Have you every wanted to try out a voice over internet service? There is no better provider to use then Vonage. Vonage are industry leaders with competitive packages and the superb call quality. There is no contract and a 30 day money back guarantee. Vonage has an impressive line up of features, including voicemail, 3 way calling, caller id, emergency calls and call diversion. Vonage is a genuine replacement for your traditional home phone.

Vonage have the following great plans on offer:

Vonage Domestic Plan

Unlimited calls to any landline in the UK or Ireland, any time of the day, for just £5.99 per month. Perfect if you make mainly UK local and national calls.
New to Vonage is the World Plan one, two and three:

Vonage World Plan One

Unlimited calls to any landline in the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Europe (including France, Italy and Spain). Just £7.99 per month.

Vonage World Plan Two

Unlimited calls to any landline in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and 6 additional countries. Just £7.99 per month.

Vonage World Plan Three

Unlimited calls to any landline in the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary for just £7.99 per month.

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BT now has 1 million Voice over Internet (VoIP) customers on its BT Talk and BT Softphone products. That is over one third of its broadband customer base.

Voice over Internet allows customer to make phone calls over the internet for a fraction of the cost of traditional phone calls.

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Ofcom is to force voice over internet (VoIP) operators to warn customers of the limitations of their service. These limitations include the inability to call 999, the phone line going dead in power cuts and the service not working when the buyer’s computer is turned off.

These warnings will have to be made to customers at the point of sale. Customers will have to sign to confirm that they have been made aware of these warnings. With operators that sell VoIP services online, such as Skype, warnings will have to be made on the screen.

Currently nearly 2 million people in the UK use voice over internet services to make telephone calls. Voice over internet allows you to make phone calls over an internet connection for a much lower cost than a traditional phone line. Often calls can be made for free. Demand for voice over internet is likely to increase substantially in the next few years.

Many operators belong to the Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association, which is unhappy with the changes. Eli Katz, its chairman, said: “These proposals are the most prescriptive set of regulations of anywhere in the world.’’

Skype is offering 6 months of free calls to UK landline to users who buy Skype Credit for international or mobile calls before Dec 31st. This includes calls to landlines in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Skype is one of the worlds leading voice of internet (VoIP) providers. Calls are carried over the internet rather than traditional telephone lines.

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Orange has announched that it will offer a new service that combines a mobile phone with a VoIP service. A single mobile handset will act as a landline and a mobile. The handset will operate in the customers house using WiFi (Wireless Internet) to access a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - making phone calls over a broadband connection) connection. Outside the customers house, the handset will work as a normal mobile phone.

The service is very similar to a BT service called BT Fusion. The Orange service will be available in November.

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Voice over Internet provider Vonage has purchased Freetalk. Freetalk was set up be Dixons Store Group (DSG) less than one year ago. Vonage is a market leader in Voice over Internet and, along with Skype, is the most well known brand.

Existing Freetalk customer must transfer to Vonage before Sept 16th by calling 0808 178 3403.

Find out more about VoIP.

Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, has removed price controls on BT. Price controls were first placed on BT when it was privatised in 1984. At the time, BT had a total monopoly on the UK market and price controls were in place to prevent BT from over charging. Since then, intense competition has developed in the market. BT’s many competitors were significantly more competitive than BT and BT was powerless to react. The price controls were seen as a way to allow competition to flourish but preventing BT from using its dominant position to undercut the competition. Now that competition is rife, there is no need for Ofcom to control the prices that BT can charge.

As a response to the lifting of price controls, BT has announced the following reductions in its prices:

• BT Together Option 2 - reduced by 28% to £3.95 per month
• BT Together Option 3 - reduced by 31% to £9.95 per month
• From 15th August - free evening and weekend calls to anyone signing a 18 month contract
• Oct 2006 - calls to 0845 and 0870 reduced. Reduced rates to mobiles
• End of 2006 - 25p off line rental if you receive your bills online
• Voice over Internet - reduced by 29% to £4.95

This news certainly is good news to BT customers. Non-BT customers will also benefits as competitors will be forced to react by dropping their prices.

Ever wanted to reduce your mobile bill? I’m sure most of us have. The good news is, we can, with the help of the fast evolving Internet.

Making phone calls over the Internet is not new, but relatively unknown with the masses. The technology behind it is called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP for short. Your calls as transmitted via the Internet, rather than the traditional phone network. You don’t even need to have your computer on, or use a headset. You can make phone calls using a normal phone. But for that, you need a router, rather than a traditional modem and a phone adaptor, or a VoIP phone. The two most well know Voice over Internet providers are Skype and Vonage.

Now this technology is being taking one step further. By combing WiFi hotspots (places where you can access the Internet wirelessly) with VoIP, companies like Vonage and Skype are taking the mobile phone market to the next level. Thats right, you can now use VoIP on your mobile. Why bother? Well, its a lot cheaper for you and the person calling you. Your VoIP mobile number is a landline (an 01 or 02 number), rather than a traditional mobile number (07..). So effectively you are using a mobile without paying the high mobile rates. And you can often call another VoIP user for free, especially if that person is with the same company.

Sounds to good to be true? Well, the major drawback is that WiFi hotspots are in limited places, so it is anything but a seamless mobile network. But WiFi hotspots are expanding, and entire towns/cities are being given blanket coverage.

We do not predict WiFi mobiles to replace the traditional mobile in the near future, but it is certainly a good option for the cost conscious customer.

To find out more, here is the
BBC article (click here)

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