By GadgetGuy

Stay in touch, from Playa del Carmen with the one's you love with Voice over Internet Protocol.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.  It enables you to carry audio signals over the internet, like telephone conversations.  The interesting thing about using the internet for your phone calls is in how the internet works.  Once your computer is connected to the internet, you become just a number.  It doesn’t matter where you are.  So, if you wish to call Australia, your computer contacts a computer in Australia, and asks it to dial a local number.  No long distance fee’s: zero, zip, nada.....

You only pay a tiny fraction of the cost to pay the computer in Australia to dial the call (we are talking pennies).  The phone system has been using this system for years.  They lay kilometers and kilometers of fiber optic cable, launch many satellites, and charge you for using their network.  Doing it yourself over your own internet connection is free.  It does not cost you more to download a Mp3 from Australia than the USA, there are no borders or toll roads on the internet.  Using whatever internet connection you have (the higher the speed, the better quality the conversation.  A good connection makes the call indistinguishable from a traditional phone).  You start by choosing a VoIP provider (they are the ones who purchase the local phone numbers and the computer to dial the number.  http://packet8.net/ and http://www.dialpad.com/  are some major players. 

Using the Packet8 system even allows you to have a local number in any US city.  Friends and family can call you for free, you just choose a city to be your local number.  Calls are unlimited and prices start at $20 month.  Dialpad allows you to purchase blocks of minutes at around .02/min.  A computer is required for this service. 

Here’s how it works: The Packet8 system allows you to plug a normal phone directly into a device that handles all the internet communications.  You do not need to know anything about a computer and you don’t even need a computer.  When you call, you dial just as you would from a telephone but instead of the call going out via the local telephone company, it is instead sent via the internet.  Your voice get’s digitized and gets routed around on the internet to the closest major city nearby where you are calling.  The rest of the call goes out via standard phone technology.  You can just think of VoIP as a bridge over all other phone systems, a super-highway reserved just for you!

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