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Welcome to SEEK VOIP - a comprehensive VOIP comparison site... We are an independent resource dedicated to providing clear and accurate information to help you compare VOIP. The explosion of VOIP has meant that people all over the world are saving money on phone calls. The popularity of VOIP services is also putting pressure on Telcos to find innovative new ways to offer old services.
If you are interested in a new VOIP service, we suggest that you read the reviews below and compare VOIP before making a hard and fast decision about which service you will use. It's important to compare voice over internet technologies, because although many of the VOIP providers appear to be offering the same thing, the quality of the many services available varies. Compare some of the most popular VOIP services: 
 Vonage is the oldest player in the Internet telephony services, being into this business since last three years is enriched in its services and has earned its reputation in the target market. Enhancing it’s services by being into the iterative loop since last three years now provides it’s customers with the assets of features, wide-ranging coverage, and strong support combine to make it a good Internet phone selection.
 AT&T CallVantage Service is an enhanced voice communication ground-breaking service which connects two remote phones and thus enables the transfer of digital voice over high speed broadband Internet, and the best part is that you need not worry about the technicalities of cabling, installation etc. because this service comes with user-friendly interface. Apart from providing conventional advantages of phone like local & long distance call, call waiting, 3-way calling, caller id etc, this services enriches the user experience by enabling unlimited local and long distance calling, including calls to Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while subscribers to AT&T CallVantage Local Plan receive unlimited local calling with regional toll calls and long distance calls billed at an additional $0.04 per minute and all international calls are billed at competitive per-minute rates. Click here to read more about this VOIP solution
 BroadVoice offers attractive combination of low-cost unlimited-monthly-minutes plan and vivid lucrative features is another major player in the Voice over Telephony technology with exposure in 69 major markets spanning 30 U.S. states and with 40 markets in the offing. BroadVoice is a money-spinning Internet phone service as unlike the majority of Internet phone service providers, it is compatible with any SIP-capable telephone adapter with its service and by opting for its BYOD (bring your own device) option, user is exempted from $39.95 hardware charge that you'd pay to have BroadVoice provide an adapter for you and you have to pay mere $9.95 activation fee, which enables you to experience the unlimited features and superb call quality which persistent for longer calls as well with occasional slight delays or voice dropouts, but nothing that really can interrupt a conversation. Click here to read more about this unique VOIP service.
 IconnectHere provides you with another Internet telephone having some cool features like call forwarding, voicemails etc. What is required is Pentium 75 Mhz or higher PC· Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 or higher · 16 MB RAM · Half- or full-duplex soundcard· Microphone, Speakers and or a headset, handset· Winsock 32- and Internet TCP/IP connection (28.8bps, SLIP or PPP minimum). Click here to read about this Internet telephony VOIP service
 As compared to other VoIP providers Lingo offers the lowest monthly unlimited-minutes plan of all the VoIP packages that is at $19.95, which includes not only the United States and Canada, but also numerous countries in Western Europe. All the service plans comes with features like 911 emergency calling, and business plans include fax capabilities. And there is no minimum subscription term period a user can sign up for any period of time and any user wishing to cancel Lingo Voice over IP service after the 30 day money back guarantee period and before the end of 1 year, you will be charged a cancellation fee of $39.95. Click here to see how lingo compares to other VOIP services
 Packet8 offers superb video and audio quality over a high-speed broadband connection, another player in the VoIP market. This service provides a phone having a 4-by-3-inch screen and user needs to have about 256 Kbps of bi-directional bandwidth for the best quality. User is charged one-time activation fees of $29.95 but after paying this you have the option of choosing pretty much any area code you want. You can even use local number portability to switch your current phone number over to Packet 8 service. Read about this VOIP Gateway service
We have provided full VOIP reviews for each product, it's up to the consumer to compare voip services and decide which one is most suited to them. Featured Voice Over Internet Protocol services include those listed above as well as VOIP products on the Australian and UK markets (EnginAstral.net, Iconnect here, Talkscape, Savvy Direct, gradwell, CNP, Solwise, BT VOIP, Vonage UK). If you have any questions about any of these services then please email us. If you would like to provide you own feedback about any of the VOIP services that we have compared, then please feel free to send us your feedback and we will consider it for our product reviews.
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VOIP is the acronym for Voice over Internet Protocol (also referred to as IP telephony); this is a nascent technology, which bridges the gap between the conventional communication telephonic method and Internet. In this method, standard telephone calls are transmitted over the net. VoIP does not only transmit the calls rather fax and other information over the Internet can also be transmitted over Internet, which is charged at the rate of the users usual (local) Internet connection charges regardless of where they are calling or transmitting information anywhere in the world, which is certainly a danger to the conventional billing model wherein the telephone services are distance and time-based. This is possible because VoIP telephone calls (voice) evade the classic public-switched telephone network and put on the air voice calls over a private network which is used to carry web, e-mail and data traffic.
How does VOIP work?
TCP/IP comprises the backbone of Internet and these networks are made up of IP packets containing a header (to control communication) and a payload to transport data. VOIP exploits this established method of sending packed digitized data over the Internet. At the sender side analog signals are generated which are digitized with the help of ADC i.e. analog to digital converter, and this is the digital signal which is transmitted over Internet and at the receiving end to make digitized information understandable, it is again converted back to the analog signal with DAC i.e. digital to analog converter. VOIP also works in very similar manner. Voice at the Source -> Digitized using ADC -> sent over Internet -> Digitized Data Received at Destination -> Data is reconverted to Voice using DAC.
VOIP users are increasing astonishingly as who would not like to save money just be replacing or complementing their traditional telephone lines with VOIP. Extensive availability and acceptance of broadband Internet service (cable or DSL) in the last few years has been one of the driving factors for the VOIP success. To start enjoying the VoIP facility one needs to have an analog telephone adapter (ATA), which will convert the users voice into data packets, which connects to the broadband modem and conventional phone.
Advantages of VOIP
VoIP is the pioneering technology which offers manifold advantages, they are:
a. The conventional telephone line or PSTN line is based on the billing model wherein all the calls are distance based and time duration based. So any user will be charged that will be directly proportional to the distance and also in direct correlation with the call period. But these two parameters are totally ignored in the case of VoIP as the user will be charged the regular Internet bill irrespective of how much anyone talks or where the call is made.
b. VOIP allows communication which multiple people who needs to be connected to Internet, at the cost of the Internet bill which is certainly advantageous as conventional method allows one-to-one connection.
c. As this method utilized Internet for communication, so the user can also enjoy the facility of transferring / exchanging data or audio or video with any one while communicating, which nobody could even think of in traditional telephonic conversations.
d. VOIP is still in the evolving phase as it’s present services of basic IP telephony and facsimile will further be enriched by the addition of multimedia and multi-service applications. As Internet commerce solutions can combine W3 access to information with a voice call button that allows immediate access to a call center agent from the PC. Quite possible that in near future conferencing systems may also include shared screens or virtual white boards which will help to possibly enhance videoconferencing. Disadvantages of Voice over IP?
As this technology is still in it’s evolving segment so there are some areas, which needs to be paid attention and quite possibly reworked also.
a. VOIP being the combination VOIP architecture and Internet technology. So in the whole process of integration quality of voice delivered gets affected and there is a strong possibility for failure or "burbles" similar to what anyone might experience on a cell phone.
b. One needs to have a steady and fast broadband connection without which using VoIP would be pain.
c. It requires constant power supply as electricity failure presents another looming stumbling block. This can be overcome by the installation of UPS as even a small UPS would keep those devices powered for several hours.
d. Emergency 911 calls are an additional confront for Voice over IP telephony, as contrasting traditional telephone it's tricky to settle on the exact location of an IP address with geographic certainty and without knowing the exact location, it's also difficult to determine which call center should receive a Voice over IP originated 911 call (though most Voice over IP providers do have 911 call routing based on the address you used when you registered).
e. Some VOIP providers require that the caller and the called party should have some software installed for it’s proper usage.
In the face of these shortcomings, Voice over IP still remains a practicable & workable alternative to PSTN or traditional telephone and definitely with advancements user experience will be more pleasurable and enriched.
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