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Most people with some knowledge in using communicative devices on the internet will know that this is one of the cheapest ways of keeping in contact with family or friends. Those with a broadband internet connection will have heard of voice over internet protocols, or VOIP phones. Their programs include Skype, Vonage and Gizmo5 project which relies upon software based communication from peer to peer. These only work with broadband internet connectivity and require a large amount of memory on the hard drive to install the program.

The concept of VOIP phones has been around since the first computer, it was not until 1973 that the first voice transmission was made over the earlier internet service. Transmitting voice over the internet was in fact made available to end users during the 1980s, most of which were based on video conferencing. These were not very well known until much later when home computers were introduced and the internet was more common for home-users.

As the years went by VOIP phones developed with the growing technological advances. Skype is one of the widely known internet telephony programmes, allowing people all over the world to connect to each other without having to pay a penny if they are calls from computer to computer. Most of these internet telephony programs now provide USB phones that make it easier to talk to each other, rather than having to buy separate headsets.

With all of these technological advancements in place making our lives easier and cheaper, where does this leave for standard telephone usage? Does this mean that this is the end of normal telephoning? Far from it, as normal line telephones are still widely used with much more improvements made to the quality of the line communication. The only disadvantage it has is how much it costs. Luckily not everybody use internet telephony, perhaps because they are more accustomed to picking up the phone and dialling the number rather than turning on their PCs to make a phone call.

However, as the years plod along, new advances and approaches to VOIP phones will be introduced, which could possibly see the use of conventional telephones decrease over the years. This being said, it does not bring an impending doom on the existence of normal telephones as this is still widely used all over the world and not everybody are able to gain access to a broadband internet connection. Therefore, the idea of VoIP telephones taking over does not seem viable, especially if only the broadband users are able to use this. Furthermore, people would need to have installed the same program in order to talk to each other for free - sort of like MSN.

Calling each other over the internet does provide a much clearer connection and a more cost effective way of staying in touch. As developments for making this service more accessible conventional telephoning will over time decrease in price and continue to introduce other ways of communicating. Conventional telephones have continued to be very useful in that it is able to connect a call straight away; therefore it does not need to be switched on or off and one is able to receive a phone call in time of the day.

Resources: Anna Stenning an expert on VOIP phones having recently installed this on her computer to contact people living abroad.

Everywhere you go you see phones. Yet more and more they are not the old style phones that we all grew up with they are the new style phones that we all keep our pockets, and in our cars and our backpacks. The old landline-based phones seem to be disappearing faster than any other technology in the last 100 years. And now, younger people don’t even use a landline phone. The more you pay attention to technological advances, the more you see that voice over IP is the future.

This all points to the fact that VoIP has made a definite impression on American citizens and is here to stay. Once many people take the time to weigh the pros and the cons, most pick out to go wireless. Here are some reasons, why you should make the switch to wireless.

Wireless networks are fast. Fast but they’re getting even faster, the next-generation technology makes wireless networking equally fast to wired networking. With the advent of mobile devices such as the iPhone and the Blackberry, it has become quite apparent that the future of computing is wireless computing in the future of communication is wireless. The speed will only continue to increase over time.

For years phone providers have overcharged and under delivered. That time has ended. Now you have a choice to not just use the landline technology, but you can use cell phones or even using voice over IP technology to connect to other people using the Internet instead of phoneline at all. At the same time, by using the Internet is actually cheaper to provide a same services than ever before.

These features include Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Do Not Disturb, and more. Again, check with your chosen service provider for an overview of all the features bundled with your plan. The biggest benefit is the unlimited long distance calling. This has proven to be the number one reason why most businesses are switching to VoIP. But overall, the average cost of VoIP is considerably less when compared to the cost of PSTN.

By choosing VoIP, you can take your VoIP equipment with you whenever you travel. Your VoIP service supplier will send you a converter that will allow you to use your convertor with any standard telephone. The converter comes programmed with your telephone number, allowing you to take your phone and phone number with you worldwide. All you will need is a high speed Cyberspace connection and you can use your VoIP phone service.

By using VoIP, an employee will have access to his/her phone number, wherever they are located. Whether out of state, in a hotel, or traveling on a business trip, customers will be able to call the same number as well as leave voice mail on the employee?s computer.

Many VoIP service providers will give you the alternate of selecting your own area code number. This is a tremendous benefit to family and friend members who can call you locally, if you select the same area code number.

Resources: Brian is a mobile phone news enthusiast who really digs the new tmobile phones. You can read more at http://www.mobileography.com/

Most people tense up or groan when the here anything like this. I want to explain a recent episode I had to deal with. First off when it comes to technology I am probably in the top 10%, this is what I do all day long and while I don’t work for an ISP it’s something I generally understand.

This all started when my voice over IP service stopped working. To explain in detail my VOIP service is separate from my ISP and this is partly the problem. It’s always easier to deal with one company except in this case the VOIP service is quite a bit cheaper with the separate company.

What makes things confusing for most is the setup. I like most people that have hi speed internet run a router in my house. With most VOIP systems you are required to install the VOIP box in between the modem and the router. What causes the issue is that sometimes it’s difficult for the router to find an IP address when trying to go through the VOIP box. Confused yet?

Here is where things took a turn for the worse, the company that provides the VOIP service has now determined that the box is defective. So great, now I have to wait for another box to come through and our family doesn’t have a home phone line!

The frustrating part is now that the VOIP unit is no longer a part of my set up for some reason the router can’t see the IP address the modem is trying to give it. After talking with my internet service provider for almost 30 minutes and of course talking again with my VOIP service for 1.5 hours neither of them can figure out the problem.

Now I have the luxury of talking with the router company. First off any consumer product that you purchase generally comes with some of the worst customer service out there, this has at least been my experience. I had a friend find the number for my router company online because of course mine wasn’t working and here is the next step in this amazingly wasted afternoon!

I called the first time and they asked for every darn number you can imagine. Serial number, home number address, the store I bought it from and then they asked what day I purchased it. First off most guys have a hard time remembering their anniversary. The day I purchased my router doesn’t exactly stick out!

I had to call them back a second time and lie about the day I purchased it just so someone would talk to me. While I was talking with the first customer service agent our line was disconnected! After a couple of deep breathes I called them back.

From the moment the gal I was talking to I realized she didn’t know what she was doing, not enough training and then asked to take calls. This is not your normal router issue either. I finally gave up and waited until the next morning.

I decided to call the router company again and was greeted by another gal who had a confident reassurance about her. I realized quickly she was going to fix the problem. In the end there is a small setting called an MTU and my internet service provider sometimes requires that this number be dropped from the usual 1500 it is set at.

Imagine this my internet service provider wasn’t able to fix the problem that they themselves have issued bulletins to router companies to try and fix problems like this. In the end it was a string of bad luck, my internet is running again and all is good.

Resources: This article was written by Shawn Wilson, a member of the customer support team at Datepad, where internet dating is always free. Datepad has a massive directory of informative dating articles along with a great list of dating site reviews on their dating blog.

Ever wondered how we have become so attached to all things technological and why it has become such an essential part of our daily lives to use these devices for communication? When looking at how we used to communicate with each other, our lives have become such that we are in need of things to happen post-haste and preferably without any faults. These days every single person in the UK use some technological device for communication, whether it is a telephone, internet, IP phones, television etc. Gone are the days of sending out a messenger on the horse to send your telegram.

Network communications have made it simpler and more efficient to provide important data across companies and between individuals who are distances apart from each other. Many people and businesses use the internet as their main point of contact. Sending emails and chatting on message chat rooms are more common than sending out a posted letter. There seem to be more people sending over faxes, emailed documents and word documents in a matter of a few seconds or minutes, rather than having to wait weeks upon weeks on receiving that delivery.

The starting point of finding where our need for network communications come from is how communication has developed with time, this being one of the most important aspects of our life. Communication is how we survive; it is the foundation of our everyday life and one that we cannot live without. Back in the days when smoke signals were the main source of sending messages or communicating, our survival instincts depended heavily on being able to communicate effectively with others. Therefore, more efficient ways of communicating, which did not entail a smoke signal from afar was needed.

Skipping a few hundred years we come to the first invention of the non-electric telegraph was invented by Claude Chappe in 1794. It worked solely from using ones line of sight, using a semaphore (a device used for visual telegraphic communication on a tower with pivoting blades) and flag based alphabets. It would not be long after that this optical telegraph was taken over by the electronic telegraph.

In 1809 the electric telegraph was built in Bavaria by a man named Samuel Soemmering, who used 35 wires in water with gold electrodes in which 2000 feet at the receiving end the message was read by the amount of gas emitted from electrolysis. This was an effective way of communicating, which was then followed on with what was going to be the revolution of the telegraph - electromagnetic. The British inventor William Sturgeon put up a display of electromagnetic in 1825 picking up nine pounds using a seven ounce iron wrapped in a wire that was powered by a single cell battery.

It would the invention of electromagnets that would change the way telegraphs worked. American inventor Joseph Henry then demonstrated that you could use electromagnetic to communicate over long distances, through sending electronic currents over a mile of wiring and then resulting in it activating an electromagnet that would make a bell ring at the receiving end. Samuel Morse would then follow on create a better invention using the electromagnetic communication idea and proving that signals can travel through wires.

This prompted a marker to move and write the written code on a piece of paper - thus inventing the Morse code. This became the most successful form of communication used by the army and government. It was later modified so that the markers would emboss the paper with dots and dashes. This was not used until 1838 in which the government put more funding into an experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore - stretching 40 miles.

A further six years would pass and the government witnessed some of the first messages sent by Morse code - the words ‘What Hath God Wrought’ was one of the first messages on paper via the embossed dots and dashes method. The success of the Morse telegraph spread the world of telegraph across the globe. It would be in 1891 that the Postal Telegraph system would be put into place and then later merging with Western Union.

In the year of 1877 the telephone rivalled with the telegraph, in which the former was favoured more for the fact that it be heard by the human ear and was much quicker. However, the electronic telegraph was successful in striking the idea of sending message on paper - this would span out to influence the way computers and the internet worked. The first email ever to be sent was not until the 1970’s, which was privately by government officials. Commercial emailing was not introduced until 1989 which changed the face of communication. With it came online messaging and VOIP communications.

Anna Stenning is an expert on network communications and its history having researched this field in the past.

The telecommunications market is one that has affected practically every individual in the world. This connects the world to each other through a touch of a button, logging onto the internet or even simply by picking up a telephone. More people are hooked up to the internet therefore, using the net as way of connecting to other people. These ways are as such much cheaper, clearer, convenient and requires very little knowledge in technology.

Telecommunications equipment have come far since the days of sending out smoke signals, delivering hand written letters via a personal postman or by sending a telegram. These have come as far as allowing people to call others through internet telephony, which if the other party has installed the same software is able to contact their friends free of charge. These software programmes require the other party to be registered and add each other into their contacts profile.

One of the most popular voice-over internet protocol (VOIP) is Skype, which allows you to make the free telephone calls, as long as the other person is added or has added you as their contact. Like MSN it works similarly to a messenger service as people are able to message each other. The only other kind of telecommunications equipment needed is a microphone, headset or a specially developed Skype phone to which people are able to phone each other - kind of like a land line.

These only function if one has a broadband internet connection. This allows a faster connection time, better audio connectivity and a reduced amount of lag. This can be a problem for most VOIP users who find themselves listening to a person’s voice which is 30 seconds delayed.

Other types of telecommunications equipment which have taken a further step forward are mobile phone devices. Back during the 1980s when mobile phones were charging an extortionate amount per minute for a phone call, these were heavy duty devices which struggled with providing a clear signal for good quality audio. This was also something more common amongst the rich and wealthy who had plenty of cash to spare.

Mobile phone devices are now far more advanced, are cheaper to use and do not always need to be held against the ear for a good quality conversation maker. Now these babies can be used without even holding the handset, using a hands free speaker, or through using an earpiece for more confidentiality. Many of which now come with video phoning, Bluetooth connection, internet WAP technology, chat room messaging, interactive screens and much more. From being a once so simple device to make calls, now a technological mind field.

If something as simple as a mobile phone device can be made into an advanced communication and information provider then one must wonder on what the future holds for the telecommunications business. People are able to make them visual when making telephone calls to others providing the setting is right and there are no external disturbances. Telecommunications equipment is more of a necessity than they ever have been, especially for large organisations and businesses. These allow for faster transference of information and communication over greater distances.

Anna Stenning has a strong interest in telecommunications equipment, especially on voice over internet protocol which has fast become a popular form of communication.

How can you make sure that your network is living up to the requirements, both before and after deploying VoIP services? Given below are some very useful guidelines you can look up to before deploying VoIP in your network, or when you desire to better the quality of your network after deployment.

Whether choosing a vendor partner or testing and deploying the VoIP network yourself, ensure your tools provide granular diagnostics and reporting capabilities that enable you to efficiently troubleshoot all possible VoIP issues. Your tools should be utilizable throughout the complete VoIP deployment lifecycle, for both assessment and troubleshooting, implying that one tool can be employed to both identify the problem and correct it.

Network quality parameters like delay, jitter and loss, which influence the number of calls a network can handle, are linked with network design issues that range from what kind of network equipment you are using to whether your communications network is accessible across the street or across the country. The best way to estimate your VoIP call capacity is by simulating VoIP calls on the network, which will assist you in determining how many calls you can handle and still maintain good enough voice quality.

Estimating how many calls your network can deal with is only the beginning, especially if you get a surprisingly low mean opinion score (MOS) reading when handling a small number of VoIP calls. For example, when a Canadian financial institution was deploying VoIP , it realized that most of its locations were capable of dealing with as many as 24 VoIP calls–but one link was showing signs of backtracking at just six calls. While this location had the same 10-Mbps WAN link as the other locations, it was not delivering10-Mbps throughput. Communicating with the WAN service provider solved the problem.

When deploying a VoIP network, enterprises also should abstain from testing only the quality of the VoIP application. Because the various applications performing on an IP network affect each other, VoIP may negatively influence other applications that are currently performing on the network. Efficient VoIP testing should examine the full range of services performing across the enterprise.

Enterprise networks keep on changing all the time. Adding new applications, widening the network to new locations or boosting network usage can all potentially have a negative affect on voice quality. Ongoing testing proactively analyzes the influence of network changes.

Once you deploy VoIP in your data network, it becomes the most crucial application on your network. Turn off your e-mail server for 30 minutes and most people will not even realize. However, in the case of drop in process calls or being unable to provide dial tone, you will find that the users will not stand these things at all. Constructing your network prior to VoIP deployment, and monitoring it afterwards can help you a lot in ensuring IP telephony efficiently handles advanced telephony and data services across one network–instead of becoming a severe headache for you.

Datacraft is the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia Pacific. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, Microsoft solutions, storage and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting, integration and managed services, to craft IT solutions for businesses.