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gpg: Signature made Sun Feb 25 10:38:59 2007 GMT
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On Sun, Feb 25, 2007 at 10:11:18AM +0000, john lewis wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:54:28 +0000
> Andy Smith <andy@???> wrote:
>
> > IP across the world is cheaper than a conventional phone call.
>
> That does depend on where in the world I think, my wife does make a
> regular call to a old friend in Australia but even her "long"
> conversations don't cost much. Around 50p I think, I can't check as
> my accountant doesn't seem to keep the phone bills these days.
Assuming you have an internet connection and the necessary hardware,
VoIP can be completely free. Skype is an example of VoIP and it is free
(though evil) for skype<->skype calls.
Presumably to get the low rate you quote you have to sign up to
specific plans, nominate numbers, etc etc whereas VoIP can be a lot
more flexible.
If you ever use a prepaid calling card then you are most likely
using (someone else's) VoIP. That's why those cards are so cheap.
> > VoIP can be more flexible, e.g. lets you have geographic numbers in
> > places you aren't in routed to places you are with full PBX features
> > like on hold, call queues etc etc., without expensive hardware.
>
> Oops! you have lost me there - sounds like marketroid talk to me.
You can have a phone number in e.g. North America which is routed
over IP to your home network in UK, so that people in America can
call you at their local rate from their normal phone. What's more,
you can receive those calls wherever you are as long as you have a
good enough Internet connection.
If phone concepts such as "on hold", "voice mail" and "call queue"
sound like marketing, well, I don't think I can explain those any
simpler. The point is those features can be unavailable, expensive
and/or inflexible with conventional phone services.
> I guess business users may need such stuff.
Certainly it is still quite niche. I don't use it myself, either.
Businesses do have the most to gain, especially ones that already
heavily rely on telephony - for example with VoIP it is possible for
call centre employees to all work from home and have incoming calls
from normal telephones be rerouted to them over an IP VPN down their
normal DSL/cable. Or to India.
Cheers,
Andy
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