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Most people, well quite a few, can name the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. ; Even if he wasn’t the inventor of the telephone, only the first person to patent the idea. The telephone eventually had a very large effect on the world and the way people contact each other.

However, it’s fair to say in my opinion, that the mobile phone and now new mobile broadband connections are having a far more dramatic effect on the world at large. It took the best part of 100 years for the telephone to become established as the major way of contacting people around the world.

It has only taken since 1973 for mobile phones to dominate communication, incidentally invented by someone who has slipped into obscurity, an employee of Motorola, Dr Martin Cooper.

In my opinion, mobile phones have had a short but interesting life, but their days are very much numbered as mobile broadband is set to take its place. Connections to the Internet, and through that, to the telephone system are becoming cheap and highly efficient. For example, pay as you go mobile broadband has made it practical for just about anybody to connect to the Internet via a mobile device.

I believe that this is type of communication in one form or another will soon catch up with the basic mobile phone. It will then not take long for mobile broadband to become the dominant mobile communication vehicle.

If you have an ear for the latest computer craze, technology fad, or nifty gadget, then you’ve probably heard about VoIP. What is VoiP? Let’s start by defining what exactly “VoIP” means. VoIP stand for Voice over Internet Protocol. It comprises an emerging set of applications and protocols that allow you to make telephone calls over the internet. The popularity of VoIP has really been catching on and is already starting to replace existing telephone networks. Some people have cancelled their traditional phone service and now exclusively use VoIP.

You may have thought that VoIP only worked from computer to computer, and that was the original intent. Of course, you can use it this way, but VoIP has been further developed into a telephone network in its own right. Using VoIP, you can call any phone anywhere in the world, and can receive calls with phones connected to the internet or a LAN (local area network)

Background

VoIP was born back in the “stone age” of the internet, that is, 1995, when Israeli computer enthusiasts made the first voice connection between two computers. That same year this technology was developed into a software package called Internet Phone Software. All you needed to talk to another computer was a modem, sound card, speakers, a microphone, and, of course, a computer. VoIP was born.

This software compressed and digitized the audio signal and then sent the data over the internet in discreet “packets”. These voice connections could only occur between computers that had the software installed. Like many new technologies, it wasn’t very pretty at first. Sound quality was poor and vastly inferior to the audio quality of a standard phone network, which, by the way, isn’t really that good either, in “hi-fi” terms.

But of course, this was just the beginning. The technology continued to be developed and by 1998 gateways had been established allowing PC-to-phone connections. Later that year, phone-to-phone connections were possible using the internet to transmit the audio. The phone-to-phone connections still required a computer to initiate the call, but once the call was established, callers could use a regular phone set.

VoIP Today

VoIP is fast becoming a big business, with the major telcom’s getting on board offering VoIP service. Service is available for both commercial and residential use, ranging from PC-to-PC service, all the way up to phone-to-phone.

Internet phones (or “ip phones”) are available that plug into a USB port or directly into the PC’s sound card. These phones look much the same as that old thing sitting on your desk, with number pads and customizable ringers. It’s even possible to bypass the computer entirely by plugging the phone into your broadband or cable modem. We find it especially ironic that to bypass the traditional phone network you can plug an ip phone into your broadband modem which is connected to, of course, your phone line.

How does VoIP Work?

The first thing that needs to happen is that your voice needs to be converted into bits and bytes, otherwise known as digitized. Your voice is “sampled”, a process that divides the analog sound into discrete bits of data that are assigned a numerical value. Once digitized, the data can then easily be compressed.

This digitized and compressed data is then split up into packets of about 1500 bytes for easy transmission over the internet. Along with the raw voice data, these packets contain information about the packet’s origin, the intended destination, and a timestamp that allows the packet to be reconstructed in the correct order. Once these packets arrive at their destination, they are put back together (in the right order) and converted back into analog sound so the party at the other end will understand what you’re saying.

Now, this is a lot of stuff that needs to happen at, essentially, the speed of light. To avoid significant delays from occurring, a broadband connection is required to use VoIP. Since more and more businesses and residential customers are now using broadband, converting to VoIP should be relatively simple for many computer users.

And there you have it! A quick introduction into one of the latest hot new technologies! You can save a bundle in long distance charges by utilizing your broadband connection and an ip phone to make and receive calls over the internet with VoIP.

Tom Schueneman works as a sound engineer, information publisher, writer, and general gadget hound. Visit his VoIP tutorial site at http://www.voip-tutorial.com

If you watch TV read magazines, or drive through and cities with billboards chances are you’ve come across advertisements for VOIP calling plans. Many of these advertisements try to sell their services on how much less expensive their services are compared to traditional calling plans. They also talk about quality and clarity of calls. You’ve probably wondered how much of this is true and how much is hype.

VOIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is probably one of the most revolutionary advances in the telecommunications industry. It allows you to talk to another person across the globe using digital network connection exactly the same as way you receive email or visit websites. Because you voice is converted into a digital signal it can be sent across the street, across the country, or across the globe for exactly the same cost. For VOIP calls the concept of long distance doesn’t exist.

VOIP calling packages come in two flavors, bulk rate pricing and unlimited calling. Bulk rate pricing allows you to have a monthly allotment of minutes to call who ever you want (just like your cell phone service). If you go over your monthly allotment you will have overage charges. Unlimited calling is exactly just like it sounds you have no limit on the amount of calls you can make. Unlimited calling plans range from $35 to $90 per month depending on the VOIP service provider and the additional features included with your plan. Unless you are making a lot of calls or the unlimited calling plan is very inexpensive bulk rate pricing is usually a better option.

Just like cellular phones VOIP service providers allow you to “port” or move switch your existing phone number into their service. This is really convenient as you won’t have to notify your friends and family you’ve changed your number. Currently there is no legislation that VOIP providers have to allow you to port your number out if you are unhappy or want to change providers. Some of them will, others will charge you a fee, and some will refuse to accommodate your request, be sure to check this before you sign any contracts.

If the VOIP company you are using “piggybacks” on your existing broadband cable connection your phone service is dependant on your cable connection. If your cable connection goes out or you drop your cable company your VOIP phone service won’t work. Additionally if you lose power in your house unless you have a backup generator your phone won’t work.

Lastly many VOIP service providers don’t interface well with emergency services (911). On traditional phone lines your address information is automatically sent when you make a call, this isn’t true for VOIP. © Copyright VOIPTelephoneSystem.org, All Rights Reserved.

There’s a lot of hype these days surrounding Internet-based voice communications (VoIP) replacing traditional telephone service. Most of this revolves around companies such as Vonage who coin themselves as the ‘Broadband Phone Company’. So what about those of us who don’t have a broadband connection? Just because you don’t have high speed Internet, doesn’t mean that you can’t save a fortune by using VoIP for your long-distance calls. Whilst a broadband connection will usually result in more consistent VoIP call quality, comparable results can be achieved using a dial-up connection provided some simple guidelines are followed.

Shop Around

Not all VoIP service providers support dial-up users. Companies such as Vonage bill themselves as alternatives to traditional telephone service and shy away from the dial-up community (who are tied to those ‘traditional’ networks to access the Internet). Furthermore, some service providers only support dial-up above a certain speed (e.g., 56Kbp). Two companies whose VoIP softphone applications work well over low speed connections include Callserve and Go2Call.

‘Free-up’ your System Resources

In order to ensure the highest call quality, close programs that are running in the ‘background’. For Windows users, these applications can be seen in the taskbar at the bottom right of your screen. ‘Right-click’ the icons and close those programs that aren’t critical to system security (e.g., don’t close anti-virus software, firewall applications and the like).

If you’re using Windows XP with user switching enabled, log off all users except the one that will be used to make the call. This will prevent the other user identities from running software and/or using your bandwidth while you’re making calls.

‘Free Up’ your Internet Connection

Given the limited data capacity of dial-up connections, it’s important that you devote as much of your bandwidth as possible to the VoIP softphone application. To achieve maximum call quality, don’t do anything that uses your bandwidth whilst making calls. This includes instant messaging, checking email, using a webcam, browsing the internet, downloading, etc. In Windows, you can look at the two little computers in the bottom right of your taskbar to see whether your connection is being used prior to calling (the little computers illuminate when data is being uploaded and/or downloaded).

Scan your System for Viruses, Spyware, Adware and Malware

Some of these malicious programs can hijack your browser, tie up your internet connection and slow down your system (not to mention seriously invade your privacy!). I recommend AdAware for free scanning and removal of Spyware/Adware. Once you’ve checked and cleansed your system of these nasty programs, your virus definition files should be updated to minimize the chances of re-infection.

Use a Headset with an Integrated Boom Microphone

Last but not least, using a headset with a boom microphone should eliminate those annoying voice echoes often associated with PC to Phone calls. Echoes are caused by your microphone detecting the voice coming from your computer speakers and re-transmitting that voice signal back to the person you’re talking to. By using a headset, the voice signals are limited in volume (due to the headset being directly adjacent to your ears) and thus the chances of your microphone ‘re-transmitting’ those voice signals is greatly reduced.

So there you have it. A Lack of high speed Internet needn’t mean a lack of PC to Phone VoIP capability.

Nathan Smith

Nathan is the owner of netphonedirectory.com which deals specifically with PC to Phone and PC to PC VoIP. The site includes a comprehensive directory of PC to Phone service providers as well as information on VoIP and what you need to make inexpensive long-distance telephone calls using your computer

Compared to some of the more well known products by Samsung the Armani is bland. As a entry level mobile handset the Armani is a little basic compared alongside alternative phones for this price. Samsung have done a excellent job on the functional design of this mobile handset.

The Armani is compatible with 2G GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 . The Armani has an integrated 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, video(CIF) camera. A WAP 2.0/xHTML compatible browser is also included allowing mobile Internet access. The Samsung Armani is that is fitted to a Standard battery, Li-Ion 880 mAh, battery. In terms of the all important battery cell usage the Samsung Armani has 220 hrs reserve charge and 6:00 talk time. This mobile phone can only be bought in Black. For a mobile handset in this price bracket, in terms of weight, the Samsung Armani scores well against its competitors at 85 g. We found the Armani small and comfortable to carry. The Samsung Armani comes equipped with bluetooth, making a great deal of accessories compatible. The ring-tones enabled on the Armani are Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3 on top of which is a vibrating tone . In terms of the the display the handset is equipped with a 2.6 inch screen, which is a nice big display considering other phones you could get for the cost of this phone. A TFT touchscreen, 256K colors display is fitted to this mobile handset. The following additional features are also present on the Samsung Armani:

Unfortunately for Samsung the Armani faces some stiff competition making it pretty easy to pick up a fantastic bargain on this mobile handset.

Because of the web it has never been quicker or cheaper to shop for a mobile. Ordering online can allow you to take advantage of significant cost savings, incredibly it is possible to get a Samsung Armani on a free line rental deal , which, if you read the terms and conditions will not cost anything at all.