Voip Internet Phones

I was reading a time magazine article the other day and found that there is a thing called skype phones that was sweeping the internet. The two guys who started it sold their website to ebay and are now very rich because of it. What am I talking about? It is called voip or voice over internet protocal. It is not a new idea, making long distance calls over the internet for free, the rational being that the internet connections are done through local servers. They basically created a way to make free phone calls around the world with just a microphone and a speaker and some free downloadable software.

The implications are obvious, the first being that if you can connect a video phone to it, you can talk and see just about anyone anywhere in the world. There is a drawback, however, and that is that it is most easily used over a broad band connection. The bandwidth of video just does not justify clarity over a 56 k modem.

So I went on Ebay and guess what, they are selling skype phones already. I guess it’s been around for about a year already but it’s catching on fast. Some of the commercial phone companies are already offering voip phone service. I guess the question remains is it commercially viable. Will it take on the internet by storm, or is it just a passing fad.

My guess is that it is still in its infancy and inevitably will go through a phase where a lot of different companies will come up with different ways to do this. Then inevitably the feds will come in and regulate it. I guess they’re charging to make phone calls to cell phones and local regular phones, and that’s called skyping out,etc.

I always wandered when they will come up with an idea like solar powered video phones that will connect to anyone in the world. Skype comes pretty close, except that it will be eventually typified as an internet phone service, ready to take that next step of video conferencing which gained a lot of attention years ago.

My opinion is that audio and video over the internet, especially over a broadband connection will gain popularity. Much like cell phone is pretty common these days, but this is mostly for the internet connoseurs, I fear and could be just a passing fad although the commericial implications are there.

But one thing for sure, it’s not just hype they’re talking about, and it remains to be seen if the general public will catch on. We’ll see in the next few years.

Depending on where you live, different kinds of phone service may, and may not be available. This is the first thing that you need to take into account when looking for the cheapest phone service. The other factor being the kind of phone service you want to use. It could be landline phone service, long distance, broadband phone service, or cell phone service like monthly cell phone plans, or a prepaid monthly service plan, or pay as you go prepaid cell phone plan. Then you’ll want to take into account your usage since paying more now, may save you money later.

There are just a couple very simple rules that will guarantee you get the cheapest phone service you are looking for. The first one is look at availability first, not price. If the service you are after is not available where you live it will do you no good regardless of how cheap it is. So check availability first. This applies to both cellular phone service and landline phone service, but broadband phone service is generally available everywhere.

The next thing you want to take into account is your usage habits. Do you make many long distance calls? If so, think unlimited. How often will you be using your cell phone? If you only use your cell phone a couple times a month it makes absolutely no sense to get a regular monthly plan. On the other hand, if you use your cell phone often, a prepaid plan is likely going to cost you more than a regular plan would have. Again, think unlimited. Do you already have broadband Internet? If so, broadband phone service may be the way for you to go.

The very last thing you want to think about is price, and too often that’s what most of us think of first. You’ll want to weigh the difference of usage versus cost. Long distance phone service is a good example of this. If you rarely use long distance then a low cent per minute rate might be your best option. If you generally spend more than $20.00 a month on long distance charges there is no reason you shouldn’t switch to an unlimited plan. So there you have it. Availability, plus usage, plus usage versus cost. This is the only way you’ll get your cheapest phone service, so don’t just sit there, go do it!

Skype is already changing the way we do we do business, even as you’re reading this. A little piece of software that uses VoIP (Voice Over IP) and P2P (Peer-to-Peer) technology, it created waves after waves of excitement, anticipation and even frustration since its launch.

Skype (sometimes pronounced as Skaip or Skypee) is a softphone application that allows you to make phone calls from your PC direct to another Skype user, or any regular fixed or mobile telephone. The cost is extremely cheap, and the quality has seen massive leaps of continuous improvement since it’s launch in 2003. Everyone knows all that.

Here’s what most people don’t know: Skype can be used as powerful and effective marketing tool for any small business. If you want to reach an international market, get telephone inquiries and leads from China, or even if you just want to use it to communicate with your business buddies, you should explore the hidden potential of Skype.

The latest phenomenon to be related to Skype is “Skypecasting” which is basically having teleconferences using Skype. In fact Skpecasting itself is a term coined from “Podcasting”. With Skypecasting you can have online teleconferences for free. The latest version of Skype should support more than 100 users simultaneously so numbers should not be a problem.

However, there are more basic Skype applications that can also be used to get your sales and marketing efforts across to your target market quickly.

SkypeIn, a feature of Skype still in beta, allows you to create virtual numbers in many different countries. If you maximize on this fact, you can literally have “virtual offices” all around the world, even if you’re a home based business entrepreneur with no staff, an embarrassing budget and limited time.

There are many third party applications that enhance the basic software. If you know the correct ones to use, you can literally build a “virtual call center” from your desktop that has all the feature of a real call center: your own personal secretary, day-and-time manager, call routing and call waiting, conditional call forwarding, language translations and much more.

If the “off-the-shelf” version just doesn’t cut it for your business needs, then you can customize and adapt Skype into your own proprietary systems and software. You can choose to do this in-house, or outsource it to experts all over the world. If you know where and how to do this, you can create a powerful telemarketing application that cost pennies a day compared to the traditional solutions. It will be much more time-efficient, too.

Of course, there are more third-party applications being developed as you’re reading this. In fact, much like the iPod, there’s an entire sub-industry built around Skype, including USB phones, lead generators, Skype “call centers” and much more. All in all, it’s an exciting time for telecommunications over the web.

There exists an abundance of service providers aggressively competing with one another in an attempt to win your business. Their offering great broadband phone services that you can use with that overpriced broadband Internet connection your already paying for. You can just imagine the plethora of plans their offering at very competitive rates, with features your probably not getting with your existing traditional phone company. In many cases, you can even keep your old phone number when you switch.

If your wondering, what a broadband phone is, you’ve come to the right place. It’s basically a phone that uses your internet connection to talk and listen over. You may have heard of something called “voice over internet protocol”, or VoiP for short. It’s the technology that converts your voice spoken into a phone into digital bits and bytes that can be understood by computers, and transmitted over the internet. The process, is of course reversed at the other end for the benefit of the person listening to your call.

Saving money is attractive to everyone, and is part of the many reasons that broadband phone services are so popular. Now before you get all gung-ho about this technology, there are a few pitfalls that should be considered. Some of these may or may not apply to you, so be sure to ask when shopping around. First of all, you need to have a high-speed internet connection. Anything less will provide sub par sound quality and usability. As with all things computer based, this technology is subject to hackers and virus attacks. Be sure to check on 911 and international call restrictions from any potential provider you may be considering.

While it’s great, that companies are providing plenty of broadband phone services, it would be foolhardy not to spend some time investigating and comparing the disparate packages being offered. Be sure to pay attention to the fine print. Vonage is one of the popular players in this marketplace, and they would be a great place to start looking. Be sure to consider cost of any new equipment you may require. BBTELSYS is another company providing broad phone services that you may want to consider.

Of course, with all emerging technologies, this one will be sure to get better in time. It’s been around for quite a few years, but just lately is beginning to achieve a critical mass. Also, there is the cool factor that applies to this tech. So if your one of those early adopters, or just a major geek, then you may have jumped on this bandwagon already. Otherwise, do your homework, and I’m sure you can find a deal that works for you.

The term “Digital Photography” can be used to cover both still and video photography, when purchasing either of these technologies the same criteria can be used to make sure that you acquire the correct piece of equipment for your needs.

There are many things to consider when buying either a digital camera. The first thing to do is to figure out what your budget is. Camera prices range from a few pounds for low-end models to thousands for the high-end models for professional use. Decide how much money you would like to spend and what the usage of the camera will be. Try to answer questions such as: Are you going to take family photos, shoot landscape photos, travel a lot with the camera, use a lot of flash photography, Speed of aperture for the faster action shot is also important with the stills camera. The same applies for camcorders, are you looking for camcorder to work in bright sunny conditions or darker cloudy conditions such as using on a skiing trip

Once you have decided on the budget and the usage look for potential cameras. If you have decided to look for your camera on the web you may want to make use of a more specific search engine phrase such as” Sony digital camera” or “digital photo printing services“, in doing this your results are going to be highly targeted to your particular digital camera needs.

If you create a table you can list the cost and features of each of the different types of camera or camcorder, this will help you to narrow down your search for the correct camera to fit your needs.

The features you should be looking to add to your list should be the following:

New cameras are packed with an ever increasing number of mega pixels. Is more mega pixels better? A quick answer would be yes - but a better answer would be “it really depends”. More mega pixels are important if you are going to print photos (especially enlargements) or if you are going to zoom in and crop fine details out of big photos. If you plan to watch your photos on your computer screen and maybe just print a few 4X6 prints every now and then than 2 mega pixels is more than enough (yes… just 2). Most screen resolutions are about 1024X768 so even when viewing the photo in full screen mode you can only view 1024X768 which is less than 1 mega pixels. A 2 mega pixels, 4X6 photo print will have a DPI higher than 300 which is more than enough for a high quality print. If you plan to print photo enlargements then a rule of thumb is to be able to print at least 300DPI resolution. The following is a table for different print sizes and the mega pixels needed for such print quality:

page 4X6 2MP

page 5X7 3MP

page 8X10 7MP

page 11X14 14MP

page 16X20 28MP

page 20X30 54MP

Unless you budget is infinite when you buy a camera with more mega pixels you make a compromise between mega pixels and other features. For example is it better to spend money on more mega pixels or on better lenses? Or maybe on an external flash? It all depends on how you will use your camera. Evaluate your usage and decide what is more important to you.

In some situations it is very useful to have a good zoom capability. For example when you take a portrait photo you want to make sure the object’s face fills the photo frame while when you take a group photo you want to make sure everybody is in the photo frame.

Some manufacturers state the camera’s zoom figure without specifying if it is optical or digital. Optical zoom works by physically moving the camera’s lenses and changing the focal length. By changing the focal length you can make objects appear bigger and fit the full photo frame. Digital zoom works by applying built-in software in the camera to define a portion of the photo which you are interested in. Once chosen the software crops the rest of the photo and enlarges the area you chose to fit the complete photo frame. The downside of this digital process is that the enlarged photo quality is lower than the original photo’s. The conclusion is that optical zoom is superior to digital zoom so when you compare different camera’s zoom always compare their optical zoom capabilities. You can totally ignore the digital zoom figures.

With ever growing storage capacities digital cameras today can hold hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media. You can always have a few more in your pocket and changing is very fast. The result is that a digital camera has practically infinite capacity. You can shoot as many photos as you want and at the end of the day just dump them on your computer disk. There is no time lost changing film and there are no photo opportunities lost due to lack of film or reserving film for later.

Advances such as the internet can make us neglect the many different digital photography resources that are currently freely available to us such as the town book shop or town library which can often be an obvious place to obtain guidance about digital camera products, you should certainly make use of these kinds of havens of great digital camera data as suitable digital camera product information may very often be hard to find

For further information on the subject, we invite you to read the analysis performed by the CISSP on potential Skype vulnerabilities.

Technically speaking, Skype is very similar to P2P file sharing applications that have been a constant threat to corporate networks over the years.

To make telephone calls at reduced costs using a VoIP service, several resources need in fact to be shared, first of all bandwidth. Moreover, to operate in the presence of one or more routers or firewalls, Skype must be run on port 80 (the same used to surf the Web, that no company can restrict). Like other P2p applications, it opens so many connections as to slow down a corporate network as much as any client eMule that opens thousands of connections.

But two more aspects need to be analyzed: the first is called proprietary technology and affects the release speed of security patches (without questioning about the code contents). The second aspect concerns the distributions policy of the security patches since, even supposing that they are released on time, their actual distribution to hundreds or thousands of clients may turn out to be extremely expensive.

Finally, even if it is allowable (and physiologic) for a software to have bugs, when it comes to an application which is expected to be used worldwide and which is bound to operate inside corporate networks, a critical analysis should at least be performed before adopting it. Although scepticism persists over whether Skype is safe for business, we would like to examine with you how we managed to make the use of Skype2PBX safe at corporate level.

Even if Skype has proved not to be the perfect enterprise VoIP solution, Skype2PBX allows the vulnerabilities introduced by this application to be greatly reduced while maintaining the benefits of connecting to wired telephones anywhere in the world at less than company prices. First of all Skype2PBX does not need any software to be installed on corporate PCs. Let alone the benefits deriving from the use of traditional telephone systems instead of wearing headsets, the main advantages in terms of management and security are:

• Zero installation time even with hundreds or thousands of clients
• Unchanged corporate network security
• Software upgrade performed on the gateway equipment
• No direct user access to the gateway equipment and to File Transfer and Chat services.

After explaining how risks are reduced to the least using Skype2PBX, we may also add that Skype2PBX usually there is no connection between the corporate network and Skype2PBX gateway - even when the company features IP phones - since the switchboard is connected to Skype2PBX gateway through an analog and/or ISDN line, thus preventing any hacker attack to the corporate network. 

The positioning of the Skype gateway on a DMZ network reduces system vulnerabilities to zero; Skype2PBX is usually installed on a network which is separated from the corporate network. Any attack will be therefore limited to the gateway equipment and will not affect the corporate network.

Skype2PBX is moreover based on Linux operating system, which is known to be safer than Microsoft operating systems. Besides this, Skype2PBX allows the configuration of a Firewall (based on IPTABLES), which blocks any undesired connections to the equipment.File transfer and chat services being disabled, Skype2PBX can be used with vulnerabilities reduced to zero.

Bandwidth use deserves a deeper analysis; although official Skype specifications declare an average bandwidth use of 16/32Kbps/call and zero bandwidth use for normal Skype operation in the absence of calls, it can in fact tie up the corporate bandwidth.

In order to improve system safety while keeping good reliability standards for Skype and Internet services, we strongly recommend you to install Skype2PBX on a separate internet connection.This type of connection blocks any hacker access between the Skype2PBX system and the corporate network while guaranteeing optimal Internet connectivity and Skype calls’ quality.

Although this connection may seem quite expensive, the cost reduction Skype2PBX allows makes it worth a while. We have estimated that an hour of international conversation makes a company pay off the monthly fee for a dedicated Skype line.

Conclusive Remarks

To sum up, we may assert that though Skype is not the perfect enterprise VoIP solutions for the vulnerabilities it may introduce, through Skype2PBX it can be used safely on any corporate network.

The worst case we can envisage is a temporary violation of the Skype2PBX Gateway equipment (which is very unlikely to occur); should this be the case, however, it will take only 10 minutes to re-install and operate it.

A potential “risk” that, on our opinion, is outweighed by the huge cost saving that Skype may introduce in any company.

Do you still have landline phone service? Still stuck on dial-up Internet service because you think it’s cheaper than broadband? What if I said you can essentially get unlimited local plus long distance phone service and broadband Internet for the same price or less than what you’re paying for those so called cheaper services?

Ask yourself this: How much am I paying just for local phone service? Are you including all of the taxes fees and sir charges? If so, you’re probably paying fairly close to 50 dollars a month just in local phone service charges. Is it fair to say you pay at least 10 dollars a month in long distance including fees?

Either way you cut it, if you are paying more than 60 dollars for phone service each month you’re getting ripped off even if you think you’re getting a pretty good deal. How about dial-up ISP? Do you have one of those super cheap dial-up Internet providers that only charge around 10 dollars a month for ISP? Good deal right? Wrong!

Of course I can’t sit here and figure each persons monthly billing, but most of you reading this who have landline phone service, make long distance phone calls either by calling card, or a long distance plan, and use dial-up Internet service are likely paying at least 70 dollars or more per month between the three services.

What would you do if you could get high speed Internet, plus unlimited local plus long distance calling for that same 70 dollars? Would you just nod wisely and still keep your landline phone service and slow dial-up Internet? Would you keep swearing by the same cheap calling cards for long distance?

Did you know that most people in the U.S. can get broadband Internet either by cable or DSL for less than 50 dollars a month? Did you know that by having that broadband Internet service you can take advantage of unlimited local and long distance phone service for less than 20 dollars per month?

In effect, you could be getting super fast Internet connections and unlimited calling for the same price, and often times less than what you are paying for service right now. Even if it averages out to be about the same price, you’re still getting better service for the same amount of money!

Of course, more often than not, the combination of broadband Internet, and broadband phone service is cheaper than the cost of landline phone service plus the cost of dial-up. Sure, the price of broadband Internet alone is going to cost more than dial-up, but factor in the savings with broadband phone service and the combination of the two are going to be much cheaper than landline phone service plus dial-up.

Quite literally, the cheapest phone service or cheapest Internet service is going to be broadband Internet like DSL or cable broadband plus broadband telephone service. Try as you might, you just cannot get a better deal than that. You’ve always wanted to “stick it” to your phone company, and modern technology has finally provided you a way to do just that.

Cameras can be held in two positions: horizontal or vertical (also knows as landscape and portrait). Photos taken in the vertical position are later on rotated 90 degrees (either clockwise or counter clockwise). Rotating the photos can be automated if your camera sports an orientation sensor.

If you just take a few photos every now and then rotating them manually is not a big deal. Usually after downloading the photos to your computer you will browse through them and when viewing a photo that needs to be rotated you will fix it using your software rotate feature. However when taking hundreds or thousands of photos this process can become tedious and long. The good news is that this process can be automated if the camera you are using includes an orientation sensor.

An orientation sensor is an electronic device built into the camera that can sense if the camera is held horizontally or vertically and if the camera is flipped or not (there are two vertical positions also known as 90 degrees or 270 degrees relative to the horizontal position). We will not get into the details of how this sensor works (there are a few options utilizing some physical feature such as gravitation or magnetic fields).

When taking a photo the camera saves the orientation sensor reading as EXIT data included in the photo file. EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format and it defines a set of tags and semantics that can be added to existing formats such as JPG and TIFF to provide more information about the photo. One such piece of information is the camera orientation.

Software can later on use the EXIF orientation data to automatically rotate photos as needed. There are some options for how you can utilize this orientation data for your benefits, here are a few:

I was reading a time magazine article the other day and found that there is a thing called skype phones that was sweeping the internet. The two guys who started it sold their website to ebay and are now very rich because of it. What am I talking about? It is called voip or voice over internet protocal. It is not a new idea, making long distance calls over the internet for free, the rational being that the internet connections are done through local servers. They basically created a way to make free phone calls around the world with just a microphone and a speaker and some free downloadable software.

The implications are obvious, the first being that if you can connect a video phone to it, you can talk and see just about anyone anywhere in the world. There is a drawback, however, and that is that it is most easily used over a broad band connection. The bandwidth of video just does not justify clarity over a 56 k modem.

So I went on Ebay and guess what, they are selling skype phones already. I guess it’s been around for about a year already but it’s catching on fast. Some of the commercial phone companies are already offering voip phone service. I guess the question remains is it commercially viable. Will it take on the internet by storm, or is it just a passing fad.

My guess is that it is still in its infancy and inevitably will go through a phase where a lot of different companies will come up with different ways to do this. Then inevitably the feds will come in and regulate it. I guess they’re charging to make phone calls to cell phones and local regular phones, and that’s called skyping out,etc.

I always wandered when they will come up with an idea like solar powered video phones that will connect to anyone in the world. Skype comes pretty close, except that it will be eventually typified as an internet phone service, ready to take that next step of video conferencing which gained a lot of attention years ago.

My opinion is that audio and video over the internet, especially over a broadband connection will gain popularity. Much like cell phone is pretty common these days, but this is mostly for the internet connoseurs, I fear and could be just a passing fad although the commericial implications are there.

But one thing for sure, it’s not just hype they’re talking about, and it remains to be seen if the general public will catch on. We’ll see in the next few years.

Ever come across a site that claims broadband phone is also known as VoIP or vise verse? Or a web page that explains PC-to-phone is VoIP? How about Internet phone service? VoIP right? Wrong! VoIP is neither broadband phone, PC-to-phone or Internet phone service. It’s time to set the record straight once and for all.

VoIP is an abbreviation for Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP is a technology that makes such things as broadband phone service, PC-to-phone, and Internet phone service possible by using the Internet to send and receive phone calls. The technology is VoIP while the means are broadband phone or PC-to-phone and the like.

So now we know what broadband phone isn’t, I suppose this would be a good place to explain what it is, exactly. Broadband phone service as discussed before, uses VoIP technology to send and receive phone calls using your regular everyday household touch tone corded or wireless telephone.

Technically broadband phone service doesn’t even need your computer to work, you just need a broadband Internet connection, and both DSL or cable broadband will work. You’ll also need a broadband telephone adaptor to plug your phone line into instead of the usual wall jack. Pretty simple huh?

What broadband phone service allows you to do is bypass your telephone company, and connect your call directly to the same grid your phone company uses. Can you guess what that is? Right, the Internet. All this time your phone company has charged you just to connect your call to the Internet! What a rip off, right?

Now just wait, it gets better. So far Uncle Sam and the telcos have not been able to tax or collect on sir charges as had been the case for many years with your landline phone company. Right now additional charges are very minimal. Did you know that taxes and hidden fee’s can make up as much as 20% of your landline phone bill?

Now on to PC-to-phone service. PC-to-phone works in much the same way broadband phone works, but without an adapter. Instead you just need a headset or speakers and microphone and PC-to-phone software installed on your computer. You can use PC-to-phone to call someones phone from your computer, and sometimes people can even call your computer.

Now before you get excited, PC-to-phone is not free. The cent per minute rates are low for long distance, but you normally get charged the same amount for a local call. Whats worse, PC-to-phone services actually do no service for you at all. It uses the software that you downloaded and host on your computer to track your calls, and doesn’t cost them a penny when you make a call. You’re just paying for the software over, and over, and over again.

Internet phone service is just a vague term for broadband and PC-to-phone type services. So now that you know what VoIP is not, and what broadband phone service and PC-to-phone is, why are you still using that landline phone? Broadband phone service is without any doubt the cheapest phone service on the planet and is the best way to take advantage of VoIP technology. Not to mention, it finally gives you a way to “stick it” to your phone company.