Before you can make an informed selection of an VoIP provider, you should know what is available to you. Providers approach VoIP from many directions, and each has its own unique pros and cons. This section looks at the major players in the VoIP industry. Keep in mind that some of these options may not be available in your area. After the tour, I will discuss some of the criteria you might use when making your selection. Pure VoIP providersFirst to the table were the pure VoIP providers. This is all they have ever done, and most of them are very good at what they do. They have spent more than a decade tweaking their systems for the best call quality and are a very good choice for most VoIP installations. Their systems are configured to make use of common Internet connection methods and do not force you to choose a specific type of Internet connection. Providers in this category typically offer free or subsidized telephone adapters and reasonably priced service plans. Many also offer free or low-cost international dialing to selected countries. Many providers in the category have the ability to add virtual numbers to your service. Virtual numbers allow you to add a number in the same area code as a friend, family member, or business associate to let them call you without long-distance charges. One provider (BroadVoice) even goes so far as to offer local numbers in the United Kingdom. With this option, relatives and friends in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland can call these numbers for free, ringing your phone in the United States. Evaluating a Pure VoIP ProviderBecause most major Pure VoIP providers offer technically equivalent VoIP technologies, they compete mostly on features and price. There are some minor differences with regard to the use of codecs and system reliability. You can find out more about these differences by using a resource such as the providers' Web sites to identify the codec in use. For questions about quality, Broadband Reports offers a VoIP service ranking on its Web site (www.broadbandreports.com). You may know someone who has experience with one ore more of these services. That person would be a good source of information on the quality of customer service offered by his or her provider and on the frequency and length of outages in your area. Table 2.1 lists some pure VoIP service providers. This list is by no means complete; a Google search for "home VoIP" will uncover hundreds of services operating in this market. These are providers that have been most active recently and that have generated the most positive buzz about their services.
Determining Service AvailabilityPure VoIP providers broker deals with local telephone carriers to get access to blocks of phone numbers in certain areas. They use these numbers to assign you a number that is local to callers in your community. You can find out whether a provider has local numbers in your area by using the availability tools on the provider's Web site or by calling its sales number. If the VoIP provider has not yet made an agreement with a local carrier, you may be offered a number from a neighboring community. Be sure to check whether this number is a local call in your community. If the lack of local numbers is not an issue for you, you can still obtain service; you just won't get a local number. Local Number Portability (LNP)Many VoIP providers will attempt to transfer your existing telephone number to your new service. This process is called local number portability (LNP). This transfer can take some time to accomplish, and your phone service that is using the number will be disconnected during that time. This can be an issue if you also have DSL Internet associated with this line, so be careful when activating this feature.
VoIP providers occasionally have difficulties transferring a number or may not be able to transfer it at all. When this happens, you will be given the choice of receiving a new number or canceling your service. VoIP BlockingSome pure VoIP providers have run into issues with local Internet providers. There have been documented cases in which a local Internet provider (which happens to have its own VoIP service) has blocked the VoIP traffic of a competing VoIP provider's subscribers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has had to become involved in a few cases and has levied fines against the local providers.
Established phone companiesNot to be outdone, many traditional phone companies are now offering VoIP service. Some companies offer VoIP as part of a complete package of phone, DSL Internet, and television programming. Because they own the wires to your home, they are in a position to offer significant savings on these communications bundles. Although it may seem counterproductive for a phone company to offer VoIP when it owns the phone wires, it makes sense if the local provider continues to enjoy your business, or when the provider wants to slip over the border and start signing up a competitor's customers. In fact, one of the most visible VoIP providers AT&T CallVantage seeks to offer VoIP telephone access in competition with your traditional phone company. There are significant pros and cons to this approach. Established providers of telephone services (and who is more established than AT&T?) have access to insider information and can perform local number portability effectively when others cannot. In addition, these companies have huge investments in infrastructure and own most of the network that will carry your voice data. This gives them better control of the quality of the service you receive. On the other hand, these companies are firmly entrenched in the business of telecommunications, and you may feel that they have had their day. Also, many consumers feel that the large telecommunications providers are not focused enough on providing good customer service. Evaluating Established Phone CompaniesWhen evaluating the services provided by established phone companies, you will consider many of the same aspects of service that you would with a pure VoIP provider. Codec, call quality, and service ratings, for example, are just as important for phone companies as they are for pure VoIP providers. You can also use the companies' Web sites to check for service availability in your area. As you can for pure VoIP providers, you can find rankings of service quality for these providers. Hold established phone companies to the same standards of service that you would expect from the startups, and you should be able to make an informed decision about the suitability of their services. Table 2.2 lists phone companies that have announced VoIP offerings.
Determining Service AvailabilityEstablished telecommunications companies must still make deals with local telephone carriers to get access to blocks of phone numbers. They use these numbers to assign you a number that is local to callers in your community. You can find out whether the provider has local numbers in your area by using the availability tools on its Web site or by calling its sales number. If the company you are evaluating happens to be your local carrier, it will definitely have more flexibility with numbers than other companies will. Availability of 911 services varies with these providers. Be sure to read their 911 access statements carefully so that you know what to expect. Cable companiesIn a bid to expand their revenue, many cable companies first began offering broadband Internet service and now offer phone service. Phone services with cable companies may differ significantly from what you may have come to expect with Voice over IP. Some cable companies simply add a telephone adapter to their broadband service; others install a completely separate solution requiring network interface units (NIU) to be installed on the side of your home. Still others use an expanded set-top box to provide telephone services. Whatever the solution, it will be specific to the cable company's infrastructure and will almost certainly require its own equipment to establish service. That is not to say that cable telephone services are not desirable. Many cable phone services offer very good call quality and competitive rates. Just compare them with your other VoIP options to be sure that you are getting the best value for your money. Do not be tempted by "single bill" offers unless you can be assured that they offer you bottom-line savings. Evaluating Cable Telephone ProvidersThe task of evaluating a cable telephone provider is simplified by the fact that you will likely only have one choice. You may also discover that the cable company representative cannot or will not provide information about voice codec or service reliability. That said, although cable companies are notorious for their unreliability, the telephone systems are built on their newest equipment and best cables. You are likely to have a good experience with this technology. Cable providers also have the advantage of better access to the 911 infrastructure and, therefore, have a higher likelihood of being able to provide the enhanced 911 services that you have come to expect from the local phone company. Ask for a trial period to use the service and verify its quality. Many providers will provide the service on a 30-day money-back guarantee. This way, you can test it before committing yourself to a long-term contract. The Effect of Cable OutagesMany people are concerned that a cable outage will also take down their phone service. This is a possibility but not a certainty. Cable companies use separate equipment to process cable and telephone service, and the two services are combined on a single cable only when they get near your home. For this reason, unless there is a cable break or storm damage, your phone service should continue to operate even during "technical difficulties" on the television side. Often, the phone equipment will also be supplied with backup power, keeping your service online even during a power outage. Determining Service AvailabilityYou will need to contact your local cable operator to determine whether it offers VoIP services. For large operators, you can do this by accessing the companies' Web sites and using their availability tools. You may have to contact a smaller operator by phone. Service may depend on your location within the company's infrastructure, as the company may not have had sufficient demand to build out to your area yet. If a cable company does not currently offer VoIP service, ask to be placed on a list to be notified when it becomes available. This is how cable companies track demand, and it may encourage them to move into your area sooner. Many cable operators can offer excellent 911 services because they employ Level 3 Communications' 911 services. When you evaluate cable companies' offerings, be sure to read any statements about 911 dialing carefully so that you know what to expect. Call the customer-service department if you are not sure. Internet access providers with VoIPWho could possibly know more about Internet technologies than an Internet access company? These companies have existed in one form or another since the commercialization of Internet access began in the early 1990s. Many large Internet providers now offer telephone service as one of their products. This service is a natural fit for them, as it uses their own infrastructure for distribution and they have direct control of the quality and reliability of the service. Evaluating an Internet Access ProviderTraditionally, people tend to change Internet providers as often as they change hairstyles (more often, in my case). If you are planning to tie your voice services to your Internet bill, you may have to resist the Internet access revolving-door habit. Many Internet access providers require you to use their Internet service to activate voice service. Internet access providers that offer telephone service may resell the services of a larger telecommunications provider, such as Level 3. This allows them to provide access to Voice over IP to their customers without the expense of building the infrastructure themselves. They will act as the local collection point for calls, sending them over the larger provider's network and receiving a portion of the service fees in return. In fact, providers such as Level 3 do not sell their services directly to consumers, so this may be the only way to access these reliable services. Be sure to ask the same questions you would of a pure VoIP provider. Determine which codecs the companies support and whether they offer local number portability. Table 2.3 lists national Internet access providers that offer VoIP services.
Determining Service AvailabilityYour Internet access provider's Web site can tell you whether the company offers VoIP service in your area. If the site does not have an availability tool or a map, call the customer-service line to ask about availability. The Web site or customer-service representative should also be able to tell you which equipment is required or provided with your service. Be sure to inquire about 911 dialing and access to emergency service personnel. Softphone providersThe very first Internet phones were computers running programs that translated voice into bits and bytes for transmission over the Internet. So-called softphones are still very much in use on the Internet today. In fact, the largest subscriber bases of any VoIP service are recorded on the free softphone services. Foremost among these are Skype and Free World Dialup. With tens of millions of callers using their networks every day, these services are connecting callers globally on a scale never seen before. Recent reports have Skype supporting more than 2 million concurrent calls during some periods. Imagine the populations of two largish cities all speaking to one another at the same time! Softphones are computer programs that you download and install on your computer system. Most providers have versions that run equally well on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux PCs. All you need are the computer, a sound card, and a microphone. Some services, such as Skype, can also use USB handsets like those discussed in Chapter 1. These handsets allow you to access the functions of the Skype application by using the handset's keys. You can even browse your address book and select the party you want to call (Figure 2.1)! Figure 2.1. This USB handset from VoIPVoice is optimized for use with the Skype phone service.
Note Macintosh users may discover that handsets are limited to producing sound. Not all softphone software is capable of presenting full functionality to OS X users. Considerations for Softphone USEThe first consideration for use of softphone VoIP is whether you have the appropriate infrastructure. Obviously, you need a computer to access these services, and the computer should be capable of running the software efficiently. The softphone provider's Web site should list the hardware requirements for its application. Ensure that your system meets these minimum standards. You should also realize that you will be tied to your computer during any softphone call. Because this service requires your computer's processing power and sound card, you can roam only as far as the cable reaches, and your computer must remain powered on for you to make and receive calls. Unless you subscribe to a softphone provider's premium service level, you will not receive a phone number at which terrestrial phone callers can reach you. Options like SkypeIn from Skype offer this service, but at prices comparable with those of pure VoIP providers. Most calls on softphone networks are peer-to-peer that is, they are made directly from one computer to another. This allows the softphone provider to act only as a directory of connected users and not be required to maintain a massive communications infrastructure. Softphone networks are geared to more advanced users. Typically, you will not receive direct technical support; rather, you must receive support from other users in the community or via e-mail. Evaluating Softphone VoIP ProvidersSoftphone VoIP is a different animal from the service offered by a provider that uses telephone adapters. Because the provider uses its own software application, it is up to the provider how to process and transmit voice data. Providers are free to use standard telephony codecs or not. Skype, for example, uses proprietary coding and encryption, and is not compatible for direct connectivity with any other service. Skype users can call terrestrial phone and VoIP users by using the SkypeOut option but cannot make direct calls to users of Free World Dialup. When evaluating softphone services, you usually just need to install and use the pertinent applications. Because many of these services are free, you are under no obligation to buy anything unless you want to try premium features. You may have more than one of these applications installed on your computer but may experience problems if two or more are active at the same time. Table 2.4 lists some of the better-known softphone VoIP providers.
Determining Service AvailabilitySoftphone providers are global in nature. Unless you are using an optional add-on to receive calls, you will not be concerned about availability beyond having sufficient bandwidth for the service. If you are using an optional inbound call service, you will need to find out whether a provider has numbers in your area. Use the availability tool on the provider's Web site for this purpose. |