Internet Phone

Internet Phones may be called VoIP phones, SIP phones or softphones. All of them are exactly the same thing in the sense that such phones use the Internet to send and receive voice instead of the regular telephones that use cable wires to connect phones.

Broadband Phones

However when an Internet Phone uses a broadband instead of slower dial-up connection to make and receive calls, this phone is called a Broadband or IP Phone. The popularity of broadband phones lies in the fact that because they use broadband. the quality of connection is much better. This is why businesses go for such phones as reliability and clarity of communication is the prime requirement of commercial transactions.

In the early days of VoIP, most people had to use dial-up connections but with the lowering of costs of a broadband connection Broadband phones are now commonly used for residential use also.

Ways Of Connecting With Internet

While all VoIP phones need Internet connection to work the IP phones or Broadband phones work independently of your computer. In other words you don’t need to keep your internet connected computer on to use such phones.

You can use broadband connectivity to make VoIP calls by using your regular phones also. This requires t a piece of hardware called ATA or adapter which connects the regular phone to the internet connection. Using such phones can ensure that you are not out of connection when there is power outage or no internet connectivity which is one of the disadvantages of VoIP.

Then there are standalone IP Phones. They look and feel like your regular phones but operate on VoIP alone and don’t require you to keep your computer on for using them.

Browse the articles below for more on the topic of Internet Phones and services.