Functions of VoIP:

VoIP can ease tasks and provide services that may be more difficult to implement or more expensive using the PSTN:

• Addition with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in similar with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books, and passing information about whether friends or colleagues are available to involved parties.
• The ability to transmit more than one telephone call over the same broadband connection. This can make VoIP a simple way to add an extra telephone line to a home or office.
• Advanced Telephony features such as call routing, screen pops, and IVR implementations are easier and cheaper to apply and combine. The fact that the phone call is on the same data network as a user’s PC opens a new door to potential.
• Conference calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID; zero- or near-zero-cost features that traditional telecommunication companies (telcos) normally charge extra for.
• Location independence. Only an Internet connection is needed to get a connection to a VoIP provider. For example, call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast and stable Internet connection.
• A major issue avoiding VoIP’s acceptance by more users is mobility. This is being addressed with new (Wi-Fi)-enabled cordless phones available on the market. With the beginning of new technologies such as (WiMAX), it is supposed that the mobility issue with VoIP shall become extinct.
• Secure calls using standardized protocols (such as Secure Real-time Transport Protocol.) Most of the difficulties of creating a secure phone connection over traditional phone lines, like digitizing and digital transmission, are already in place with VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt and authenticate the existing data stream.

Reliability with VoIP:

Conventional phones are connected directly to telephone company phone lines, which in the event of a power failure are kept performing by backup generators or batteries located at the telephone exchange. However, IP Phones and the IP infrastructure connect to routers and servers, which typically depend on the accessibility of mains electricity or another locally generated power source. Therefore, most VoIP networks and the supporting routers and servers are also on broadly presented and relatively cheap Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) systems to maintain electricity during a power outage for a prearranged length of time. The amount of time typically ranges from as little as an hour and up from there, depending on the quality of the UPS unit and the power draw and characteristics of the communications tools.

Voice-over-Internet Protocol has been a subject of interest almost since the first computer network. By 1973, voice was being transmitted over the early Internet. The technology for transmitting voice chat over the Internet has been available to end-users since at least the early 1980s. In 1996, a shrink-wrapped software product called Vocal Tec Internet Phone provided VoIP along with extra features such as voice mail and caller ID. However, it did not offer a gateway to the PSTN, so it was only possible to speak to other Vocal Tec Internet Phone users. In 1997, Level 3 began development of its first softswitch (a term they invented in 1998); softswitches were designed to replace traditional hardware telephone switches by serving as gateways between telephone networks.

profits in the total VoIP industry in the US is set to grow by 24.3% in 2008 to $3.19 billion. Subscriber growth will drive profits in the VoIP sector, with numbers expected to increase by 21.2% in 2008 to 16.6 million. The United States‘ largest VoIP provider is Vonage

International calling cards are easy to use - and they can save you a lot of money if you make frequent calls overseas.If you are a traveler and often use to visit out of the country or make international calls than it is the best option for you to purchase a calling card.

But buying the right calling card is much more confusing than it should be. That’s because:

1. Calling card pricing is nonsensically difficult
2. Calling card companies use unclear marketing techniques

To ensure you are buying the cheapest calling card you possibly can, pays to be a smart shopper!

This page provide you  tips that will help you buy calling cards that meet your individual calling needs. The main points are to understand:

• how calling card pricing works
• what your personal calling patterns are
• how to choose a reputable calling card company

If you remember only 2 things from this page, they should be:

• low per minute rates are often not the best deal
• only buy cards with 1-minute or 3-minute billing increments

So let’s get on with it so you can buy calling cards today!

1. Buy cards with 1-minute or 3-minute billing increments:

In general, you want to choose a calling card with either a 1-minute billing increment or a 3-minute billing increment.

• Pick a 1-minute card if you usually make calls shorter than 10-11 minutes.
• Pick a 3-minute card if your calls are usually 12 minutes in length or longer.

Cards with 1-second or 6-second billing increments are almost never cost effective - for any call span. The reason for this is that the more accurate metering benefits of shorter billing increments are almost always offset by the higher per minute rates you get charged.

2. Buy cards with advanced dialing and billing features:

Many calling cards and prepaid phone cards have advanced dialing and billing features that can make things much easier. Cards bought through online vendors will tend to have better advanced capabilities.

Dialing features are things that allow you to place calls more easily. They include:

• PIN-less dialing
• Speed dial
• Toll-free vs. local access numbers
• Worldwide access numbers.

Billing features are things that allow you to manage your account and your cards more easily. They include:

• Call tracking
• Rechargeable cards
• Expiration date
• Auto-recharge
• Balance transfer

Keep these features in mind as you shop for a phone card

3. Look for other charges and service fees:

In addition to the per minute rates, calling card companies apply a lot of other charges and service fees to their pre-paid phone cards. Not all cards carry all these charges, but most cards have at least 2-3 applicable fees. Since these fees can really add up, it pays to look at them closely before you buy.

The most common fees are:

• Carrier service fee
• Toll-free access surcharge
• Connection fee
• Maintenance fee
• Payphone surcharge

These calling card pricing elements work together in difficult ways and can really drive up the actual per minute rate you pay. But because there are so many fees and they each are applied in different ways, it can be hard to guess how many talk time minutes you are actually going to get for a given price.

4. Understand actual vs. advertised per minute rates:

Normally, the actual per minute rate you pay will be higher than the per minute rate advertised by your salesperson.

Your advertised per minute rate is the stated rate you will be charged per minute of billed time. The advertised rate is the most significantly cited rate promoting a particular calling card - like, for example, a card to India advertised at 5.9¢ per minute.

Your actual per minute rate will be the rate after applying billing increments calculations plus other fees and surcharges (such as connection fees, maintenance fees, etc.). Actual per minute rates will be different from person to person depending on your actual calling patterns and the specific fees that apply to your card.

Because salesperson use so many pricing factors, it can be difficult to guess what your actual per minute rate will be. If you are really careful, you can do so by estimating your average call length and number of calls and then applying the various charges to roughly estimate your costs. Click this link to see a detailed example of how to calculate your actual calling card per minute rate.

5. Billed time is different than talk time:

Billed time is not broadly discussed, but it is the actual sum of time you are billed for a given call. Talk time is the amount of time you are actually talking to your party.

Billed time is almost higher than your actual talk time due to the impact of billing increments. All calling cards have billing increments. The most commonly seen billing increments are: 6-seconds, 1-minute, and 3-minutes. You may also see 1-second and 5-minute increments.

Billing time is calculated by dividing your actual talk time by your billing increment and rounding up. Your call will be charged at the advertised per minute rate times the billed time of the call.

So, for example, if you make a call that lasts for 10 minutes and have a card with a 3-minute increment, your billed time for that call is 12 minutes [ 10 ÷ 3 = 3.3, then round up to 4 ].

Or if you have a card with a 1-minute billing increment and you talk for 1 minute 22 seconds (1:22), you will be charged for 2 minutes.

6. Watch for overplay minutes:

Many phone card companies overplay the number of minutes you will get when using their cards. They do this by hopefully stating total minutes based on a best situation.

For example, the stated minutes may take for granted all your minutes in one single very long phone call vs. making several calls over time. Or they may assume you do not use their toll-free access numbers. Or do not use a payphone. Etc.

This problem has led to many consumer complaints against calling card companies. In some cases, it has led to successful false advertising suits by government authorities.

Nonetheless, the problem remains all too common, especially with cards sold via retail outlets.

7. Low per minute rates aren’t always the best deal:

Many people want to buy cheap calling cards, so calling card companies advertise very low per minute rates to attract you into buying their cards.

But sometimes the calling cards with the lowest advertised per minute rates have the highest service fees. In other words we can say that the calling cards with lower rate per minute are often higher than others.

 For example, a card with a 4.9¢ per minute rate ended up costing more than another card costing 7.1¢ per minute. The reason was that the lower priced card had a longer billing increment and two additional fees: a 15% service fee and a 49¢ connection fee.

8. Buy cards online - not in retail stores:

Calling cards are available in an increasingly wide range of places. The main options are to buy through an online salesperson or to buy at a retail store.

 Four main reasons:

• Easier to compare calling card prices and features
• Easier to identify and compare vendors online
• Easier to verify vendor credentials and reputation for online vendors
• Easier to set-up and manage features like PIN-less dialing and speed dial

While there are plenty of perfectly good cards sold at retail, it seems that most of the notable phone card scams have involved store-bought cards from no-name brands. The biggest problem is that the packaging of cards in retail stores makes it hard for companies to fully disclose fees - even if they truly wanted to.

This can’t be said that all online vendors are good or all retail cards are bad, just that online shops are a better gamble overall for buying quality cards.

If you buy cards at retail shops, we advise you pay extra attention to the brand. Buy cards either from well known carriers or from card vendors you already know and trust.

9. Watch for hidden fees

In the calling cards industry hidden fees are a very big problem.. That’s because not all card vendor fully or clearly disclose information on all applicable rates and fees.

As you go for a card, carefully see which rates and fees apply. If they are not showing any fee, doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be charged for it - it may be declared in the fine print somewhere. For example, it is not uncommon for fees to be disclosed in the details of long contracts or terms of service which many people wouldn’t even think to read.

In our opinion, a very good indicator of a calling card vendor’s honestly is how clearly and prominently they display applicable rates and fees. Ideally, you want to buy from a vendor that provides an organized and complete listing of all possible fees - including ones they may not even charge for.

10. Buy from high regarded companies

Unfortunately, there are a lot of calling card salesperson out there, so your first priority is finding a highly regarded company to buy your calling cards from.

Finding good salesperson is not hard - if you know what to look for. Once you’ve found a good salesperson or two, then you can hub on choosing the right card.

Below are more than a few factors you should consider in choosing a reliable, reputable calling card vendor.

• Provides advanced features (like PIN-less dialing Serves the country you are calling
• No complaints found via Google search
• Offers competitive rates
• Has full disclosure of rates and fees 
• Offers online account management
• Has 24/7 live customer support

Telecom companies across the world have been working hard to make communication easier for customers around the globe. Prepaid calling cards are an excellent way for people to stay connected with their family, friends, and business associates. People love to spend their leasure time talking with their relatives or their business associates on the phone.People love to call up their  friends and relatives to talk about what’s happening  in their life and talk about the project, deals and other matter related to business with their business associates. Prepaid calling cards recommend the best method to call people from almost any telephone and from anywhere in the world.

                                                   For many of us calling long distance is not always possible because of the high costs involved. We need a cheaper and more economical option of making calls without having to carry the burden that comes with international calling. Calling cards offer us an brilliant solution as they not just cut our telephone bills significantly, but they also help us save lot of money.
                                             But you have to keep in mind that there are prepaid calling cards that charge higher rates in making international calls than for domestic or local calls. So it is best to check the prepaid calling cards’ rates and charges.
                               It is very easy using prepaid calling cards. Just simply dial a toll free access number, hit in your PIN number, and then dial the number you want to call. With approximately prepaid calling cards, you are being informed with the available call time remaining that you can use in your call card.
                                                 With prepaid calling cards, you can plan your money and can manage how much you spend in making international calls. In using prepaid calling card, you can have the control over your expenses in making calls and can avoid huge monthly telephone bills.
                                          You can buy prepaid calling cards at most of any stores, but the best choice in searching for prepaid calling cards would be the internet. If you use the internet, you can compare different prepaid calling cards and can easily check out the rates, features and services of each card in order to get the best deal for your money. So it is best to check out the essential information about the prepaid calling card before buying one.

VOIP in India is now Legal

Alas, the day has come. VOIP in India is finally legal. Thanks to continuous   efforts by TRAI to push VOIP to mainstream India through ISP and Telecom Operators. Finally,India is now official a VOIP enabled country or should we say soon to be?

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is recommending unrestricted internet telephony for the country’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Around Two years ago, India allowed VOIP licenses to offer unrestricted internet telephony, but none of the mobile operators have done so far, since they are afraid VoIP would cut their profits and impact overall revenues. However with this new annoucement to open VOIP to ISP, it will be a different ballgame. The Mobile operators will be forced to join the arena since those who are left out would probably loose out forever. Since ISP’s have strong hold in the market now, they can push VOIP services as part of their broadband packages which can make life even more difficult for telecom operators.

We are expecting to see Vodafone and Bharati to launch VOIP services first. There were strong rumous that Bharati is going to launch Advertisement based Free Calls Service in India, I thought this was done in Pilot Phases.  In simple words, our International calls to India will be lot cheaper. We expect this to be around 50 paise (about 1.2 USD cents). The actual termination cost could be a bit more, but provider like Reliance/Bharati/VSNL can do E1 rates for as low as 25-40 paise (lower than 1 cnets per minute). This would be huge for everyone who wants to make cheap international calls to India. VOIP Providers will enjoy better rates and with increasing competition there will be more impressive deals available in the market.We are just waiting for Govertment to start providing these Licenses to ISP and Telecom operators. We are expecting this to actually take effect by end of this year or first half of 2009.

In the present fast growing industry every company is making effort towards globalization and believes that giving faster and better support to the customers can attain globalization and VOIP is one of the products. VoIP is helping companies in taking their steps towards globalization. VoIP solutions offered by Adiance Technologies are an open source ready to be deployed for any VoIP based service provider. Adiance claims to have an entire in-house VoIP team set u which has been continuously doing research activities and developing niche technologies to provide advance solutions to the market.                                                                    

                    “Reliance Communications (RCom) and Microsoft  announced a strategic partnership to provide Internet protocol television (IPTV) services whereby RCom will invest $500 million as licence fee for the software, and spend an additional $500 million in setting up the IPTV infrastructure in the country. The companies have been working on the project since 2003.RCom has been testing IPTV in close to 20,000 households in Mumbai and Delhi. IPTV provides for two-way interactive communication. It allows consumers to watch TV while using the telephone line and broadband Internet connection.”                                                       

                       Truphone today announced Truphone Out+, a new feature that enables free and VoIP-rate calls to be made from a customer’s existing phone number. Truphone Out+ also brings carrier pre-select to Truphone customers, ensuring free Truphone-to-Truphone calls are set up whenever possibie.                                           

                                             Truphone Out is accessible to new customers from countries where Truphone does not yet provide local mobile numbers. Currently this means countries outside of the UK and USA. For these new customers Truphone Out+ means that a customer’s existing phone number is now displayed as their ‘calling line identification’ (CLI) when they make a Truphone call. Carrier pre-select is achieved transparently: when a Truphone call is made the Truphone servers recognise if the ‘ordinary’ telephone number being called is linked to a Truphone account. If the destination user is online, a free Truphone-to-Truphone call is setup.

VoIP in India

 Although, operators like BSNL and MTNL are opening up to embrace VoIP, the tax and fee structure required by TRAI and operators make it difficult to provide VoIP services at a competitive rate. For e.g. DoT charges an additional 12.5% service tax on total charges which is relatively very high when compared around the world, makes it difficult for an Indian company to really provide world-class service at a competitive pricing, especially when a user have alternate option. What would DoT do if user directly buys credit from companies operating in US/Europe which will turn out to be lot cheaper compared to buying from India when 12.5% service tax is added ?

                                               To make VoIP really “affordable” for companies established in India, a revolution similar to the celluar revolution in India - ‘world’s best per min charges’ - is necessary. From a technical point of view, there are companies in India which can claim a stake to provide complete infrastructure which is the best amongst the world. It is interesting to know that while most companies in world like Gtalk, Skype, or TringMe provide inter-user VoIP communication for free, BSNL/MTNL charges 10 paise per user-to-user VoIP minute (PC-to-PC) which is extremely uncompetitive.
  India is amongst the top 5 counties in the world to use Smartphones. Hence, if done well, Mobile VoIP can become an extremely affordable, lucrative and convenient technology in India. Companies like TringMe are bringing in Mobile VoIP support for Smartphones so that one can use VoIP during travelling or on road and not just when one is in front of a PC. This has the potential to change the market dynamics in countries like India andChina where mobile device penetration carries a huge momentum. 

In simple term calling cards are basically plastic cards likes a credit card or a sales receipt bearing a list of local connection numbers for different areas. It allows you to access the main server at no extra long-distance fee. A convenient way to make long-distance calls. Phone cards are available anywhere-convenience stores, newsstands to a lot of online retailers- accessed with very little effort.

Most of the calling cards are prepaid offering even credits of extra calls if necessary and emergency. The prepaid calling card credit system allows use the card depending on the policy of the calling card telecommunication system that is chosen. The majority of calling cards today are a prepaid credit system giving time credit that can be purchased at customer’s convenience. This enables the customer to use it till the time runs out. Some of them have an option to add more minutes to the card.

Pre-paid phone cards are bought in denominations as $5, $10, $20 etc.

Callers can then use the card to call from any telephone to either local or International.

How does it work?

1. Select a calling card online
2. Sign up using protected registration form and pay with your credit/debit cards safely online

3. Receive calling PIN & instructions to the screen and a copy to e-mail address and start talking instantly. Some cards provide a PINless option

4. The customer pays for connection time in advance

5. The process completes within seconds, the customer can start making calls instantly
6. Lets dial access number.
7. Enter PIN and wait for a prompt
8. Dial country code or area code and phone number, speak

Validity period of the card will be some months for example 3 months. Prepaid phone card should be used within this period of first use. Permanent calling PIN card has recharge option. Its validity period is unlimited, but card expires if not recharged within specified time.

Rounding is the basic unit for measuring the duration of a phone call. On your card-

1. If rounding is 1 min, your call time will be rounded up to 11 minutes
2. If rounding is 3 min, your call time will be rounded up to 12 minutes

Higher the rounding period, less you save.

Payphone surcharges

Some payphone providers charge pre-paid cards. this is done by an upfront surcharge or a price/min surcharge.

Maintenance charges

Some cards have a daily maintenance charge. Some don’t.

PINless calling

Some cards provide PIN less calling. It is a service registering phone numbers online. The system recognizes the number without calling PIN code. 6 - 10 phone numbers could be registered. No charges for this.

Advantages of calling cards over POTS:

1. Lets you call from any phone, including cellular, home, office, payphone etc
2. Lets you call from any location in the world
3. PIN less calling
4. Recharging is instant and simple. Enables automatic recharging
5. Control over expenses. Modify your billing increase using automatic recharge option
6. 24/7 Customer service.

This is for the people who look for ways to make international calls in cost effective else near free of cost.

Just read on…

You have a better option here! Yes, it’s VoIP-Voice over Internet Protocol. Just try it out to save your money.

The Voice over Internet Protocol is the talk of the town today. It’s actually the best means to communicate long distance.

It all requires a PC with internet connection, a speaker, a microphone and an additional software supporting VoIP.

Transmission of voice through the Internet

VoIP is a protocol for the transmission of voice through the Internet. It performs communication just like Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS). But no heavy amount of money is poured. Instead many computer and internet based functions like mailing, browsing, messaging, conferencing and multimedia applications are performed simultaneously.

Could be plugged to your traditional phone too

It works with other packet-switched networks also. VoIP could be plugged to your traditional phone. It requires an Adapter acting as a connector between the Router and Telephone and DSL Modem and Telephone.

Free of cost to any country in the world

You can make calls at free or nearly free of cost to any country in the world. But the person at the other end should also have VoIP. You can make calls from your PC to any existing mobile phone number, any other PC, any Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN).

Utilize single network to carry voice and data

This feature along with it’s free of cost nature VoIP is attracting innumerable subscribers all over. No need to have another cable for phone connection now. You can utilize the same network to carry voice and data within no time and with greater ease.

Manifolds your business and transactions freely

Now don’t pour your money to maintain lump sum telephone charges. Switch to VoIP and enjoy unlimited talk time with just internet connection charges.

Make or receive multi-calls simultaneously

Make or attend multi-calls over the same broadband connection concurrently. Conference calling, calls forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID are all accessed with zero or near-zero-cost features for which traditional telecommunication companies normally charge extra.

VoIP features are so covetous that-

Restrictions are imposed on the use of VoIP in Panama. VoIP is taxed

In India VoIP’s retail commercial sales are allowed but only for long distance service.

In Ethiopia the government is monopolizing telecommunication service. It is a criminal offense to offer services using VoIP. The country has installed firewalls to prevent international calls being made using VoIP. These actions were taken after recognition that VoIP reduced the income generated by the state owned telecommunication company.

To sum up

Now I guess you understand the importance of VoIP in your business and in reducing the prices of Calling Cards. With all its multi-faceted features VoIP stands apart thus creating a milestone in Telecommunications.

VoIP provides best voice clarity than any other means and is widely adopted in Business, Radio etc

The calling cards nowadays use VoIP to route the calls and that is why they are becoming cheaper. for e.g. http://www.sysmaster.com/solutions/calling_cards.php explains how it works.

The traditional PSTN network is costly compared to VoIP because-

1. Demands dedicated lines for each remote extension.
2. Intricate: requires hardware additions, new lines, etc.
3. An analogue telephone line uses 64kbps in each direction.