VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is one of the hotest technological advances in communications, and it is not going away. If you are new to VoIP,in a nutshell it is the ability to make phone calls over your internet connection.

One of the chief attributes of VoIP that is discussed the most is the lower long distance and overseas call fees. Those fees can really add up particularly if you make a lot of calls for your business and many VOIP carriers provide attractive long distance rates.

Cheaper distance and overseas phone calls are a chief advantage of VOIP, but they’re not the only advantage, by far.

An area where VoIP has a real advantage is that most home VOIP providers often let you use your existing phones. You won’t need to buy a new phone, as you do when changing cell phone providers. This may not be a key consideration for everyone, but it is important to think about how you’ll be using your VOIP telephone
service and to take into consideration the usefulness of keeping your telephones.

If you run a business from home, and receive a lot of calls, you’ll enjoy the voicemail features many VoIP service providers offer. Many of them will email you when you receive a voicemail message and allow you to retrieve your messages online. This is a useful feature for those of us who can’t always answer the phone. It allows us to quickly check our messages without interrupting our work flow.

An often heard question prospective VOIP users ask is, “How’s the sound quality?” This is a sensible question and an important one. Since VoIP is a new technology, the very idea of sending voice over the Internet raises some questions about how it works. Most VoIP service providers connections have excellent sound quality. Businesses have been using VOIP for quite some time now and continue to use it – so the sound has to be good.

Fortunately, the sound quality of the VOIP telephone does not seem to degrade when used in the home and the majority of residential VoIP customers are content with the quality of their phone calls.

Finally, VOIP offers a wide choice in VoIP service providers, which is very significant to a lot of people who have been disgruntled with the level of service and support (or lack there of) offered by their current telephone company.

While the smaller, friendlier phone companies are now offering a residential service, many VOIP users switch to VoIP service providers in part so that they could work with a different phone company and avoid the bother their analog phone provider caused.

VOIP is a fantastic choice for many home phone users because of the cost savings, ability to use your own phone, call features and sound quality. Plus many people find working with more supportive companies much less of a chore.

Overall, it is clear that there are many positive aspects of a VoIP residential phone service. At the beginning of 2007 it is reported that 9% of households in the US use VOIP, and at the current uptake rate there will be 27 millions users by 2009.