Voice over Internet Protocol, VOIP or Broadband phone service as it is often referred to, is changing the telephony world. I remember when it was first introduced in the mid 90’s. The promise was grand – You would not need to call what was then South Western Bell for phone service. You could use your existing Internet connect to make phone calls for free! It was primarily marketed as a way to avoid long distance calls. In the 90’s long distance was still .15-.25 cents per minute. The only issue was how fast and consistent your Internet connect was. This was before the wide availability of broad band. If you had a fast connection in your office it was probably ISDN
with 128k of speed. Each VOIP call takes about 60k so if there was two calls, the Internet connect would screech to a halt.

Then the rates long distance fell to almost nothing and people were able to get free LD on their cell phones. Almost overnight VOIP went away.

It staged a comeback about two years ago. One of the primary reasons was the availability of cheap and fast broadband. Rather than marketing VOIP as LD avoidance, it became about not dealing with the BIG phone companies and portability. The availability of video conferencing was very exciting. Companies such as Vonage.com spent millions advertising and educating consumers about the benefits of Internet phone service.

There are many companies that provide VOIP service for home and business use. One of the advantages of VOIP from Answer360 is it integrates with our RemotePBX service and can extend your virtual office anywhere in the world. If you need an extra phone line in the office or have questions about how VOIP can help your business give me a call. Depending on where I am, I may answer my VOIP phone!