Wideband telephony is not only the latest technology to hit the VoIP industry – it may be the technology that will result in the rebooting of VoIP. In this article, we’re going to talk about what wideband telephony is, its service offerings, and what it will mean for you or your company.

What is wideband telephony?

Wideband telephony, or HD Voice or HD VoIP, makes use of high quality voice codecs to deliver superior audio quality to any VoIP call. A voice codec, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, converts analog voice signals into digitally encoded versions. Wideband telephony is going to be far superior than traditional calls. If the average cellular call captures the sound spectrum between 300 – 3,300Hz (3.3 kHz), wideband telephony can capture as much as 7,000Hz (7 kHz). This means that you get exposed to wider ranges of sound, increased call clarity, and a crisp calling experience.

What does it mean for me?

The benefits of wideband telephony will depend on who you are. For the average user, wideband telephony might not be very useful at the moment. In order to experience a wideband call, both participants have to be using wideband phones and wideband codecs, and the average consumer has yet to be using wideband telephony. In the future, especially as cellular networks move to 4G, wideband telephony will definitely infiltrate the consumer market.

In the business sector, however, wideband telephony is slowly gaining popularity. If your business is a call center or one with a high volume call environment, you’ll benefit immediately from wideband telephony. With the clarity and precision provided by this new technology, agents will have an easier time deciphering and recognizing conversations, which increases their ability to process the information.

How to use wideband telephony

First, you’ll need a voice carrier like bandwidth.com. You also have to make sure that your VoIP gateway or IP phone system supports the G.722 codec; otherwise, it cannot handle a Wideband call. You’ll also need desktop IP phones with support for Wideband codecs. Be careful of lower priced wideband telephony as they have inferior quality transducers that cannot keep up with true Wideband calling.

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Although there are many free and affordable VoIP services available, there are still a number of users who are clueless about what VoIP is and how they can save money with this technology. Here are some common myths on VoIP and the facts that debunk them. Hopefully after reading this, you’ll start considering VoIP as a cost-effective option for local and long-distance voice calls.

Myth: You can only save money if you call other VoIP numbers
Fact: Although free user-to-user calls are the biggest selling points of VoIP services, many VoIP services have competitive packages that allow you to call other service providers and long-distance numbers.

Myth: VoIP has bad sound quality.
Fact: Although the first generation of VoIP services had its sound quality issues, providers have made significant upgrades to their technology over the last two years. Today, VoIP users can enjoy high-quality voice calls without getting interrupted by static and white noise.

Myth: VoIP systems are too complicated to set up yourself
Fact: Nothing could be farther from the truth. VoIP software can be easily downloaded and installed, and most VoIP systems have plug-and-play set-ups. If you can get your wireless internet up and running, you should have no problem getting VoIP to work. And in case you really can’t, VoIP providers have customer service departments who can help you get things started or troubleshoot problems if they arise.

Myth: VoIP can’t be used on cell phones
Fact: One of the first few challenges of the VoIP industry is the inability to use the technology on mobile phones. Now applications for smart phones like the iPhone or Nokia N97 enable users to access their favorite VoIP providers like Skype or Fring. Many VoIP providers also offer mobile phones with dual handset capability which enables users to make a seamless switch between their VoIP switch and their mobile phone carrier.

We’ve all been hearing a lot of news about Google Voice lately and those who haven’t been following every single development may be a bit confused about the service. What exactly does Google Voice do? Is it VoIP? A phone redirecting service? Voicemail? We’re hoping this short guide on Google Voice will enlighten you a little on the service and why you might want to use it when it becomes available to the general public.

Before Google acquired the service in 2007, Google Voice used to be GrandCentral, a service that essentially worked as a personal switchboard operator. It let users register a number that can be redirected to ring multiple phones, as well as collect messages, listen to voicemail, and tell a specific number that your phone number is no longer in service (perfect for those avoiding stalkers). When Google bought GrandCentral and relaunched it as Google Voice, they did more than just put a pretty logo on it; they’ve added a couple of useful features and made it into a must-have for early adapters who could use the service by invitation or as a former GrandCentral user. Let’s take a look at what Google Voice can do.

Calls

The most basic calling service offered by Google Voice is call forwarding. You can forward calls to as many numbers as you like, and forward them to other phones depending on who’s calling. You can also set certain individuals or groups to get automatically redirected to your voicemail, spam folder, or block the call. Google Voice also lets you screen callers and give you the option to answer or send them to voicemail, which is useful for numbers you don’t recognize or when you’re too busy to pick up. As they leave the voicemail message, you can listen to what they’re saying and pick up if it appears to be an important call.

Another nifty feature is that users register phone numbers from any area code as well as get vanity numbers, e.g. words that your number can spell out. The disadvantage is that you can’t port an existing number you have to Google Voice.

Voicemail

The most interesting feature offered by Google voice’s voicemail is that it automatically transcribes voicemail messages and sends the transcription either through e-mail or text message. Not only is this far more efficient than listening to the message repeatedly to get the details, but it also provides users with a written record you can keep to look at later on. Of course, the transcription isn’t entirely accurate, but you can fill in the blanks through the context of the message. And if you really have to, you can just listen to the recorded message itself.

SMS and other features

SMS messages received work similar to how calls are handled; you have the option to have the message sent to one or more mobile phones. When you reply to the message, your reply will be sent from your Google Voice number even if you sent it from your phone, thus protecting your privacy. Another cool part is that you can receive SMS messages right from the Google Voice web interface, which is very useful if you’re always in front of a computer. You can also archive your SMS on the website for easy search and retrieval.

There’s no news about whether or not these services will remain free when Google Voice is finally launched to the public. Based on their other services, it seems unlikely that Google will charge regular users for Google Voice; they’ll probably monetize it by creating a Google Voice version for businesses. If you manage to get an invite to use Google Voice, try it out if only for the voicemail transcribing and call filtering features.

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Whatever the reason is, you’re going to waste a lot of time trying to guess what’s wrong with your VoIP connection. What you need is VoIP tool that can figure out what’s going and give you quality diagnosis and monitoring services.

One of the best tools for the job is VoIP Spear, a no-client side software installation that runs VOIP quality tests every five minutes using an east coast, central, and west coast server. The results are placed in a table or chart, making it easy for you to identify what’s wrong and isolate inconsistent connections, giving you results you can show to your ISP. VoIP Spear has free account options for single endpoint users, and very affordable packages for multiple endpoint users. Try it out today!

Despite all the wonderful features mobile phones have these days, they’re not particularly known for cheap calls. Although rates for roaming calls and long distance calls are a lot more affordable today, calling family, friends, and business associates can still result in an expensive phone bill if you call them frequently. Everyone who makes frequent calls, especially across borders, wishes there could be more affordable mobile phone plans. This is where VoIP comes in.

In order to use VoIP on your mobile phone, your handset must support wireless connectivity through any of the following technologies: HSDPA, WiFi, 3G, or EVDO. You also need to sign up with a service provider that allows you to make calls over the Internet using VoIP. Different mobile providers have different requirements – for instance, a mobile VoIP provider that has WiFi connectivity will require you to log into a WiFi network before you can make a VoIP call. You will need a mobile phone that supports WiFi, and you’ll also need to get into a hotspot when placing a call. The disadvantage here is that out of wireless range, there won’t be much use for your VoIP.

Nonetheless, mobile VoIP still has a bright future. With people looking to cut communication costs in a period of recession, more VoIP providers are responding to this need by making their services more available. It won’t be long until more and more people make the transition to mobile VoIP.

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Make sure you shop around before committing yourself to a service – and look carefully! Some VoIP companies are 50% cheaper than others, even though they offer similar features and packages. Don’t just check the prices; also inspect the features that come with the package.

Don’t fall into the trap of going with the biggest names instead. If you’re regularly updated in VoIP news, you’ll see that the most well-known VoIP providers have had some serious downtime. Whoever you choose to get, make sure that the carrier has a history of reliability.

For business and call centers, make sure you have enough bandwith to use VoIP. Try to avoid buying cheap IP phones as well because the quality of your hardware affects the quality of your calls.

Finally, make sure that your VoIP conversations are encrypted. VoIP calls is essentially data – and like any data on the internet, it can be stolen and misused. Ask your carrier about how you can protect your data and keep them secure.

Although all VoIP providers allow you to call toll-free numbers for free, only one VoIP carrier (Vonage) can provide your business with a toll-free number for your customers. Vonage can give you a toll-free number, or you can switch your existing toll-free number, for only $4.99 each month and includes 100 free minutes of incoming calls over the number. Additional minutes get charged 4.9 cents per minute. However, 4.9 cents per minute for a toll free number is a little pricey. Instead, what you can do is get a standalone toll-free number and have it routed to your VoIP number for only 4.5 cents a minute. A company called PowerNet Global offers this service.

Bandwidth is the ability to transfer data from one point to another at a certain amount of time. The faster your bandwidth speed is, the more data you can send and receive over your internet connection. There are two kinds of bandwidth: download bandwidth and upload bandwidth. The upload bandwidth is the amount of data you can send to someone through the internet, and the download bandwidth is the amount of data you can receive through or from the Internet.

Normally, a VoIP call uses about 90 Kbps (kilobytes per second). If your internet service provider doesn’t offer that much bandwidth, there are some VoIP services that allow you to lower the voice quality by lowering the amount of bandwidth for the VoIP call to 60 Kbps or 30 Kbps. The default setting is usually at 90 Kbps, which gives the best sound quality, but even if you change it to the lower settings, some people can’t tell the difference.

If you intend to use VoIP to save money on long-distance calls, it’s recommended that you get a cable or DSL internet service provider. The bandwidth for cable internet starts at 600 Kbps, which is more than enough bandwidth to support high-quality VoIP calls.

Saving money on the monthly phone bill is the chief advantage of using a VoIP phone. If you have a DSL or cable internet connection, you can make PC-to-PC calls to anywhere in the world. PC-to-phone calls cost something though, but the rates are still cheaper than traditional phone services.

Portability is another advantage of VoIP. You can make or receive phone calls anywhere where there’s a broadband connection by signing on to your VoIP account. This makes VoIP just as convenient as e-mail, especially if you travel a lot. Phone to phone VoIP is just as portable. When you get an account at a VoIP service provider, the internet phone given to you has a unique “phone number” that remains valid wherever you are. All you need to do is plug into a high speed internet connection and you can call and receive calls anywhere in the world.

Besides all these features, VoIP also has call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, voicemail, and three-way conference calls at no extra charge. You can also send data like documents and pictures while you talk.

With all these perks, it’s amazing people still use regular phone services. However, VoIP does have its disadvantages. For one thing, it doesn’t work during a blackout because VoIP internet phone services services rely on power to work. This is usually solved by using a battery backup but some models don’t have one. VoIP also has some problems with reliability and sound quality. Sometimes data sent through VoIP calls arrive in scrambled order due to the real-time nature of the service.

These disadvantages are already being overcome with improved service providers. This year VoIP is already receiving worldwide consumer acceptance as more and more individuals and corporations sign up for the service.

You will need an updated computer.

First you will need to have an upgraded computer that is compatible with VoIP software. When you are comparing and choosing service providers, take special note to see if they run their programs on Windows, Linux, or MAC OS. If you use Mac or Linux, don’t assume that all VoIP providers will have your needs in mind. Technology advances everyday, and this includes processor speeds, hardware, motherboards, memory, and video and graphic cards. If you have a “dinosaur” of a computer, there is little chance that VoIP will work with your outdated system. You can check with the company’s requirements regarding their standards for your computer.

Continue to read Getting Connected with VoIP in 10 Easy Steps