Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services like Skype or Vonage allow you to communicate by voice over the Internet instead of making a conventional telephone call. Because you are bypassing the telephone network, VoIP calls are often free, or at least inexpensive – even for international calls. In a sense, your computer becomes your phone. But VoIP calls don’t always equal the sound quality of a traditional phone call. Here’s how to get the most out of these new services.
How VoIP Works
America is blanketed with thousands of miles of copper cable that form the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). In the past, when you picked up the phone you were physically connected through a cable to the other person you were talking to. Times have changed. Now, when you pick up a standard “land line” phone you get that familiar dial tone…but you are connected in a much different way. Your voice is converted to a string of ones and zeros which can be sent through the network much more efficiently, allowing many more calls to be handled simultaneously. Long distance calls – even to another country – now sound as good as a local call.
Still, the phone network is owned and operated by telephone companies and regulated by the government, and making a call over it costs money. And if that call is being placed to someone in a different country, the charge can be quite high.
That’s where VoIP comes in handy. VoIP lets you bypass most or all of the phone network, and routes the call over the Internet. Once you’ve paid for an internet connection, you don’t get charged extra for connecting to a website that’s on the other side of the world, or for staying connected for 30 minutes instead of 2 minutes as you do with a conventional phone call. VoIP converts your call to a packet of digital data (ones and zeros) just like the phone company does, but that data is sent through the internet along with people’s emails, photos, music downloads, etc. At the other end, the computer of the person that you are calling assembles the packets into the proper order, opens them up, removes the voice signal, and pastes it all together into audio.
This is where the process can fall apart. The audio signal is sent to your computer’s speakers so that you can hear it. Unfortunately, your microphone may also pick up the sound coming out of the speakers (either directly or after being reflected off the walls of the room) and send it back to the caller. Since there is some delay involved in the transmission process, people on the call may hear an echo of their own words. This echo can be so annoying that it makes communicating almost impossible. Even if echo isn’t a problem, pickup of room noise can make it hard to be heard without shouting.
Getting Better Sound
The solution is to make it so that the sound coming out of the speaker can’t be picked up by the microphone. One possibility is a telephone-style handset that connects to your computer, usually through a USB port or a small interface box. Because the handset speaker is against your ear, the microphone doesn’t pick up the sound that comes out of it. But part of the appeal of VoIP calls is that you can talk as long as you want for free, and holding a handset can get tiring after a while.
A more comfortable solution is a headset. A mobile phone headset like Shure’s QuietSpot Boom (link to Boom page) or QuietSpot Inline (link to inline page) will do the job. Most computers have a 3.5mm jack to connect a microphone and another to connect an earphone or headphones; an adapter from Radio Shack (model 42-2428 or 26-204) will let your QuietSpot headset plug right in. With a headset, the sound coming out of the speaker never gets into the microphone, so echo is eliminated.
If you’re using a laptop computer, it probably has a microphone built right into the screen. Then all you need to do is plug in a set of earphones to the laptop’s headphone jack to hear everything loud and clear.
If you’re already using headphones to listen to VoIP calls, you still might want to upgrade to a better quality microphone like Shure’s C606WD (link), C608WD (link), or 8900WD (link). All three come with a cable fitted with the standard 3.5mm miniplug to go right into your computer’s mic input jack.
Getting Set Up
Getting started with VoIP is remarkably easy. First, find some free VoIP software. Currently the most popular is www.skype.com. It takes less than 5 minutes to set up and it even invites your friends to join. Once installed you just need to connect your headset or your microphone and earphones to your computer.
When we tried Skype, the sound quality was remarkably good. With the free basic package you can make calls to other Skype users. If you want to dial a standard phone number you can buy credits and call internationally for as low as one cent a minute. You can also create a conference call and invite up to 12 other users.
VoIP is not a complete substitute for standard phone service. Since it relies on your computer, it does need power to work. So when there is an electrical outage, you can’t use VoIP to call anyone. Also, emergency 911 calls can sometimes be placed using VoIP but cannot be traced to a phone or area, so the 911 dispatcher will not automatically know where to send help, as they do with standard phone calls. Finally, many home entertainment devices like digital video recorders, fax machines, and Tivo need a standard phone line for transmitting data; they won’t work over VoIP. And like any computer application, it can crash and may be susceptible to viruses or hacking.
With that aside, VoIP is quickly becoming an affordable and convenient alternative to standard phone service, especially for people with friends or relatives in other countries. With a few mouse clicks and some simple items you can talk to family and friends around the world, for free.
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