VoIP Providers List Worldwide VoIP Providers Directory

VoIP, short for Voice over Internet Protocol, is a relatively new technology which enables telephone calls to be made over a broadband internet connection. VoIP services are offered for both businesses and individual customers. A VoIP service used in the domestic context is sometimes referred to as home VoIP.

Home VoIP services offer several advantages over traditional telephone services. Let us look on the major pros and cons of home VoIP services.

One of the major pros of using home VoIP services is its low cost of operation. That is, for the same services-such as making long distance calls or teleconferencing-VoIP broadband phone providers usually charge a much lesser rate than a normal telephone charges.

Another advantage of VoIP is its flexibility. That is, while normal telephones are permanently linked to the telephone lines, ATAs (Analog Telephone Adapter) can be taken anywhere in the world along with you. One can attach it to a normal telephone and an internet connection and make VoIP calls to any other ATA in the same network without any additional cost.

Taxing is also comparatively less for home VoIP services. VoIP services carry no other taxing other than the Federal Excise Tax. This allows customers to use a full fledged VoIP service for very less rates, for example at $ 20.5.

There are not as many disadvantages of home VoIP to be pointed out. However, the biggest con of home VoIP is that it is directly dependent on power supply like your cordless phone or air conditioner. And hence, if the power goes out, the current solution VoIP also shuts down. Another disadvantage of home VoIP is that any technical problems with the internet connection could also hit the VoIP services hard.

Inconsistent sound quality of the calls can also be considered as a drawback of VoIP. The sound quality of VoIP sometimes fickle and calls have delays and echoes as well. This means that, some calls made with VoIP might not be as clear and smooth as calls over telephone lines.

By Oliver Turner