E-mail is all very good, but there's nothing like a good
old chin wag. Cheap call charges mean the trend for talking over the net is
growing.
The cost of broadband net access may be
falling, but for some it is still a little pricey. Yet subscribing to a fast net
service could save you money, on your phone calls.
A broadband net connection means you can
make long-distance and international phone calls via the internet rather than
the old-fashioned telephone system.
Your new telephone
keypad?
|
The
difference in cost can be substantial.
For example, a one-minute call to Uzbekistan
with BT costs 79 pence per minute (this is before any discount package). Via the
net the cost is likely to be a quarter of that, possibly less.
And the price won't change if you make the
call from the US instead of the UK.
The technology that makes it possible to
convert your dulcet tones into packets of data and spew them out in intelligible
form at the other end is called Voip - Voice Over IP - and pronounced like
"void".
Think of packets
The "voice over" describes what is involved,
and "IP" refers to the Internet Protocol - the technical standard for how data
moves across the net.
Information goes out in packets, and must be
reassembled
|
When you
do anything on the net such as send an e-mail or download music, the data
involved is split into small pieces, or packets.
The packets are labelled so the machines
that pass them on know where they are going and which ones belong together. This
helps their intended destination work out if all the packets for a particular
music file or message have arrived.
They have to work out if all the parts have
arrived because data packets don't necessarily travel together as they traverse
the net's highways and byways.
The fact they take different routes helps
the net cope with congestion.
But this makes it hard to guarantee a
particular packet of data will get to where it is needed in a predictable amount
of time.
Don't wait for the computer to ring - Voip
cannot receive calls,
yet
|
If you
are downloading music this doesn't matter. All you care about is that all the
packets arrive, eventually.
But with a conversation it's vital that the
words and phrases arrive in order and in a timely fashion.
Hence the need for broadband to ensure the
data arrives quickly and in the right order. Dial-up is just too slow to support
a phone call of a quality comparable with a fixed phone.
So far, the biggest fans of Voip have been
businesses. But now consumers are starting to take advantage of it.
To use a Voip service you have to download
some call-making software, get a headset or USB handset for your PC, sign up
with a Voip provider, and buy some call time with a credit card.
|
Why it's cheaper |
Voip is cheaper because
your phone call piggybacks on the network that is the internet. All you
pay for is the local call at the far end
|
For anyone owning a PC
running Microsoft's Windows XP program it is even easier.
A Voip program is bundled in with XP's
Messenger software and lets people use any one of four Voip providers to make
calls via the net. One of the four is British consumer Voip company Callserve.
Paul Duffy, managing director of Callserve,
said since January of the number of call minutes made per month via its service
has grown by 25%.
One measure of its growing importance was
evident last week when Oftel issued guidance for any company thinking about
using Voip to replace existing phone services.
The 05 prefix
Oftel is even thinking about reserving
numbers beginning 05 for IP phones to get over Voips current biggest problem:
the fact that you can only call out on Voip - other people cannot call you at
your PC. Instead they have to use the old-fashioned dog and bone.
"5p for international calls - you're having a
laugh"
|
Mr Duffy
believes Voip could help release the stranglehold some telephone companies have
on the local loop that connects customers to their local exchange.
"Historically it has been that last mile of
wire that the telecoms operators have been interested in to get their products
to customers," said Mr Duffy.
But with Voip they don't have to take over
the local loop, instead they have another way to reach consumers.
Mr Duffy predicts that as Voip becomes more
widespread, call charges will tumble. Within a decade he believes the most
expensive international call will be 5p per minute.
And if that happens then it will be the old
fashioned phone firms who will be counting the cost.
