For those who may not be aware, the latest technology to revolutionize the world of communication is VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Internet calls based on VoIP are routed over the IP networks and users can avail a host of value-added features without having to spend much. With the ushering in of a free market economy and large scale liberalization, communication has become increasing critical.
Today, people are required to make far too many calls to people within their own country and in countries across the globe. Calling over Internet has proved to be the best solution to avoid exorbitant monthly telephone bills, as Internet calls can save up to 40 to 60 percent when compared with PSTN services.
The voice over or IP or Internet telephony solutions is steadily gained in popularity as all those who were worried about bills and limiting their calls are now frequently making long-distance and international calls for free or by paying very less. The reasons behind this upsurge in Internet telephony is both for its low cost and easy use. As calls over the Internet drastically reduces the communication expenses, many individuals and business enterprises are opting for this system worldwide.
To make Internet calls one needs a high speed Internet connection, a computer, a sound card, speakers, head set with a microphone and special software used for setting up an Internet phone connection. However, if you want, the service provider of VoIP will provide you an adapter which will be connected to the traditional telephone or the broadband modem and it will be turned into a VoIP phone.
To make calls using VOIP technology, the headphones are plugged into the computer and both the caller and called parties need to be present online at the same time. Popularity of making calls over Internet has led many users to switch to VoIP services. If you are interested in trying VoIP, then you should check out some of the free VoIP software available on the Internet. You should be able to download and set it up in about three to five minutes. The reasons for people opting for Internet telephony are many:
1. The users can make international calls free or paying very little - leading to a significant saving in their monthly telephone bills. It is reported that by switching over to Internet telephony, the users can save around 40 to 60 percent each month on their phone bill.
2. When using VOIP technology, if you are making calls PC to PC, it will be completely free of cost whereas while making calls to landlines or mobiles, it will entail some low cost.
3. Because of this advanced technology, the users can share the data, video, images and text with their recipients. The Internet calling provides unified communication with others as it is backed with packet switching technique.
4. Unlike traditional PSTN services, the Internet telephony offers value added calling features including voice mail, caller ID, call conferencing, call waiting and call forwarding.
5. The service providers offer users cheap calling rates than the normal telephone calls. The facilities include unlimited PC to phone calling, PC to PC and so on.
6. Internet calls also improve productivity as it ensures excellent voice quality without any latency.
As with many other purchases, there are a number of factors that you should consider to arrive at an informed decision whether Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service is right for you. To avail a VoIP service, it is necessary for you to have the right equipment. You would need a broadband Internet connection, a modem, telephone equipment and a phone adapter.
VoIP service allows you to place calls over your high-speed Internet connection, leaving your phone lines free for other calls and faxes to come through.
The foremost benefit of having VoIP service is the cost factor. You will end up saving lot money, when compared with traditional phone service. These basic plans usually include 500 minutes per month of talk time anywhere in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. They also include features such as voicemail, call waiting, call forwarding, and caller ID. You can typically get unlimited talk time each month including calls to several European countries and you also have the option of keeping your existing phone number. If you seriously contemplating to buy please remember many providers offer the first month of VoIP service free.
Today, more and more businesses unable to cope with exorbitant phone bills are turning to the Internet for their phone service. VoIP services enable businesses to conduct calls across the same network to access the Internet and get email - and at truly negligible cost.
Placing calls over the Internet will drastically reduce long distance costs and it is a chief attraction for many exporters/importers or businessmen who have to frequently call clients located overseas.
Further, in the conventional telephony, multiple phone lines, conference calling features, and long distance charges entail many extra charges. However, most VoIP providers offer unlimited local and long-distance calling for a relatively low flat fee. Because a VoIP exchange is based on software rather than hardware, it is more flexible and easier to maintain. Traditional PABX based phone systems come in different sizes and it will be necessary periodically to scrap existing systems and replace hardware. This is not the case with VoIP systems as they are scalable.
Please remember while deciding to buy that RingCentral has a VoIP offering called DigitalLine, which can be completely integrated into your phone system. This integration is essential for keeping your business interactions, including voice mail messages and call logs, organized.
To state briefly, RingCentral DigitalLine means transforming your RingCentral Online account into a total business communication solution. If you have DigitalLine you can handle both incoming and outgoing calls through your broadband Internet connection.
RingCentral DigitalLine will integrate well with your RingCentral Online service. You can also assign DigitalLine to any extension. There will not be any misuse as the unified Call Logs will keep track of all your incoming and outgoing calls. If you wish not to change your traditional phone, you can still use your existing analog phone with an ATA adapter. Installing a DigitalLine from RingCentral entails no setup or activation fees.
Few of the key features of DigitalLine are:
1. You can call anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for one low rate and enjoy unlimited inbound calls to your local RingCentral numbers when answered on your DigitalLine.
2. You can use your existing analog phone with an (ATA) adapter.
3. You can rope in as many callers as needed into a single conference using RingCentral SoftPhone. With a regular phone you can have a three-way conferencing.
4. Extension dialing is possible to connect with your team members.
5. You can view your messages directly on your SoftPhone, or access your voicemail by dialing *86.
6. Dial up to 10 numbers with single digit abbreviated dialing.
7. If you press *69 you can retrieve a missed call, if the caller ID is not empty.
8. Using SoftPhone you can record and store conversations. You can access recorded calls on your PC and email them to your colleagues. This is an advanced feature.
9. With RingCentral DigitalLine Service, you can instantly add a phone line anywhere you have high-speed Internet access.
The other advanced features are: Voicemail access; incoming call processing: send caller to voicemail, quick text response, accept call to any phone, reject call, screen caller ID; new fax and voicemail notification.
Operating RingCentral DigitalLine is nothing complicated. It works just like your existing telephone line. The fact is, instead of going through landlines, your voice will go through your high-speed Internet connection using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology.
Fully integrated with your RingCentral virtual phone system, DigitalLine is an effective business tool and communication control system unmatched by any offered by other VoIP providers.
You have different options with regard to choices of phones and whatever your option your calls will be trouble-free and you can control your entire phone communications:
1. Use RingCentral patented Call Controller with SoftPhone. This will transform your PC into a fully functional telephone.
2. Use uyour traditional phone with an Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) supplied by RingCentral
3. Use an IP Phone supplied by RingCentral.
4. You can also use any unlocked SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) compatible device.
RingCentral DigitalLine VoIP helps you to enhance your productivity and be more responsive to your customer needs. In short, RingCentral DigitalLine VoIP offers you today the business communications of the future.
To those who may be less familiar, call center technology consists of automated phone systems capable of answering incoming phone calls and performing outbound autodialing. A call center is a group of telephone agents who receive incoming calls and/or make outgoing calls. Many call centers are completely automated, processing incoming and outgoing calls without any manual operations. Software applications usually associated with calls centers are CRM (Customer Relationship Management) programs.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is a call center technology that allows call center to make and receive calls using the Internet instead of traditional phone lines. As a matter of fact, today, many call centers deploy VOIP technology in a bid to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency as also employ remote call center agents. Businesses worldwide have built VOIP into their call centers, because of the scalability, and VOIP enables call centers to adapt and grow along with business and technology needs.
It is the technology of the future as more and more people are enamored of the features of VOIP technology and the concomitant benefits. For many businesses, reduced cost is perhaps the most compelling reason to adopt VOIP in the call centers. VOIP allows organizations to set up core operations in their main office, while operating call centers at many locations across the globe.
Ordinarily, a VOIP call center is a virtual communication warehouse for marketing, and to a lesser extent, customer relationship management (CRM) functions. Using software on your call center's workstations along with a broadband Internet connection can result in significant savings on operational costs. The telephone communications through the Internet allows the VOIP call center staff to initiate and respond to any number of simultaneous telemarketing calls, phone orders, and customer inquiries. Essentially, a VOIP call center centralizes telemarketing, ordering and customer service functions for various manufacturing and service companies.
There are two different choices - one is to make your current equipment -enabled. The other is to build up a new system through a separate gateway. But there are greater gains in having VOIP technology native to your existing call center system. You can use your current equipment by adding a VOIP interface board or similar bridging device to your current system configuration. There are many manufacturers who offer these products.
While exercising this option, buy a product that is certified and capable of easy integration with your existing equipments. Please remember the vendor's commitment to developing VOIP solutions for you is important. If you find it difficult, hire a professional consultant, who has already handled multiple VOIP call center deployments, to guide you through your project.
Since all telephone functions of are computerized, and since the Internet is by far more capable of handling multiple phone transmissions than a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a call center need not be unduly bothered about overburdened telephone lines. This is a huge advantage. A number of opportunities are presented once you have your call center on the VOIP technology.
One of the legitimate concerns of the existing and intending subscribers of VOIP phone services is - would there be enough network coverage to justify the switching over to VOIP system as the phone communication is through Internet.
It is a fact that VOIP phone system is a sophisticated alternative to the existing conventional landline telephone services. There are many large, medium and small companies, who provide VOIP services and the market is steadily growing.
It is also true that as the network size continues to increase, so does the demand for VOIP service. Major cities do have better coverage networks for VOIP services than many suburban and rural areas. Of course, the network of coverage keeps steadily increasing allowing for more and more subscribers to take advantage of VOIP networks. There is also no denying that VOIP networks are rapidly becoming as efficient as many of the more traditional phone company networks, and even better organized than several cell phones.
The main pre-requisite critically needed for the functioning of the VOIP system is the broadband internet connection and this has caused much anxiety among users as there is no proper coverage of network. Of course, the fact remains that many VOIP service providers are desperately attempting to expand the network coverage so that maximum VOIP phone services can take advantage.
Due to insufficient network coverage, VOIP service providers are unable to exploit the full market potential. But the technical persons are already on the job to increase the network coverage, which will result in an increase in the demand of VOIP services. As compared to the suburban and rural areas, the network coverage is far more efficient in the cities.
Besides, market surveys suggest that many subscribers are more satisfied with their earlier networks. The different types of problems that the users of VOIP networks encounter are hearing echoes, garbled conversations, and call drops. All these problems have impeded the business growth of many service providers. Unless these problems are solved expeditiously, subscribers may get disillusioned with the performance of VOIP system and go back to conventional systems.
One worthwhile option is to buy a software tool to identify the problem quickly. This software can be searched online and there are many companies that are selling such software. Subscribers must also realize that when accepting a newly developed technology, they should be prepared for both its merits and demerits.
As regards residential VOIP, you have the software for VOIP available online and can easily be downloaded to the computer. Once this is done, the user can communicate with any friends, associates, or family that has the same software. Your phone bills do not and you do not get charged for long distance calls. As you are calling through the computer instead of an old land line, you save a lot of money particularly on long distance costs. From any house with Internet and VOIP, you have the ability to call anyone else with Internet and VOIP, and you need not bother about duration of talk time.
Technology is also evolving at a rapid pace. It is of a very dynamic nature, changing and evolving rapidly, becoming more powerful, more sophisticated and fortunately, more affordable. It’s no wonder then that technology news is never a static field. There’s a new improvement being made every minute, a new product being launched every hour, a new technology being ushered into our lives every day. For those who love science and technology, and also for those who are not so favorable inclined towards it, technology news always has something for everybody.
With the advent of the Internet, and the subsequent proliferation of Internet technologies, online videos have been given a whole new lease of life. This is the age of fast connectivity and super fast data transmission over the Internet. The general experience of watching videos online has improved manifold. Online video services, such as YouTube.com, Google Videos, Metacafe.com and so on are very popular and receive huge amounts of traffic every day.
One of the reasons why people visit these resources in thousands everyday is to view various technology videos, especially new technology videos. Of course one can read about them in various blogs and news sites. But getting to see the technology in action is a different experience altogether. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Product demos are very popular in this respect. Whenever a new product is made available to the public, or the launch of one is announced, people everywhere get inquisitive about it. They wish to learn more about this new offering and also wish to know more about the technology involved, its features, its benefits, etc. Fortunately, the Internet carries many videos that showcase these products. They help in providing a sneak preview of an unreleased product or a video review of a popular one to help prospective buyers take the right decision about buying the product.
It is said, ‘If everything else fails, Google it!’ Well, in other words, it implies that there’s nothing that you can’t find if you search for it on the Internet. The same goes for technology videos too. Search and thou shalt find it.
Small wonder that technology videos, a more recent manner of disseminating technology news, are a popular marketing tool of most companies selling gadgetry and/or technologies. Then there is the deteriorating attention span of readers/viewers - another factor that makes videos a more attractive marketing option. Who wants to plod through the yellow pages or through small print technology news? Who wants a fact file in a droning monotone, accompanied by still shots of the product in a powerpoint presentation? Avail, instead, the instant information provided by a technology video.
Take, for example, Digital TV. Demonstration of how that particular technology works, through a technology video, leaves no room for doubt. People are assured that what they see is what they get and will line up to choose Digital TV over every other sort. The video can further offer comparisons and help the consumer choose to his advantage. Also, remember the old adage – you hear, you forget; you see, you remember? Technology videos probably act on this principle.
Technology news can be pretty dry and incomprehensible if served in the conventional manner. Packing in all the features of a product in the limited space often does not do justice to the product. It can be a daunting task for the page creator and equally so for the reader. It puts him off before he reaches the bottom of the page, whereas a lively video will have you wanting to see more. Moreover, it is difficult for the prospective buyer to translate, say, Intel XXXX into what he will actually get in terms of everyday operations. A video offers a clear picture, literally.
A short video film, strategically embedded in various related web sites is just the thing to boost sales and to differentiate your product from the others. A single click takes the prospect through 2 minutes of intensive watching, hearing and reading and he most likely comes away mesmerized and converted. Technology videos are definitely on!
