Before many of us came to rely on cell phones to make long
distance phone calls, our only option was to commit to a long
distance phone company. Long distance carriers charged what were
at times exorbitant by-the-minute fees to make calls to friends
and loved ones often living only a few hours away. When cell
phones came into prominence, they brought with them service
plans that gave us such luxuries as free night and weekend
calling anywhere domestically. Alas, even cell phones had their
drawbacks, in that their reception was often broken up, and
calls could be dropped unceremoniously. When along came VOIP, a
new choice in long distance phone calling was on the horizon.
VOIP has many different options, and now it seems that we have
the choice of combining VOIP technology with cell phones. The
prospect of VOIP cell phone service brings with it the potential
for even more freedom and convenience, along with lower prices.
Or does it?
Normally, VOIP service is available in three modes: ATA, IP
phone, and computer-to-computer. All of these services are
common and available for use at your home computer. ATA, or
analog telephone adapter, lets you connect your regular home
telephone to your computer and use it for VOIP service by
converting analog sound bits into digital data. IP, or Internet
protocol, phones are telephones that are specially designed for
use with VOPI service. These phones look just like a standard
home phone, but are wired differently to be VOIP capable. You
can have a cordless IP phone that allows you to move freely
through your home or office as you talk. Computer-to-computer
VOIP is achieved by installing software that you can get through
a provider. You make long distance calls from your computer, and
talk through a microphone that is hooked up to your machine. All
of these services are convenient in their own ways, but do not
have quite the portability that cell phones offer. That is why
the idea of VOIP cell phones is so appealing. Potentially, it is
the best of both worlds: portability and low cost phone service.
Cost savings is by far the most attractive aspect of VOIP. With
typical VOIP, you can expect to pay anywhere from $19.95 to
$34.99 per month for a service that consists of many features,
including free domestic calls, dirt cheap International calling
rates, Caller ID, Call Waiting, 3-way Calling, among others.
This, of course, is in addition to your current monthly ISP
charge, which for broadband is usually around $40 per month. The
combined cost for your ISP and VOIP services is likely to still
be less expensive than if you were to remain in service with a
traditional telephone company. However, this is not necessarily
the case if you were to switch your cell phone over to VOIP as
well.
Providers that offer VOIP cell phone services usually charge a
monthly fee in addition to a per-minute fee. If you don’t use
your cell phone often enough to meet or exceed your current
allotted plan minutes, then it is simply not cost effective for
you to subscribe to VOIP cell phone service. VOIP and cell
phones go well together for those customers that regularly
exceed their plan minutes or make International calls on their
cell phone on a regular basis. And, if your Internet connection
if prone to outages, you could experience the same dropped call
occurrences that you might often get with a standard cell phone
service.
There is no doubt that VOIP is a reasonably priced and
convenient way to bundle all of you communications together.
VOIP service is improving all the time as technologies moves
forward, which will allow providers to offer more reliable and
even more affordable service down the line. Currently, VOIP cell
phone service is in its infancy, and the kinks are being worked
out. If you do the math, and feel that your monthly cell phone
bill would benefit from a reasonable VOIP service plan, then it
is worth the switch. If you do not make International calls on
your cell phone, and you rarely or never go over your plan’s
allotted monthly minutes, then you are probably better off
sticking with your traditional cell phone service for now than
putting out more money for VOIP cell phone service.
About the author:
Learn the essential information for picking the Voip provider /
services. Voip Cell Phones