VOIP Service Providers
If you want to switch over to VoIP instead of PSTN all you need to do is choose a VoIP service provider. Most of these providers are situated in the United States. Some VoIP service providers are: Vonage, BroadVoice, iConnectHere and Lingo.
For a monthly fee of $8-$20 they will provide you with features such as voicemail, call forwarding and unlimited calls in certain areas. For VoIP You need a broadband modem, an ATA ( Analog Telephone Adapter) or IP phone. Both the ATA and the IP phone have a number assigned to it, regardless of your IP ( Internet Protocol ) address. This way, others can contact you wherever you are.
Most people are assigned with a new IP address by their service provider whenever they log on. Others have a permanent IP address which never changes. In both cases you will need a VoIP provider. This way people will be able to contact you through your username instead of your IP address.
As mentioned before VoIP is user-friendly and it’s a low cost service. Most providers offer VoIP for free, they only charge when you make calls to the Public Switched Telephone Network Different VoIP Providers have different protocols. SIP, H.323 and LIAX are only a few of the protocols.
The most popular system for VoIP is Skype. Skype has a proprietary protocol. This makes it hard to connect to the Skype network from another VoIP provider. On the other hand Skype makes up for that with their service SkypeIn. This service allows you to receive calls from standard phone networks.