Archive for the ‘Conferencing Services’ Category
AT&T Carbon Impact Assessment Tool
Do you know how big your carbon footprint is? Websites like iFootprint.com work well for determining your individual carbon footprint, but what about your business? As usual, AT&T has you covered.
AT&T’s new online Carbon Impact Assessment Tool (CIAT) does exactly that – it assesses the carbon effect of your business based on a number of aspects, including the amount of employees you have, the overall size of the company, how frequently you and your staff travel for business as well as a number of other factors. The AT&T CIAT then takes that information and recommends specific AT&T services based on your answers that can help your business shrink its carbon footprint.
Sure it might seem like a cheesy way to market UC (unified communications), telepresence technology such as web and video conferencing, and other enterprise collaboration services, but the fact of the matter is that it does a lot as far as getting the word out about environmental sustainability.
It was only a few short years ago that the telecommunications industry’s attention to green strategies and environmental sustainability seemed to hit its peak of excitement. Although it might be on the back burner now due to recent events (for example, the Verizon union strike), providers are acting like ducks on the water – they appear calm on the surface, but are paddling like crazy under the water, employing solutions to increase their own energy efficiency, while offering their customers improved options to do the same.
This has resulted in an increase of business-class energy efficient services, such as audio conferencing, web conferencing, and video conferencing solutions, as well as residential energy management and automation services (which is predicted to become a huge new profit opportunity for providers). In fact, earlier this week, ABI Research, a market intelligence company specializing in global connectivity and emerging technology, reported that carrier involvement in the residential energy industry might even aid in moving almost 12 million units of home automation systems by 2016.
AT&T has been considerably aggressive in using energy efficient technologies in its daily operations, and in an effort to expand its involvement in this area of the market, purchased Xanboo – and it doesn’t stop there. Arguably the pioneer in telecommunications company’s business sustainability efforts, BT has already spent years conducting its own in-house carbon evaluations. Other telecommunications service providers have also established comparable programs in order to improve the sales pitch for their specific solutions.
No Comments »SIP Trunking
In the realm of telecommunications, SIP trunking has become one of the most talked about and fastest moving elements of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) due to the large number of benefits it offers. SIP trunking is provides a cutting-edge working environment by acting as a platform for delivering unified communications, offers centralization of lines into a business, cost-efficient calling as well as fast failover/recovery.
Unfortunately however, enterprise customers, service providers and manufacturers are beginning to learn that it is not the easiest service to implement. For starters, in regards to implementation, SIP trunks must be as clean as existing analog and digital installations. Many discover issues after hasty installations that lack careful thought for continuing service management and quality of service. Simply setting up the system, connecting the SIP trunks, and testing for dial tone is not enough. It is imperative to get the correct documentation for configuration of the PBX and session border controller/edge device in order to get SIP trunks to register and work. Moreover, without planning, testing, and monitoring the installation, you risk your SIP trunks dropping and reconnecting simultaneously, dropped calls, and poor quality. This leads to angry customers looking for answers, and their frustrations are increased when they find their service provider and installation companies failing to take ownership for the problem and instead they blame each other.
As a customer, it is important to know that there are ways to overcome these headaches prior to installation. Ask for recommendations. Do some research; look at case studies from the manufacturers and service providers – ask them about their support team, experience with installations, their solutions to any problems that have arisen, Service Level Agreements, conforming to network standards and interoperability testing. The more experience and knowledge they have, the better your chances are of finding the best provider and solution for your unique needs.
When you decide upon your solution and provider, it is important to test both in various scenarios subsequent to installation. Test your new SIP trunks in multiple call situations, such as conferencing, call transfers, etc. Test your provider’s support team at different hours of different days (for example, if you call on a Friday at 5:00pm) to gauge their knowledge level and response time.
Don’t just take my word for it – for more information on SIP trunking and how it can benefit your business give one of our professional account managers a call today!
Business Solutions: An Overview of Data and Internet Services
If you want to have a fast, reliable and dedicated data and internet service provider, there are several important features to look into prior to signing with a particular provider to ensure that you find the best option to address your business’s needs. For example, there are multiple types of Internet connections, such as traditional dial-up, DSL (digital subscriber line), DIA, T1 and T3 service to name a few.
Start by assessing your business’s bandwidth needs; if you are heavily involved in e-commerce, research, manage your own server, or if you employ a large number of staff, your heavy bandwidth consumption should be well-supported by a dedicated Internet connection that can increase bandwidth when necessary. Today, providers offer burstable solutions with access speeds that can reach up to 10,000 Mbps.
Secondly, if your business handles a heavy flow of important or confidential data that is accessible to multiple users, it is essential that you select a service or services that can provide a high level of security. Thankfully, most providers on the market today offer comprehensive security solutions that cover everything from your email and web browsing to audio, video, and web conferences.
Another important aspect to remember (and a deal-breaker for many small and start-up businesses) is affordability. The good news is that you shouldn’t let the “big dogs” scare you away. Typically customers associate big name brands with big prices, but thankfully that is not always the case. Often large, nationwide or worldwide companies offer the most competitive pricing, with the added bonus of things like Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with guaranteed uptime and even compensation for downtime.
Businesses with multiple locations or branch offices often choose to employ multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) solutions as a cost-efficient and reliable way to stay connected. If you run your business in different parts of the world, a Private Line service is more practical when it comes to eliminating infrastructure costs. Our unique and long-standing partnerships with the industry’s top providers allow us to provide flexible bandwidth and better solutions for complicated network connectivity problems.
On the other hand, you might prefer an Ethernet Solution. Considered as the most well-known and inexpensive computer networking technology for site backbone in a single building, Ethernet allows sharing of data and resources among different machines including your fax, printer and scanner.
There are so many solutions on the market today that it’s easy to get confused as to which one would work best for you and your business. We encourage you to browse through T1Everywhere.com to learn more about these services, or if you prefer, give one of our professional account managers a call. We will talk you through it and can help determine the ideal solution for your unique needs.
Here at T1Everywhere.com we have teamed up the industry’s best service providers to equip your business with reliable and cost-efficient communication facilities. Our goal is to help your business acquire the best solution.
Unified Communications? What’s That?
While there is multiple definitions of what Unified Communications is depending upon who you ask, the industry definition is as follows:
Unified Communications is the integration of communication services, including unified messaging (such as e-mail, fax, SMS or short message service, and integrated voicemail) with real-time communication services like Internet Protocol telephony, instant messaging, call and speech control, presence information, and video conferencing. Unified Communications is not simply one product, but a collection of products that offers a uniform unified user interface and user experience across multiple media types and devices.
Still confused? Simply put, Unified Communications – at its most elementary level – occurs every time one of your communications tools becomes cognizant of another of your communications tools. For example, if your voicemail system notifies you via email with an attached file of the message, that is considered Unified Communications. If your phone’s included directory lets you peruse to find a person’s telephone number that is also Unified Communications.
To break it down even further, let’s establish our own vocabulary for this article:
- For starters, let’s just say that anything that does the work of a telephone (i.e. speaking with another in real-time using your voice) is called “telephony.” Many would like to limit this to Internet Protocol telephony or Voice over Internet Protocol, but that is unnecessary
- Secondly, we’ll call everything involving multimedia, image, text, or voice messaging transmission between parties that is not in real time (including texting, voicemail, fax, and email) “messaging”
- Thirdly, we’ll call everything involving multiple party communications in real-time, such as web, video and audio conferencing “conferencing and collaboration”
- And finally, let’s call that which allows you to see who is accessible or available “presence”
Now that we have established our vocabulary, we can define Unified Communications as telephony, united with messaging, conferencing and collaboration, and enabled by presence. Simple as that!
Unified Communications can be acquired in one swoop, or one piece at a time; either way, it is an essential launch pad to the next telecom buzz-word knows as CEPB, or Communications Enabled Business Practices.” There you have it! When it’s broken down to its simplest form, Unified Communications is much easier to understand.
Additional Resources
To find out more about Unified Communications, and Unified Communications providers, contact one of our professional account managers today! We can also answer any questions you might have, so give us a call!
Tips and Tricks to Increase your Meeting Productivity
When done correctly, audio conference calls and web conference calls can save your business huge amounts of time and money associated with regular business travel. Our team here at T1Everywhere has put together a list of tips and tricks to use the next time you decide to hold a conference call to ensure your meetings are as effective as possible.
Prior to your meeting consider running a few mock conference calls. This will accomplish a few things: help make sure that you have the proper time allotted to cover your material, that you can iron out any kinks that might arise, and allow you to familiarize yourself with your audio conference and/or web conference call features; (that last part is key when trying to appear professional to customers and prospective clients).
Secondly, set a reasonable time for your conference call to take place. Generally speaking, on an audio conference call or web conference call passes the one hour mark, participants begin to lose interest and tune out. Keeping your audience engaged in your meeting is essential to reaching your full conference call potential, and will ensure you receive the greatest return on your conferencing services investment.
In addition to keeping your attendees engaged, it is equally important to keep them actively participating in your discussions. Encourage dialogue. Ask questions directed at specific participants – chances are you’re more likely to get a response than if you ask your entire audience, who will probably sit silent waiting for someone else to answer. If you’re conducting a web conference you have the benefit of question and answer sessions, polling, and other robust features that offer instant feedback. However, be sure to use your features wisely, too much of a good thing – such as PowerPoint slides – can also send your audience into a zombie like state. (Side note: if you have attendees that regularly attend your meeting but fail to participate chances are they are dead weight and probably don’t need to be there in the first place).
Collaboration is another crucial part of running a successful and productive conference call. If you’re hosting a web conference, make sure your webcam is turned on and your participants have a clear shot of you. It’s hard to connect with someone when you’re talking to a telephone or computer screen; thankfully web conference calls allow you to mirror face-to-face interaction via webcam.
Follow these tips and tricks and you’ll be well on your way to your most productive meetings yet! See anything we missed? Please let us know!
XO Communications Ethernet Expansion
XO Communications is currently undertaking major enhancements in regards to its Ethernet-based products in order to improve the quality and reliability of its services, and to further expand their Ethernet-over-copper footprint. Our team at T1Everywhere.com was able to get the scoop from XO Communications carrier account executive, Cory Tolliver; here’s what we found out:
XO Communications plans to add 28 EoC LSOs in 8 markets nation-wide, including:
- Los Angeles
- Las Vegas
- Austin
- Phoenix
- Atlanta
- San Francisco
- New York
- Boston
In the Los Angeles area, XO plans to roll out with an alternative vendor EoC offering in addition to the EoC LSO expansion that will triple the current LA EoC coverage. The new coverage is said to include an added 58 LSOs in the greater Los Angeles area; pricing will be somewhat higher than XO’s current EoC rates, but considerably less than Ethernet over DS1 service.
XO is also developing a collection of enhanced tools that will allow its network planning/capacity management team to correlate demands on its multiple network components, and should provide a better view of available Ethernet capacity in its LSOs. In the meantime, XO has appointed a dedicated Program Manager in order to propel network construction to meet XO’s rising demands, and has lessened the triggers for replenishing network capacity.
In regards to configuration management, XO plans to deploy a new element management system that provides a layer between the equipment and XO technicians. Currently, in any XO Ethernet circuit there are several different layers of equipment that can eventually (as the customer’s needs expand) increase the risk of potential configuration mistakes and impact customers from a single change. The new system will ensure all configurations are properly applied, decreasing the risk of configuration mistakes, and will prohibit service impacting configuration changes.
New remote Ethernet testing will permit XO to isolate problem areas and eliminat4e the need for field dispatches via sophisticated diagnostic capabilities and the ability to run current “state of the practice” Remote Call Forwarding 2544 testing in minutes. Furthermore, making the transition from traditional TDM services to the new Ethernet testing will improve trouble ticket and troubleshooting response times as well as allow XO to respond to testing requirements quicker and more efficiently.
Additional Information
To find out more about how XO Communications Ethernet services and other services offered by XO Communications can help improve your business, contact one of our professional account managers today!
The Power of Conference Calling Features
Remember the days when you were a kid and wished for superhero powers that you could use at your disposal? Well, today was one of those days for me, only I found myself wishing I had conferencing call features to use freely – maybe it’s a sign I need to get out of the office more, but I digress.
It all started this morning while waiting at the doctor’s office for a regular check-up where I got a call from the veterinarian that performed surgery on my cat’s broken leg a little more than a month ago. He wanted to discuss the additional surgery that would remove the pins that are currently in his leg; however, it was more than difficult for us to hear each other over the noise going on in the background.
Office machines, doctors being paged to this department and that, parents with their children playing or crying, and the average noise of everyday life – while completely acceptable – can seriously hinder your ability to deliver or receive important information effectively. I imagined silencing the noise with the simple wave of a magic wand, which by the way, it’s still a shame those don’t really exist yet.
Then it hit me. Industry leading conferencing providers like InterCall, who owns and maintains the most technologically advanced conferencing equipment worldwide, include a number of calling features in their conferencing services. For example, in the event that your InterCall conference encounters any type of disturbance, the host has a range of options to choose from, including the ability to conduct a roll call, mute/un-mute participant lines, record the call, etc.. In addition, InterCall provides professional operator support before, during, and after your conference calls. Now if only this technology could be developed to provide this functionality in the doctor’s office – I’d be sure to only harness my conference calling powers for the good of mobile workers everywhere, sort of like a modern day Robin Hood of conference calling!
If you’re considering conference calling services for your company then you’ve come to the right place. At T1Everywhere.com our experienced and professional team follows a process of assessment, analysis, and recommendations to offer our clients the highest possible return on investment and find them the ideal unified conferencing solution to meet their unique conferencing needs. Contact one of our professional account managers today to learn more!
Web Conferencing Best Practices
When you can’t meet face-to-face, web conferencing provides a convenient and effective way to collaborate and exchange information without the costs and hassle associated with business travel. That being said, when the time comes for you to run your own web conference, there are a few important things to keep in mind to ensure your meeting is as effective as possible, including:
Pre-plan
Planning ahead of time – like with any other type of conference – is crucial to ensuring the success of your meeting. While it is impossible to predict every issue that may occur, setting up a dry-run of your conference will help iron out any issues in advance, and spare you the embarrassment of looking like a rookie. Be sure to go over the topics you will be discussing thoroughly until you are satisfied that your presentation will run smoothly.
Stay on Schedule
Make sure you are prepared to start and end your meeting promptly. If the invite you send out states that your meeting begins at 2:00pm, make sure it starts exactly at 2:00pm. Not 2:05 or even 2:01. Consider even joining your meeting a few minutes early in case any of your attendees have trouble logging in. The same rule goes for ending your meeting as well. And do not forget to manage your meeting time wisely, and allot time for polling, Q&A sessions, and other features you plan to include.
To Record or Not to Record, That is the Question
Remember the information you share – no matter how private – in your web conference can be saved by your attendees. If you do decide to record your meeting, make sure you restrict access to your personal information stored on your computer to ensure it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.
Get the Message Out
Planning your meeting far in advance may be helpful for you, but it’s likely your attendees are very busy with other tasks and could forget the date or time of your meeting you planned a month ago. To avoid this and help guarantee your audience shows up on time, send out reminders one week, one day, and one hour prior to your meeting taking place.
Keep your Attendees Engaged
What good would all your hard work be if your audience is not engaged in the material? Even though you aren’t meeting in-person, web conferencing provides features that allow you to chat and collaborate in real-time. Take advantage of the features your web conferencing provider offers, such as polling and Q&A sessions, to get your participants actively involved and help make your meeting as productive as possible.
Collect Feedback
Allow your attendees to share their opinions and thoughts on how your web conference went to increase the effectiveness and productivity of future meetings.
Getting SaaS-y
Just like large enterprises, small businesses need the latest and greatest applications and software. Unlike large enterprises, however, small businesses likely do not possess the human resources, funds, or time to employ a premises-based solution or the ongoing support of applications; and that’s exactly where Software as a Service comes into play.
The Software as a Service (SaaS) model allows businesses to pay a monthly per-use fee to a provider to access licensed software via the Internet. In short, that equates to no support requirements, no upfront expenses, automatic configurations and updates, and faster time-to-market, which reduces the drag on your IT department. Compared to on-premises solutions which typically take months before they’re up and running, SaaS can be ready to go in weeks – or even days. Additionally, SaaS enables you to effortlessly support a distributed workforce for enhanced support for mobile workers, and increased productivity. All of this translates into huge competitive advantages for small and seasonal businesses.
With SaaS, all your employees need is an Internet connection to gain access to an application as if it were fixed on his or her desktop. And the benefits of Software as a Service don’t just end there; businesses with seasonal requirements can adjust their subscriptions to match the scale of their needs. Within your contract, if additional seats are needed, SaaS can easily be scaled up; likewise, if the amount of seats needs to be scaled down, SaaS can do that as well.
Are you considering Software as a Service? Here are a few questions to help you decide:
- Do you own, or are you part of a small or seasonal business or home office looking to relieve your overworked IT staff?
- Does your business lack the resources or capital to build an entirely new infrastructure?
- Do you require your data to be backed up but also need to be up and running quickly?
- Would you rather not have to deal with updating versions of software or applications?
According to Yankee Group Research analyst Steve Hilton, “SaaS blows that former model out of the water.” What’s unfortunate for smaller businesses that answer ‘yes’ to the above questions, is that many don’t know this alternative exists.
Eventually, as more companies begin to realize its benefits vis-à-vis implementing a premises-based solution, SaaS will become a fixture in the communications industry. In due course, larger organizations will come to see the advantages of freeing up their IT staff to focus on mission-critical issues while maintaining the same control over their software, and ultimately turn out to be targets for SaaS providers as well.
Prepaid, Postpaid, and Hybrid Services
Prepaid services are stepping into the light and becoming an essential part of the lineup for service providers that compete with blended service bundles that mix pre and post-paid services within an account. As a result, billing systems are also continuously evolving in order to support these developing portfolios.
Hybrid service models are said to increase the value for a prepaid customer, especially if it includes a loyalty or bonus program that will entice them to remain with the same operator. Converged services also add to the likelihood of prepaid customers to employ premium services (something most prepaid customers typically shy away from) because of the better value they provide.
Hybrid services are quickly becoming a function of a need for service modernization. Service providers are often hindered by uncompromising systems in efforts to roll out new service sets. How could this be? Unfortunately, offers vary depending upon how you pay. Traditionally, there are two different infrastructures for pre and postpaid services, causing providers to be constrained and unable to create compelling offers.
According to Intec Telecom Systems’ director of business solutions, Jack Storer, “service providers are in the midst of a transition. With declining voice revenues, they are trying to become media and content companies. They are competing in this space with anything from cable companies to Web companies, such as Google, Yahoo! Inc., iTunes and Netflix Inc. In order to effectively compete with these new adversaries, service providers will have to invest heavily in their legacy BSS infrastructures [to become more flexible.”
When it comes to consumers, enterprises and customers are generally looking for “family” plans that allow different billing rules to be applied to different people within the same account, and customization in the way of a-la-carte bundle building. With family plans, for example, a number of selected salesmen or women within a company may be given a prepaid account for text messaging and unlimited postpaid voice access. Also, customers are insistent upon more e-commerce and content options, which tend to involve prepaid models.
All of these evolving services come with an increased expectation of customer care. Regardless of whether they are prepaid, postpaid, hybrid, or part of an a-la-carte or family plan, customers want the ability to mix and match data, messaging, voice, community and family services with convenient payment options. Without those options, customers are much less likely to increase service usage, implement new services, or pay for more than a fairly basic plan.
AT&T Improves Smartphone Management for Businesses
A growing number of businesses are employing mobile technology as a crucial business tool; however, companies with corporate information on mobile devices are challenged with visibility as far as what is happening with applications, costs, data, and security. MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform is the latest service provided by AT&T for businesses of any size to help secure and better manage smartphones operating on multiple systems within their organization. Installation for MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform for AT&T is simple, user-friendly, and able to be up and running in a corporate network in no time.
AT&T’s MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform provides visibility for incorporated devices across multiple wireless service providers and those running on numerous mobile operating systems. MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform also offers both employee and company owned smartphones over-the-air control and protection. Even on employee-owned smartphones, MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform offers mobile and IT workers enhanced cost control and data security without compromising privacy.
The years of discussions and waiting for the much anticipated mobile enterprise are over – it’s finally here. Today, smartphones are transforming the way businessmen and women work and perform their daily tasks. A growing number of businesses of all embracing employee and company smartphones, and AT&T hopes to escalate that number even higher with their new MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform.
By 2014, the global mobile device management market is expected to grow to reach $382.7 million in revenue – over the subsequent five years equating to a CAGR of 7.6 percent – according to a recent IDC market share report.
The senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Enterprise Software program, Stacy Crook, believes that “the increasing acceptance of individual-liable devices in the enterprise will continue to be an important driver of activity for mobile device management throughout the forecast period.” She associates this with the added security risks individual-liable devices can present as well as the mounting number of mobile operating systems that IT will be required to support.
In short, AT&T’s new MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform service helps businesses to better manage and secure their company and employee owned smartphones that operate on multiple systems within their organization. With the addition of MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform’s management service, customers can manage their devices across multiple platforms quickly, simply, and efficiently.
Here at T1Everywhere, we partner with AT&T and other leading providers in telecommunications services to provide our customers with the best solutions at the best prices available in the market today. Contact one of our account managers today to see what AT&T’s MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform – and our other services – can do for your business!
InterCall Makes Streaming Interactive
InterCall is a leading global provider of web, audio, and video conferencing. With over 75,000 organizations and 425,000 conference hosts around the globe, it’s safe to say that InterCall has enough experience and knowledge under their belt to continue to flourish in the ever-changing telecommunications industry for a lifetime.
As one of the top providers of conferencing services, has launched a new collaboration and communications tool that allows you to increase the mobility, flexibility, and interactivity of streaming events via integrating social media functionality, mobile technologies, and SMS polling.
The platform, appropriately dubbed InterCall Streaming, can be purchased through InterCall’s indirect sales partners and incorporates features, such as SMS polling via text message, which allows users to provide instant feedback away from their computers.
Users can also follow the event or Tweet about it themselves by logging into their account directly from the application’s module navigator – the “Twitter hash-tag” is automatically incorporated into users’ Tweets.
InterCall states that the new tools that come with the Streaming platform enable attendees and presenters to interact in real-time. For instance, presenters can conduct quick polls to test attendees’ understanding and retention of information during a training session; any attendees that do not answer all of the polling questions will not receive credit for completing the training.
Likewise, InterCall’s Streaming tools also allow attendees to contribute to a presentation by responding to polls and asking questions about the content. Responses from the presenter can be issued in group or individual chats in real-time throughout the duration of the presentation.
Completely Flash-based, InterCall Streaming also permits hosts to share their desktop without any required installations, and ensures all presentations are conducted with the highest quality through the use of integrated video encoding. Additionally, viewers have the ability to zoom in on graphs, charts, and slides, and PowerPoint presentation videos are automatically streamed and encoded during webcasts.
Here at T1Everywhere, we partner with the leading service providers in the industry to help you find and take advantage of the ideal solution for your unique business needs. Our close relationship with our providers helps us offer you these services at the lowest available rates. Still unsure? Request a quote on T1Everywhere.com today and take advantage of the countless services InterCall – the premier conferencing service provider – and all our other providers have to offer your businesses. We look forward to proving to you why doing business with us is the right choice.
How Online Web Conferencing Can Improve Marketing?
As companies cope with countless cut-backs during the recession, the job duties of marketing professionals continues to grow, and can include everything from analyst and media relations, to training sales representatives, maintaining the proper public image, and aiding in product development.
The easiest way to achieve these objectives – and more – is through online web conferencing. Online web conferencing helps:
- Analyst and media relations: online web conferencing provides file sharing for easy distribution of images, press releases, and videos for product demos, as well as keeps marketing professionals in close contact via virtual press conferences and webinars.
- Training: online web conferencing offers remote training software for your sales team, and provides an efficient means to stay in touch with your staff for any assistance.
- Aiding in product development: webinars are provided free of charge to help gauge the interest of your target demographic. Online web conferencing also allows you to host focus groups in diverse regions, and offers polls and surveys for immediate customer feedback.
Additional Resources
Contact one of our professional account managers today to see how online web conferencing can help you streamline your marketing activities!
What Are the Requirements for VoIP Service?
Any person or business with access to a high-speed Internet connection can utilize VoIP. The only equipment needed is a telephone adapter to convert your current telephone into a VoIP phone, and/or a router – if you don’t already have one with you broadband connection – which are often sold via your VoIP service provider. Because VoIP products and services are constantly evolving, phones designed for VoIP as well as video-phones (phones that display images while conversing) are now readily available.
5 Benefits of VoIP
VoIP involves reassigning voice into digital data over the Internet. Today, scores of major conglomerates – including Yahoo, AOL and MSN – and households are utilizing VoIP because of the many benefits it provides. For example, VoIP users are able to save on valuable bandwidth because the reassigned digital data is smaller than a standard electrical unit.
VoIP technology is ever-evolving, and the list of its advantages continues to grow. Those considering making the switch from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to VoIP should keep these top 5 benefits in mind:
- Economical
VoIP allows business and residential customers to save on local and long distance telephone calls – many VoIP service providers offer unlimited plans for all local and long distance calls. Leading computer companies prefer to employ VoIP with their Instant Messaging (IM) programs. Presently, AOL, Yahoo, and MSN IM programs permit pc-to-pc phone calls. - Application Integration
VoIP systems save time and money by combining email, data, audio, video, and web applications with telephone requirements to create one simple application. You can then access all of your programs as well as use your phone simultaneously, providing more simplicity and greater freedom. - Flexibility
VoIP users to bring their telephone adapter with them, and use their telephone number in any location that has an Internet connection – including internationally. Furthermore, if you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, you can take phone calls on the same number as well, making it an economical solution for mobile workers and frequent travelers. - Pick Your Own Area Code
VoIP service providers let the customer decide their own area code. This makes it a great choice for someone with business partners, employees, friends or family in remote or out of state locations, because they are able to call you without be charged any long distance fees. Occasionally, VoIP providers will extend area codes to other countries. - Free Features
VoIP service providers often offer unlimited calling plans that include features that usually cost extra with Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phone services, such as caller ID, voice mail, call forwarding, do not disturb, and call block. Due to VoIP’s application integration, the majority of providers offer online management and control of your features.