What is VOIP Calling?

How to Choose a VOIP Service

A few months ago, I moved to Europe, excited to explore a new continent. Pretty soon though, I realized that just trying to call close family and friends at home in the States would start eating up all my traveling money. Fortunately, I discovered VOIP  calling and pretty soon my international phone bill for six months cost less than one airport dinner. 

VOIP, or Voice of Internet Protocol, is technology that allows people to use their computer as a telephone. Voice information is transferred as data through the internet, instead of over traditional phone lines. Since the company does not have to maintain or pay to use an infrastructure, their costs are kept extremely low, and that means extremely low rates for the customer - as low as a one hundredth of a cent per minute! 

All you need to get started using VOIP is a home computer, a high speed internet connection and a Janet Jackson style headset. These headsets are easily found at your local computer store for around $5 to $20. My experience has been that cheaper headsets work just as well as the more expensive ones. If your computer has a built-in microphone and speaker, you can use that instead, but it may sacrifice a bit of sound quality. The people that you are calling do not have to have VOIP, or even a computer. In fact, they won't know you are calling their landline or mobile from the internet unless you tell them. However, if you are mostly calling one or two people who are technology savvy, it may be cheapest for everyone if you get a VOIP service like Skype or Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. These types of services allow two or more users to call each other for free if they both use the website service. 

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