| If you've been looking for a way to reduce your | | | | online account in order to save money. Some services |
| monthly phone bill without sacrificing features on your | | | | also allow you to access your voice mail through your |
| phone service, you might want to look into companies | | | | online account or have it forwarded to your email. |
| that offer phone service based on Voice over Internet | | | | When one service forwards voice mail to your email |
| Protocol technology- or VoIP for short. Voice over | | | | account it does so with the actual voice mail message |
| Internet Protocol technology is offered by several | | | | attached as a WAV file so that you can listen to the |
| different companies including Vonage, Lingo, and | | | | message right there on your computer. At least one |
| SunRocket. While they all have different service plans, | | | | service will let you block phone calls from certain |
| prices, and features; there are also a number of | | | | numbers and or calls from numbers that don't offer |
| general features that they have in common. For | | | | any caller ID data. Either of those two features are |
| example, all of them offer lots of extra features | | | | great ways to fend off telemarketers or admirers |
| included in there service plans at no extra cost, and | | | | who are just too aggressive for your comfort. |
| those service plans are generally competitive in price | | | | While all of these features are extremely valuable, one |
| with what you'd pay for a normal land based phone | | | | thing that all VoIP services have in common, and the |
| line from a conventional phone company. | | | | feature that was really the whole point of them to |
| VoIP technology, as implemented by these companies, | | | | begin with, is the ability to make long distance phone |
| includes as standard features many of the things that | | | | calls without any long distance rates. This is possible |
| you'd pay extra for in order to get from a conventional | | | | because of the "Internet" in Voice over Internet |
| phone company. Voice mail, caller ID with name, last | | | | Protocol. Essentially, VoIP technology streams phone |
| number dialed calling, call transfers, call forwarding, call | | | | conversations in both directions over the Internet in real |
| waiting, and a lot more are all included among these | | | | time. This means that those phone conversations are |
| features. Not only are all of these features included, | | | | treated just like any other media that's sent over the |
| but they're also made enormously more flexible | | | | Internet. Just like MP3's, digital photographs, emails, and |
| because their settings can be changed and used from | | | | other types of document that inhabit the Internet, there |
| anywhere by accessing your account online. For | | | | aren't any long distance charges for phone |
| example, you can use any computer with an Internet | | | | conversations using VoIP. Best of all, it's completely |
| connection to initiate call forwarding. This is a great | | | | compatible with the conventional telephone network so |
| feature for situations where you need to have calls to | | | | you can still talk to people who don't use VoIP. |
| your home or office number forwarded to your mobile | | | | When it comes to saving money and providing the |
| phone, but forgot to do it before stepping out the door. | | | | maximum number of extra features, VoIP technology |
| You can also often do things like turn off the ability to | | | | is definitely worth looking into. |
| dial international calls or directory assistance from your | | | | |