Traveling with VoIP

The vast array of features that VoIP has to offer allows the technology to be used in a myriad of ways. One advantage VoIP telephony has over traditional phone service is its ability to travel with you. By this, we mean that with VoIP you can travel locally or internationally and keep the same number, move house and have no break in service or simply go on vacation and have your same number and features. Cell phones can potentially fill this niche, however it is expensive to have a service that will work internationally and when moving house or going on vacation there is no guarantee that there will be coverage at your new location.

VoIP offers a number of features that not only allow you to travel but will make it an advantage to take your VoIP phone with you rather than say a cell phone or pay those expensive hotel rates. Below we will introduce a few of these features.

First, you must find a plan that that has the travel global feature. Use our advanced search to see all the Service Providers that support this feature. This feature, allows you to take your IP ready phone or ATA and plug it into any broadband connection around the world and you will have the same service and features you are accustomed to at home. This can be extremely useful to you when visiting family abroad as I do. I take my VoIP phone with me and stay in touch for free. Having the same phone number also means that you can easily be reached and there are no surprise phone charges for the people who call you. Not something you are likely to see with a cell phone plan.

For business users Call transfer is an extremely beneficial feature. This allows you to transfer a call you have already answered to another number. Effectively you are taking your office network with you. Again this feature is not available with your standard Cell phone but does came as standard with most VoIP plans.

PC to Phone or sometimes referred to as softphone can be a cheaper alternative or more convenient than traveling with an ATA or an IP ready phone. A simple software download and you can turn your PC into your telephone. You will still have all the features of VoIP but you will use your laptop to make and receive calls. For business travelers you are almost guaranteed a phone service from anywhere in the world, excellent value for money at $10 a month.

The above features are network features in that they depend upon the Service Provider you choose. However, the introduction in recent years of the IP ready phone, which has the ATA built in, offers consumers a whole host of new features and applications. The Video Phone is one such application that is becoming more and more common place. Video over cellular networks such as TDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE or even 3G networks have proved problematic. Only when using 3G networks is it realistically possible and that then depends on the number of people sharing your wireless bandwidth. If you take into account the size of 3G cell phones, video becomes impractical. With VoIP, as you are using a broadband internet connection, you are guaranteed the bandwidth to have good resolution video.

VoIP is expanding at an exponential rate and with its protocol well defined, it promises the integration that has been promised but has never been realized with the cell phone industry. New standards like WI-MAX are well suited to VoIP and several service providers have been testing their service using this new standard. The future of VoIP is well assured, and perhaps it won’t be long before you are carrying your IP ready phone rather than a cell phone and battery charger.

This article highlights some of the many benefits of having a VoIP broadband phone service. Use our free VoIP plan search engine to select the best VoIP phone plan for your families needs, and start saving today.