What Is VoIP Internet Phone Service?

From Baron's Magazine

Meet VOIP, the hot new technology that promises to cut your phone bill & change the way you communicate (never mind the geeky name).

This technology is about to rock a $750 billion a year industry. VOIP promises cheap rates by shipping calls on the internet. VOIP is a froth on a vast wave of change that has begun to engulf the telecom world. It's clear that VOIP is at an inflection point. The economics & features are too compelling for VOIP not to happen. The new technology promises to change the way you make phone calls & who you pay to handle those calls.

VOIP will have an impact that will be more profound than that of either cell phones or the internet, largely because it encompasses both. The revolution is very real. The FCC Chairman believes that VOIP will irreversibly alter the world of communications. VOIP, he has said, "represents the most significant paradigm shift in the entire history of modern communications since the invention of the telephone."

VOIP uses your regular phone to send your voice over the internet the way it already does emails, instant messages, words & pictures. With VOIP, calls are transferred in digital packets over data networks instead of over circuit switched copper wires. This means that any individual or company with a broadband connection (DSL or Cable Modem) can make calls without paying the local phone company! This will save the consumer on average 25 to 50% off their normal phone bill with about 300+ super cool features that can be utilized with VOIP.

The implications for the phone industry are mind boggling to say the least. "VoIP gives customers a sense of wow," says Cathy Martine, the AT&T senior vice-president.

Take a look at these statistics:

• It is estimated that $200 billion dollars of wealth is going to change hands over the next 5 years due to this new technology that is literally rocking the Telecom industry.
  
  
• "VOIP will virtually wipe out local phone carriers" —Forbes, April 2004
  
  
• "VOIP will account for approximately 75% of world voice services by 2007" —Frost & Sullivan Research
  
  
• Broadband internet subscribers are growing at a rate of almost 2 million new users per month, a 42% increase over 2003 numbers! This is enabling technologies such as VOIP to become more readily available. These numbers are expected to grow at a rate of 120% per year for the next 3 years, and these are conservative projections! —Mark Bieberich, Yankee Group (Industry research firm in Telecom)
  
  
• There are currently 300,000 households in all of North America that utilize VOIP technology. It is estimated that 40 million households in North America will be utilizing VOIP within the next 3 to 5 years, creating the biggest shift in Telecom history!
  

For additional information about internet phone service or for a list of recommended providers you may call me directly at 317.348.1134.