congestion: the latter can include either the network connection through which the user accesses the internet and the networks used by the company providing the VoIP service.
Hardware
With the increasing use of VoIP, specialised hardware is now becoming available to allow more user-friendly access. The standard method of accessing the service is via a computer-based softphone: in this case the user makes calls via virtual phone software housed on a particular PC, using a microphone and speakers or headset. The use of a phone-like VoIP adapter, however, allows the user to make calls without the need to use a computer. Many mobile phone/cell phone contracts also now carry free VoIP calls as part of the bundle of services provided: when deciding on a new contract it is worth checking if such calls are included.