The VOIP Provider Guide

For those of you with a traditional wireless provider, the cost of your monthly bill is likely a bit more chafing than you’d desire. It’s not just the price though. The services are usually subpar and these companies have an attitude that they can do whatever they want to keep you in their pocket.

So, it’s little surprise that when the first details of a mobile VoIP solution surfaced in the last few years, the major phone companies started putting all their energy into blocking the technology from being used on their phones. Today, however, court orders and lucrative business ideas have started to reform how these companies approach Mobile VoIP, if only because they have no choice – this is the future of telephone service.

T-Mobile’s Truphone Dilemma
First up is T-Mobile, the telecom giant that went the extra mile to actually block instant messaging and VoIP from being used on their phones altogether. In a move that VoIP enthusiasts have likened to Gulag crackdowns on capitalist literature, T-Mobile hoped to put a stop to the use of their cheaper data plans to make free phone calls in metro areas. Well, they decided to go a step further and block Truphone altogether, a major mobile VoIP provider. Last month they made it impossible for Truphone users to actually dial a number, giving them a prerecorded, “I’m sorry, but…” message.

Their reason is cryptic, claiming that Truphone charges a termination fee that they have no right to charge because they don’t run a physical mobile phone network. However, regardless of the reason, the laws in the UK (where this happened) require that all phone companies connect all calls from all phone services. If they stopped doing so, communications would break down across the nation. The laws are not written for VoIP providers though, referring directly to mobile phone companies and their right to charge this fee. It creates a slightly grey area as to whether phone companies can truly discriminate against those they do not deem true “mobile” carriers.

Fast forward a month or so and a judge spoke on the matter, actually forcing T-mobile to open its lines and allow Truphone calls. As Truphone’s CEO, James Tagg, says, “The injunction is good news not only for Truphone but for every company trying to develop internet-era services and for every consumer wanting freedom of choice and lower prices.” The ruling went into effect starting July 23^rd and will effectively force mobile companies in the UK to allow VoIP usage.

AT&T Being Sly
It’s no secret that AT&T is a couple of decades behind the curve. No one was more shocked than me when they got the nod from Apple for the new iPhone, arguably the slickest and most “now” gadget on the market right now, two words that have never quite fit with their overall image. However, they run a good percentage of the nation’s telecom service and have done so for decades, even despite a major anti-trust breakup in the 1980s. So, you can’t argue with their business practices in terms of effectiveness.

Unfortunately, they seem to be yet another of the companies that has decided to ignore the burgeoning new technology of VoIP and stick to their laurels and traditional phone services. Effectively locking out the uber cool new iPhone’s ability to use third party applications for phone service by making the $600 phone an overpriced paper weight if you do not sign up for AT&T’s service, VoIP is useless. Furthermore, the next generation of Nokia’s N and E series smart phones has been on the rocks lately, partially because of their advanced and openly transparent ability to use such applications for free calls.

It remains to be seen what their official stance on the matter is, but so far, AT&T has run with its tail between its legs from new technology as best as it can. Unfortunately, they might have missed the memo on this one.

Sprint and Verizon Jump On Board
They are not the first major companies to get involved in the VoIP transition, but they are the most notable. Verizon’s land line VoIP service, coupled to their often times mediocre broadband internet service has been riding in the middle of the pack for a couple of years now, but with a recent deal penned with Microsoft to couple their wares with Live Maps and a growing user base, they might finally be making headway.

Sprint, for their part, has jumped on board and become the first of the big four service providers in the US to include some form of VoIP service on their phones. Already a leader in the mobile broadband field, Sprint has now introduced a phone that accesses WiFi hotspots (no, it’s not new, but they like to pretend it is) to make unlimited calls. They advertise it as an at home phone, but charge only $9.99 a month for the service and are clearly taking those first steps in an industry that is still mostly populated by third party applications and open source programs.

Next Stop
It’s impossible to know whether the major phone companies will continue to fight the growth of technology. Companies often tend to do just that all the way up until they realize that they can make money through growth (hybrid cars anyone?). Really, it’s just a matter of figuring out when companies like AT&T and T-Mobile will realize that they can make money by exploiting new technology and offering more options to their users. Plus, VoIP access costs them less to support.

The world of VoIP service has grown substantially in the last few years. With the explosion of the new form of technology, the possibilities have begun to seem endless. The integration of almost every possible internet and computer technology with voice messaging has meant the growth of the industry at unprecedented rates.

However, with the development of so many new services, all offering the same old options, the innovative aspects of VoIP seem to have fallen behind a little bit. Where are the new features and massive integration? Just as Skype fell behind with the growth of services like Vonage and Packet8, it’s possible that the future doesn’t bode well for the new brand of at home services if innovative new services take hold of the market. With that, here are the top 10 innovative services currently in development or in need of development that could truly change and push forward the VoIP market.

VoIP and IPTV Integration
The development of IPTV in recent years has been slow, but with VoIP exploding and cable companies that already offer internet access, digital cable TV and digital voice, the inevitable use of advancing internet technology to transmit television signals is on the horizon. Already integrated with Map and Search services, VoIP will soon be closely integrated with internet television. The possibilities are endless with infomercials likely taking immediate advantage of any direct integration and request shows following close suit.

Free VoIP
In the late 90s, there was an explosion of free internet access providers that loaded down their service with advertisements. It didn’t last too long as broadband grew too fast and most people wanted speed over cost effectiveness. However, free service has worked for the television and radio industries for years with advertisements to support the service. If a clever VoIP service is smart enough, free VoIP could be as simple as the new Google Video model with a small audio clip preceding each phone call.

Call Forwarding Options
Call forwarding has long been an option available for business phones and expensive at home plans. VoIP could easily integrate similar services. In fact, business plans already have the software to do just that with FMFM (Follow me, Follow me), which sends calls to cellular phones, home phones and hotel phones according to where the user designates the call should be forwarded. A small fee and a few quick setup options could make this a very easy option to integrate.

Web Based Integration (Voice 2.0)
This is less of a future possibility and more of a feature in development. Windows Live is already using Verizon’s VoIP services to integrate calling into their map features and Google has long since integrated VoIP functionality into their Google Talk and Map features. Full integration is a ways off, but sooner or later, basic computer setups will allow users to point and click to call their friends and local businesses.

Toll Free VoIP Service – No PCs Involved
Eventually, it will be possible to call a toll free number and gain access to VoIP service via an internet ready phone. The service will hold a small charge, but instead of utilizing circuit based traditional phone access, it will utilize the developing IP network to cut costs.

Satellite VoIP Service
Whether or not satellite service eventually makes its way into the homes of those that are trying to establish true VoIP service, the satellite companies are trying to make it happen. Offering the same digital options that Cable companies have begun to tout for home phone service, satellite internet providers are hard at work. Unfortunately, technology limitations make it hard to keep up with Cable and the oft times undesirable outages of Satellite service make the entire proposition hard to improve.

VoIP Consolidation – The New AT&T is on the Way
Eventually the forty-seven different VoIP services will begin to fall. Only this last week Sunrocket announced they will be closing shop and shutting down their services. The market cannot support so many newcomers to the field and as was witnessed with the telephone industry in the middle of the 20^th century, eventually one or two major players will rise to the top and buy out the competition. When there are only a couple of major companies left, the availability of VoIP service will explode. Unfortunately, innovation will take an inverse dive as features are diverted in favor of expanding coverage areas. It is likely, however, that the VoIP king will be someone other than the traditional champions of phone services. It remains to be seen where the phone monopoly will lay in 10 years, but there will surely be less VoIP options in the months to come.

Video Conferencing and Calling
Video conferencing and data integration to VoIP services has recently exploded with the development of new technology and software from the likes of Microsoft. Because the bandwidth support is there and the cost of web cameras and microphones has dipped to mass-consumer lows, the possibility of accessing nearly anyone via video chat is as real as ever, only now it is much more viable for nearly all of your calls as millions of people switch to VoIP every year.

Enhanced 911 Support
This is a small feature upgrade, but an important one and eventually a possibly problematic one. The enhanced 911 features that emergency services use now to track phone numbers for use in finding the locations of fires and crimes is easily integrated into VoIP services, even if it is has not been fully done yet. The IP tracking technology available though is well developed and soon will allow emergency crews to easily and quickly track any calls made. This means that the industrious stalker or scam artist could easily do the same though. With E911 service comes the inevitable development of better safeguards and firewalling of VoIP connections.

VoIP Business Features for All
Businesses, small and large, currently enjoy incredibly diverse functionality in all of their VoIP services. For this reason, it is safe to reason that in the coming months, those features will begin to trickle down to the masses and reach the mass market. Cost is a matter of demand more than operational services and when the masses learn of the different features available to their business counterparts, features such as full integration and advanced voice mail are sure to make the cross over.  

VoIP has slowly been climbing the ladder of prevalent technology in the last few years. But, it’s most impressive success can be found in the business sector. Buried under the billions of dollars and metric tons of paperwork, VoIP has been integrating into the work place at a breakneck speed, replacing the overly expensive, ridiculously inefficient dinosaur that is traditional phone service. For a major corporation or even just a small business, phone service is an expensive proposition. So is internet access. By combining the two, they are able to cut a great deal of intrinsic costs and so the most development and growth is likely to be found in the business sector.

There are a number of reasons why VoIP is a great choice for businesses, besides the obvious benefits of lowered costs and more convenient access. For those small businesses out there trying to figure out what direction to take, here’s a short list of what we think are the five most important features offered by VoIP for businesses.

Auto Attendant
Voice mail has been an essential feature of phone service for years now. Unfortunately, the date technology has been in need of a major overhaul for many of those years. With the highest quality VoIP phone service solutions out there, new extensions such as Auto Attendant are available to make the use of voicemail that much easier.

Auto Attendant itself is a method for breaking down your voice mail into trees that create different directories for departments, employees and existing extensions. Think of it as a phone version of Windows Explorer. It serves to digitally organize and store your voice mails. It makes routing and answering calls via central numbers incredibly easy as well. For companies that only have two or three people operating a dozen different departments, Auto Attendant options allow you to appear more professional and developed than you actually are by routing calls through to numbers by voice and phone commands.

FMFM (Find Me, Follow Me)
This is one of the most useful features for businesses as it allows an employee to be available at a given number or extension no matter where they move. FMFM will route calls to cell phones, hotel extensions and home phones depending on what you set it to do and allow business men to take calls from anywhere in the world at any time.

The feature will even allow you to establish an order of calling so as calls can ring through to a business desk, then a cell phone, then a home number, running through the motions until the employee answers the phone or it eventually goes to voicemail. Alternately, an employee can simply say where they will be and have calls ring through to a different number accordingly.

Presence
As an extension of the above described FMFM feature, Presence allows users to program in their user names and logins so that the system can actively track where and when a user is at work, at home or outside the phone, using their cellular phone. If an employee is logged into their email or possibly they have recently checked voice mail from their wireless; either way, it’s easy for Presence to track them down and send calls to their location.

Conference Calling
For the most part, phone systems support audio conferencing, but with the growth of technology, video conferencing is becoming infinitely more feasible and used. There can be numerous callers from different locations all linked via video conferencing over VoIP to each other for a meeting.

The beauty of VoIP is that during conference calls data transfer and presentations are easily accessed via the same network. It’s possible to send your files and access computers from cross country while talking cross country. The full integration of numerous forms of technology is best realized in this format. Often, separate software packages are required to take advantage of this functionality. Microsoft among other companies now makes a product that does just this.

Multi-Tasking and Technology Convergence
The world is multi-faceted and with the growth of IP technology, so too is communication integration. There are dozens of different functions utilized on a daily basis by businesses, including calls, e-mail, instant messaging, conferencing, faxing, and voice mail. All of these features can be handled by the same data network now, making it infinitely easier to integrate them into one service and bypass each other for maximum availability. With the ability to list a phone number, fax number, instant messenger name and e-mail address, it’s almost impossible to be completely out of touch with someone trying to contact you.

IP Technology and the Growth of Small Business
VoIP is a great price solution for larger businesses, but the technology it represents is nothing new to those massive corporate solutions that have been pumping for years. Instead, it’s the small businesses that gain the most from the effects of VoIP integration. The prices are as low as they’ve ever been and features are more rampant than ever before, allowing even the smallest of businesses to appear as though they have many more resources.

Starting Off
First off, you need a nice computer. It doesn’t have to be high end or brand new, but it does need to have a decent Ethernet Network card capable of accessing broadband internet access. The computer needs to be able to process the data coming through or you’re going to be dealing with choppy, battered phone calls. This doesn’t apply to most people, but if for some reason you’re still running that computer you bought in 1995 with its Pentium I Processor, it might be time for an upgrade.

Phone Options
There are over two hundred options currently on the market for IP phones. They range in quality, style overall effectiveness as well as cost and can be nearly anything you want from a phone if you’re willing to pay the price. Let’s take a look at some of the top options out there to make sure you have something that will cover everything you need but not cost you all that money you just saved by switching to VOIP.

Cisco 7961G IP Phone
When you begin to look at phones with all of the features you come to expect from high end electronics, you’ll find that Cisco makes some of the best, as they long have. Their 7900 series of IP phones, while priced slightly above $200 is probably the best option available for anyone looking to add a phone to their work desk or at home office. As a phone, it offers the same standard LCD display that you expect from a desktop phone and it works together with the necessary protocols to offer a full featured calling experience that you might not even realize is VoIP.

Speakerphone options and clarity levels have been touted repeatedly as some of the best available, specifically because of the high bandwidth dedication of these phones. The only draw backs on these phones are that they some models are limited to not headset options and often, in the case of power loss, a lot of memory is lost, including contact and speed dial numbers.

Here’s our round-up of the weeks best VoIP posts…?

Russell Shaw talks about the pains of trying to cancel your Vonage subscription. Tom Keating reviews the iSoftPhone VoIP App for the iPhone, and Rich Tehrani ponders the ability to run Skype on your iPhone… in a round-about way.