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Service Providers
This section provides service overview information for Skype, Google Talk, Vonage, and VoiceTelOne.
Service overview
Skype is a free communications program from the inventors of the peer-to-peer filesharing program KaZaA. Skype allows you to talk to anyone in the world using your Internet connection, speakers, and a microphone (or combo headset).
Installing Skype is quite easy, and all you need to do is follow five simple steps to make calls:
Making outside calls
If you’d like to make calls to landline or cell phone numbers all around the world, Skype also has a paid program called Skypeout. At present there are no setup or subscription fees, but Skype does charge for calls depending on your location and where you are calling. Essentiallly, you set up a credit system and when you make a call, the funds are deducted from your account.
Who’s "online"?
With 254 million people already downloading Skype worldwide, it’s quite possible you or someone you know is already using Skype’s VoIP service. On average, about 5 million people are using Skype every minute.
Features worth mentioning
Skype emphasizes the importance of sound quality. As they explain on their site, with normal telephones you can only hear sounds from 300 Hz to 3 kHz. With Skype’s VoIP service, sounds come in much clearer, so any communication sounds more natural and crisp. The Skype service provides voicemail, so you don’t miss anyone’s phone messages. Skype can also function as an instant-messaging program like AIM, MSN, or Yahoo Messenger.
Customer reviews
CNET.com rates Skype an 8.0 out of 10. Many user comments match this rating as well.
Comments proclaim the Skype VoIP service to be cheap and easy to use. Calls to other Skye users are clear and speedy. However, when using the landline feature, some people did experience problems communicating with the person they were calling from their PC. Other users also claimed to experience problems with trying to set up an account for the paid services. The same users also said Skype customer service failed to provide targeted information for getting to the bottom of specific technical issues related to account management. The problem apparently lies more with the company taking the funds, Moneybookers, than with Skype.
The bulk of the consumer reviews suggested that Skype’s free service is superb when it comes to PC-to-PC connections and to some PC-to-landline connections.
The bottom line
For people who aren’t extremely tech-savvy but still want to try a VoIP service, Skype is an excellent choice. Current customers also claim that the money they save talking PC-to-PC or even PC-to-landline is worth a few "glitches" here and there. To paraphrase one reviewer, for the price of free you can’t beat it.
Service overview
Google Talk is much like Skype, but brought to you by the popular search engine company. It likewise can be used for free PC-to-PC calling and instant-messaging, but it does lack some of the features boasted by Skype. On the other hand, Google Talk offers features Skype doesn’t provide.
Google Talk vs. Skype
First, let’s compare these two popular programs side by side:
Customer reviews
CNET.com users rated Google Talk higher than Skype, giving it a 9.3 out of 10, even though Skype has more features. The bulk of reviewers cited the lack of "bloated" features as the reason why Google Talk is so attractive. The service is simply a program for users who aren’t looking for too many bells and whistles. In other words, Google Talk is a VoIP program that allows them to talk to friends and instant-message from time to time. People also like the idea that the service is compatible with other programs.
As far as sound clarity rates, many Google Talk users seem reasonably satisfied, though the quality is perhaps not better than that of competitive VoIP services. Other positives of the free software include reports that it lacks advertisements and apparently doesn’t make drastic reconfigurations to the PC operating system or browser.
The bottom line
Although the instruction pages at Google Talk are more technical in nature and tone than those of other VoIP programs, users will find installation to be easy if they've ever done any software installing before (and who hasn't?). If you want emoticons, PC-to-phone dialing, or other "add-on" features, you're advised to look elsewhere. But if you’re a person who simply wants to chat with someone via your computer, then Google Talk seems to get the job done quickly, effectively, and with no major changes to your computer registery that could cause conflict issues.
Service overview
Since first launching VoIP service in the United States in 2001, Vonage (www.vonage.com) has racked up more than one million subscribers and has completed over 1.6 billion VoIP calls as of January 2006. The company offers SIP-based VoIP service to both business and residential customers throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Vonage provides what’s called “stand-alone” VoIP service, meaning customers must already have broadband access from another provider.
Service packages
Vonage’s biggest claim to fame is cheap phone service. They offer both residential and small business packages. The residential unlimited plan includes:
Residential customers can pay extra for an additional fax line or 800-number;
Vonage's small business unlimited plan offers the same basic feature set as the residential plan, but also includes a dedicated fax line. Vonage offers a lower-cost tier of plans for both residential and business customers based on limited monthly usage.
Target markets
Vonage targets the residential/SOHO (small office/home office) market. For the most part, customers are not especially tech-savvy and are attracted by the promise of low-cost phone service. After signing up for service, customers are shipped a small VoIP gateway (or ATA) within a few days. Installation is simplified as much as possible, and is essentially plug and play (provided you don’t have too complicated a setup). With the gateway, you can connect your regular telephone to the Internet.
Industry profile
Vonage has pumped large amounts of money into marketing and advertising campaigns. In 2005, they spent 220 million on Internet banner ads alone (that’s 71% more than last year’s top advertiser, according to Nielson/NetRatings). The company spends about $200 for every new subscriber. Company CEO Jeffrey Citron has a bold vision, isn’t afraid of risks, and can raise money. In May 2005, Vonage received $200 million in venture funding — representing the largest single funding in telecommunications since 2000.
Vonage's aggressive ad buys have paid off thus far. Vonage boasts the highest market share for North American residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers. According to a Infonetics report, Vonage leads the way with 39%; Time Warner holds 25% and Cablevision has 19%.
However, many industry analysts are skeptical about how much longer Vonage will continue to enjoy the lead-dog position. Their market share dropped from 36% in Q1 2005 to 32% in Q2 2005. And their Q2 share (36%) was actually their lowest share in nine months. Vonage was early to market, but now must compete with larger cable and phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner. Another major factor is that Vonage is a “single play” provider; they offer only VoIP service, whereas cable companies can offer bundled packages including data, voice, and video services.
But the organization isn’t relying on marketing dollars alone to retain its position. Vonage tries to stay ahead through innovative services and applications. They just launched a new portable WiFi handset directed at the consumer market. They also released a Western European virtual phone number service that allows subscribers to sign up for an inexpensive secondary number, and select from a range of European numbers. Friends, relatives, and colleagues can now call them in the United States for the charge of a local call.
VoiceTelOne VoIP Phone Service (www.voicetelone.com) allows you to make and receive phone calls through your high-speed Internet connection using a standard phone and adapter. VoIP provides the same or better quality as traditional phone lines, but you pay far less for all of your calls worldwide. Call any phone, anywhere, it works just the same as your traditional phone service.
For Residential Phone Service
To use VoiceTelOne's VoIP Internet phone service you'll need a broadband connection to the Internet like cable, DSL or high-speed wireless. When you order VoiceTelOne service you'll receive a small piece of equipment called an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) that adapts your phone for use over the Internet. Simply plug the adapter cable into your high-speed Internet connection, unplug your phone from the wall and plug it into the adapter and you're ready to start making calls.
You'll save money each month and get all the same features that traditional phone companies charge extra for, at no additional cost.
VoIP Hosted PBX for Small Businesses
VoiceTelOne's Hosted PBX system delivers a complete suite of enhanced business VoIP hosted PBX functions and features over your broadband Internet connection. No on-site equipment is necessary except phones, and all setup and configuration is done via a web portal. VoiceTelOne's proprietary network and system can handle any size business from just a few extension to large enterprises with thousands of extension and phone numbers distributed across the nation.
See also:
Skype
Service overview
Skype is a free communications program from the inventors of the peer-to-peer filesharing program KaZaA. Skype allows you to talk to anyone in the world using your Internet connection, speakers, and a microphone (or combo headset).
Installing Skype is quite easy, and all you need to do is follow five simple steps to make calls:
- Download the program from skype.com
- Register for the service
- Install the program on your computer
- Plug in your headset, speakers, or USB phone
- Start calling your friends
Making outside calls
If you’d like to make calls to landline or cell phone numbers all around the world, Skype also has a paid program called Skypeout. At present there are no setup or subscription fees, but Skype does charge for calls depending on your location and where you are calling. Essentiallly, you set up a credit system and when you make a call, the funds are deducted from your account.
Who’s "online"?
With 254 million people already downloading Skype worldwide, it’s quite possible you or someone you know is already using Skype’s VoIP service. On average, about 5 million people are using Skype every minute.
Features worth mentioning
Skype emphasizes the importance of sound quality. As they explain on their site, with normal telephones you can only hear sounds from 300 Hz to 3 kHz. With Skype’s VoIP service, sounds come in much clearer, so any communication sounds more natural and crisp. The Skype service provides voicemail, so you don’t miss anyone’s phone messages. Skype can also function as an instant-messaging program like AIM, MSN, or Yahoo Messenger.
Customer reviews
CNET.com rates Skype an 8.0 out of 10. Many user comments match this rating as well.
Comments proclaim the Skype VoIP service to be cheap and easy to use. Calls to other Skye users are clear and speedy. However, when using the landline feature, some people did experience problems communicating with the person they were calling from their PC. Other users also claimed to experience problems with trying to set up an account for the paid services. The same users also said Skype customer service failed to provide targeted information for getting to the bottom of specific technical issues related to account management. The problem apparently lies more with the company taking the funds, Moneybookers, than with Skype.
The bulk of the consumer reviews suggested that Skype’s free service is superb when it comes to PC-to-PC connections and to some PC-to-landline connections.
The bottom line
For people who aren’t extremely tech-savvy but still want to try a VoIP service, Skype is an excellent choice. Current customers also claim that the money they save talking PC-to-PC or even PC-to-landline is worth a few "glitches" here and there. To paraphrase one reviewer, for the price of free you can’t beat it.
Google Talk
Service overview
Google Talk is much like Skype, but brought to you by the popular search engine company. It likewise can be used for free PC-to-PC calling and instant-messaging, but it does lack some of the features boasted by Skype. On the other hand, Google Talk offers features Skype doesn’t provide.
Google Talk vs. Skype
First, let’s compare these two popular programs side by side:
- Google Talk, like Skype, requires a PC Internet connection, a microphone and a speaker, or a headset, in order to send and receive calls.
- With Google Talk, you can talk to people who are also using Earthlink, Gizmo Project, Tiscali, Netease, Chikka, and MediaRing, which they call a "federation." With Skype, in order to communicate PC-to-PC, the people you are contacting need to be using Skype as well.
- Both VoIP providers are free services and have instant-messaging capabilities.
- Calls can be made anywhere in the world by either service.
- Google Talk has no voicemail capabilities, so you can only talk when the other party is online, whereas Skype provides voicemail.
- The setup process is similar for each -- the program must be downloaded, installed, and then registered before use.
- Google Talk functions with Windows 2000, Windows XP (Home & Pro), or Windows Server 2003, while Skype works on Windows 2000 or XP, Mac OS X, Linux or Windows Mobile 5.0, and Windows Mobile 2003.
Customer reviews
CNET.com users rated Google Talk higher than Skype, giving it a 9.3 out of 10, even though Skype has more features. The bulk of reviewers cited the lack of "bloated" features as the reason why Google Talk is so attractive. The service is simply a program for users who aren’t looking for too many bells and whistles. In other words, Google Talk is a VoIP program that allows them to talk to friends and instant-message from time to time. People also like the idea that the service is compatible with other programs.
As far as sound clarity rates, many Google Talk users seem reasonably satisfied, though the quality is perhaps not better than that of competitive VoIP services. Other positives of the free software include reports that it lacks advertisements and apparently doesn’t make drastic reconfigurations to the PC operating system or browser.
The bottom line
Although the instruction pages at Google Talk are more technical in nature and tone than those of other VoIP programs, users will find installation to be easy if they've ever done any software installing before (and who hasn't?). If you want emoticons, PC-to-phone dialing, or other "add-on" features, you're advised to look elsewhere. But if you’re a person who simply wants to chat with someone via your computer, then Google Talk seems to get the job done quickly, effectively, and with no major changes to your computer registery that could cause conflict issues.
Vonage
Service overview
Since first launching VoIP service in the United States in 2001, Vonage (www.vonage.com) has racked up more than one million subscribers and has completed over 1.6 billion VoIP calls as of January 2006. The company offers SIP-based VoIP service to both business and residential customers throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Vonage provides what’s called “stand-alone” VoIP service, meaning customers must already have broadband access from another provider.
Service packages
Vonage’s biggest claim to fame is cheap phone service. They offer both residential and small business packages. The residential unlimited plan includes:
- Unlimited calling anywhere in the U.S. and Canada
- Voicemail (that includes both e-mail alerts and online message retrieval)
- Caller ID
- Three-way calling
- Call forwarding
- Call waiting
Residential customers can pay extra for an additional fax line or 800-number;
Vonage's small business unlimited plan offers the same basic feature set as the residential plan, but also includes a dedicated fax line. Vonage offers a lower-cost tier of plans for both residential and business customers based on limited monthly usage.
Target markets
Vonage targets the residential/SOHO (small office/home office) market. For the most part, customers are not especially tech-savvy and are attracted by the promise of low-cost phone service. After signing up for service, customers are shipped a small VoIP gateway (or ATA) within a few days. Installation is simplified as much as possible, and is essentially plug and play (provided you don’t have too complicated a setup). With the gateway, you can connect your regular telephone to the Internet.
Industry profile
Vonage has pumped large amounts of money into marketing and advertising campaigns. In 2005, they spent 220 million on Internet banner ads alone (that’s 71% more than last year’s top advertiser, according to Nielson/NetRatings). The company spends about $200 for every new subscriber. Company CEO Jeffrey Citron has a bold vision, isn’t afraid of risks, and can raise money. In May 2005, Vonage received $200 million in venture funding — representing the largest single funding in telecommunications since 2000.
Vonage's aggressive ad buys have paid off thus far. Vonage boasts the highest market share for North American residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers. According to a Infonetics report, Vonage leads the way with 39%; Time Warner holds 25% and Cablevision has 19%.
However, many industry analysts are skeptical about how much longer Vonage will continue to enjoy the lead-dog position. Their market share dropped from 36% in Q1 2005 to 32% in Q2 2005. And their Q2 share (36%) was actually their lowest share in nine months. Vonage was early to market, but now must compete with larger cable and phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner. Another major factor is that Vonage is a “single play” provider; they offer only VoIP service, whereas cable companies can offer bundled packages including data, voice, and video services.
But the organization isn’t relying on marketing dollars alone to retain its position. Vonage tries to stay ahead through innovative services and applications. They just launched a new portable WiFi handset directed at the consumer market. They also released a Western European virtual phone number service that allows subscribers to sign up for an inexpensive secondary number, and select from a range of European numbers. Friends, relatives, and colleagues can now call them in the United States for the charge of a local call.
VoiceTelOne
Service overviewVoiceTelOne VoIP Phone Service (www.voicetelone.com) allows you to make and receive phone calls through your high-speed Internet connection using a standard phone and adapter. VoIP provides the same or better quality as traditional phone lines, but you pay far less for all of your calls worldwide. Call any phone, anywhere, it works just the same as your traditional phone service.
For Residential Phone Service
To use VoiceTelOne's VoIP Internet phone service you'll need a broadband connection to the Internet like cable, DSL or high-speed wireless. When you order VoiceTelOne service you'll receive a small piece of equipment called an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) that adapts your phone for use over the Internet. Simply plug the adapter cable into your high-speed Internet connection, unplug your phone from the wall and plug it into the adapter and you're ready to start making calls.
You'll save money each month and get all the same features that traditional phone companies charge extra for, at no additional cost.
VoIP Hosted PBX for Small Businesses
VoiceTelOne's Hosted PBX system delivers a complete suite of enhanced business VoIP hosted PBX functions and features over your broadband Internet connection. No on-site equipment is necessary except phones, and all setup and configuration is done via a web portal. VoiceTelOne's proprietary network and system can handle any size business from just a few extension to large enterprises with thousands of extension and phone numbers distributed across the nation.
See also:
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