Wednesday, January 10, 2007

LIst of sites offering free VOIP service to pc to phone and conference calls

free voip calls :- http://www.99discounts.com/calls.html

free conference calls :- www.conference-calls-providers.org

Voice over Internet Protocol, also called VoIP, IP Telephony, Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP-based network.

Companies providing VoIP service are commonly referred to as providers, and protocols which are used to carry voice signals over the IP network are commonly referred to as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols. They may be viewed as commercial realizations of the experimental Network Voice Protocol (1973) invented for the ARPANET providers. Some cost savings are due to utilizing a single network - see attached image[1] - to carry voice and data, especially where users have existing underutilized network capacity that can carry VoIP at no additional cost. VoIP to VoIP phone calls are sometimes free, while VoIP to PSTN may have a cost that's borne by the VoIP user.

There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: DID (Direct Inward Dialing) and access numbers. DID will connect the caller directly to the VoIP user while access numbers require the caller to input the extension number of the VoIP user. Access numbers are usually charged as a local call to the caller and free to the VoIP user while DID usually has a monthly fee.[2] There are also DIDs that are free to the VoIP user but chargeable to the caller.

Functionality

VoIP can facilitate tasks that may be more difficult to achieve using traditional networks:
Incoming phone calls can be automatically routed to your VoIP phone, regardless of where you are connected to the network. Take your VoIP phone with you on a trip, and wherever you connect to the Internet, you can receive incoming calls.
Free phone numbers for use with VoIP are available in the USA, UK and other countries from organizations such as VoIP User.
Call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast and stable Internet connection.
Many VoIP packages include PSTN features that most telcos (telecommunication companies) normally charge extra for, or may be unavailable from your local telco, such as 3-way calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID.

Mobility

VoIP allows users to travel anywhere in the world and still make and receive phone calls:
Subscribers of phone-line replacement services can make and receive local phone calls regardless of their location. For example, if a user has a New York City phone number and is traveling in Europe and someone calls the phone number, it will ring in Europe. Conversely, if a call is made from Europe to New York City, it will be treated as a local call. Of course, there must be a connection to the Internet e.g. WiFi to make all of this possible.
Users of Instant Messenger based VoIP services can also travel anywhere in the world and make and receive phone calls.
VoIP phones can integrate with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.

Drawbacks


Difficulty with sending faxes

One drawback is the difficulty in sending faxes due to software and networking restraints in most home systems. An effort is underway to remedy this by defining an alternate IP-based solution for delivering Fax-over-IP, namely the T.38 protocol. Another possible solution to overcome the drawback is to treat the fax system as a message switching system which does not need real time data transmission - such as sending a fax as a email attachment (see iFax) or remote printout (see Internet Printing Protocol). The end system can completely buffer the incoming fax data before displaying or printing the fax image.

Internet connection requirement

Another drawback of VoIP service is its reliance upon another separate service - an Internet connection. The quality and overall reliability of the phone connection is entirely reliant upon the quality, reliability, and speed of the Internet connection which it is using. Shortcomings with Internet connections and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can affect VoIP calls. Higher overall network latencies can lead to significantly reduced call quality and cause certain problems such as echoing.

VoIP is not entirely reliant upon internet connections, however. VoIP systems can also utilize regular telephone lines and business-grade connections like T1 for voice service.[citation needed] A few business VoIP providers offer dedicated point-to-point T1 connections, not relying on an Internet connection for service. Although residential VoIP service typically uses only an Internet connection, business-grade VoIP service can use a variety of connection methods to provide ongoing phone service.

Many VoIP users still maintain a traditional analog voice line (business line) which allows them to dial emergency numbers and utilize a traditional fax machine.

these sites are providing free service for calling

1. free voip calls :- http://www.99discounts.com/calls.html

2. free conference calls :- www.conference-calls-providers.org