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Getting
the Most From Broadband Phone Services
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2004 ProvideTechnology,
LLC
All Rights Reserved
Written By
Jack Spirko
866-994-1212
jack@providetechnology.com
No
portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form with out the
expressed written consent of the publisher and full credit given to the original
author any violations will be prosecuted to the full extent of US and
international law. Any use will need to be printed exactly as
displayed here including text links to Broad
Band Phone, Infinite Phone
and VoIP Hunt.
Table of
Contents
What
are broadband phone services? (Why
are they so inexpensive)
The
simplest explanation is that broadband phone service is a way to make
phone calls across an internet connection.
This greatly reduces the cost to the phone provider so they can
charge you less money to provide you service.
To
understand this let’s look at the cost to provide a phone call from
New York City to Dallas for the provider of the service.
Let’s say you are in New York and you pick up your phone and
make the call first the call goes to your local phone office and creates
an “origination charge” and there may be other charges as the call
is forwarded out of the state of New York it is also best to think of
these as “origination charges” to keep it simple.
Then
the call travels across the U.S. to Dallas to the person you want to
call when it gets to Dallas it goes through the local phone company
there and there is another charge called the “termination charge”.
So your telephone provider is charged on both ends and must add
to those charges to make a profit when they provide you with service.
Now
let’s look at the same situation with a broadband phone call.
Now you are in New York with a broadband phone connected to your
DSL connection. You pick up
the phone and make the call the same way but what happens now is your
call never goes to the New York phone offices.
It goes across the internet strait to Dallas and the provider
only pays the termination charge to the Dallas company.
As you can see the provider cut the cost to complete your call in
half so they can charge you a lot less.
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What
type of internet connection do I need?
Just
about any broadband connection is fine including cable modem, DSL, ISDN
or any connection that provides at least 128K of bandwidth.
About the only type of connection that won’t work is dial up or
a satellite dish connection.
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How
is the call quality?
In a
word excellent! Now if you
are transferring a 500 MB file across your connection at the same time
you are making a call it may cause some quality issues but for day to
day use including looking up information online while making calls and
sending emails you won’t notice the difference between broadband sound
quality and your landline phone. Neither
will the people you call.
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Do
I use my computer to make calls or a standard phone?
You can
use any phone you currently have including a cordless phone.
All that is needed is a small converter box that plugs into your
broadband router and you plug any phone into that converter box to use
the service.
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Why
are there no taxes or fees?
Because
your calls are routed across the internet and the entire industry of
broadband phone service is not subject to the regulations that add these
costs to the standard telephone lines. There is a small federal excise
tax of 1.5% on VoIP services but there are no additional taxes or
government fees.
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Can
broadband replace my home telephone?
It
could but you probably should not take that approach with out a little
knowledge and a trial and considering some other options.
Broadband phone has several limitations you need to understand.
1. VoIP
is not always a perfect fit and you simply can't determine how well it
will work for you until you install it. So if you do plan to Port
an existing number to an IP service it is BEST to get service first, try
it out, be sure you are happy with its' performance and then and only
then should you consider porting your existing number from a land line
to IP Service. There are many things that can effect IP performance
including the quality of your internet connection. In MOST
instances the service is plug and play we simply suggest you try the
service before you make any major decisions.
2. 911
Access is NOT SUPPORTED in ALL AREAS. Many providers now offer 911
access in many areas but it could be that it is not available in your
area. The simple solution is to use speed dial and enter number
for your local emergency response center (this would be listed in
your phone book as the emergency phone number for your local police and
fire department) this call would go to the exact
same call center
as a 911 call. If you do this the only limitation is you will have
to tell the person that answers the phone where you are at they won't be
able to trace the call like a land line. Also even if your IP
provider does offer 911 service you would still have to tell the person
at the 911 center where you are at unless your IP Provider offers E911
service. Most providers offer 911 access that simply redirects
your 911 call to the emergency response center as we advise you to do
via speed dial on your own. Currently the only service that offers
E911 (in some areas) is Packet8. E911 means that if you just dial 911
and do nothing that the call center will know you have an emergency and
where you are calling from. Suffice to say with a few simple steps
you can reach your 911 center from your IP phone system but it is not as
automatic as a land line.
3. You
may have noticed that in a power outage that your phone still works,
(unless it is cordless), this is because the phone service has their own
power source and this makes phone service very reliable especially
during an emergency when power is down.
Now if you have broadband phone service you plug it into your
router and your router is plugged into your electrical outlet.
So if the power goes off your phone won’t work.
Again some people address this with cell phones as a back up
however, a standard phone line often works even when a cell phone
doesn’t.
So
keeping a standard phone line in your home is a good idea in most
instances. If you want to
use cellular as a back up to the above issues that is fine but please
make an informed and well thought out decision before you cancel your
standard telephone service. In
just a second we will tell you how to get the most from broadband phone
with out giving up your existing service.
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What
type of phone number will I have? Can
anyone call me from any phone?
You
will have a standard phone number that anyone can call you on from any
phone. One of the great
features is that you can get a phone number in about any major U.S. city
even if you don’t live there. This
gives you a choice…
1.
You can get a number local to your area like you would with any
provider. (Most people do
this)
2.
You can get a number local to another city.
People ask us often why anyone would want to do this.
There is a simple reason most of the time.
Let’s say you have family and friends in the Philadelphia area
but you live in Atlanta. You
could get a Philadelphia number and then your family or friends in
Philadelphia could call you and it would be a local call for them.
If you are keeping your existing service this can be a very
attractive feature that only broadband phone can offer.
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How
does it work? (Will I be able to install it)?
This is
the most common question we get. As
a new technology people think of broadband phone as something very
technical but using it is simple. You
simply order the service online and a few days later you will receive
your adapter with full instructions in the mail.
All you need to do at this point is…
1.
Plug the adapter into your DSL Router / Cable Modem etc. with the
included cable
2.
Plug the adapters power supply into an electrical outlet
3.
Plug your telephone into the adapter
4.
Pick
up your telephone handset and dial any phone number
5.
Follow
the voice instructions and enter your 10-digit code
6.
Your account will be activated and your Packet8 phone number will
be read back to you. This number can also be found on your account web
page.
7.
Make phone calls the same old way you always have
Basically
if you can open a box, plug in three cords and make a phone call you are
technically savvy enough to use this service.
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So
what do I do to get the most from this service?
Well
as we stated there are some limits to broadband phone and we don’t
recommend that you cancel your standard service all together.
There are three main ways our clients tell us that they get the
most from this service and here they are
1.
Many people simply want a second full function line so they leave
their home line the way it is and just add a broadband line.
For people that just want an additional line this makes a lot of
sense. These clients also
of course make all their long distance calls on their broadband
phone.
2.
Some people are content to use this service as a replacement for
home service and they do cancel the existing service and use their cell
phone for 911 or during a power outage or if they loose their connection
to the internet. While we
DO NOT recommend this those who are doing it seem to find it works well
for them.
3.
The BEST advice we can give you and the most popular way
to get the most from this service is to strip down your phone service.
Simply install your broadband phone and make sure you are happy
with it first. Once you are
happy with it call your local phone company and ask them to reduce your
service to the most basic unlimited local plan they have.
You don’t want unlimited long distance just unlimited local
calling and few or no features. Then
use the broadband phone for all long distance calls.
Option
three
is the one we recommend for most people.
It provides you with a reliable standard line for emergency use,
lets you keep your number, works when the power is off and still gives
you a great price advantage. Consider
that if your local bill is 20 bucks with fees and taxes included and
Packet8 is 19.95 for about 40 dollars you get full features and
unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada for under 40 dollars and you do
have two phone lines as opposed to one.
Indeed this is a great option.
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Do
I get popular calling features of just a phone line?
This
is a full feature service for 19.95 you get all the popular features
including the following features at no additional charges?
-
Voice
Mail
-
Caller
ID
-
Unlimited
Talk Time
-
Call
Waiting
-
3
way Conferencing
-
Caller
ID Blocking
-
Call
Forwarding
-
Call
Waiting Caller ID
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Where
is Packet8 Available
Unlike traditional services
you can use this service anywhere in the world all you need is a
broadband internet connection. Remember there are no origination charges
so you pay the same low rates no matter where you are calling from.
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Why
does ProvideTechnology recommend Packet8?
While
we have five broadband phone providers we feel that Packet8 offers the
best price, best customer service, easy to understand rates and makes it
inexpensive, easy and risk free for people new to broadband services to
try this service to see if it is right for them.
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Do
I get a guarantee?
Yes you
do and this ties right into the last question as to why we are so
confident in recommending Packet8 to our clients.
First Packet8 has no term contracts you can cancel service any
time with no charges to do so. More
impressive is Packet8’s 30 day no risk trial.
Try the service for a month and if you are not happy with it send
the equipment back and get a full refund.
This guarantee makes us very confident in recommending Packet8.
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What
about international rates?
They
are exceptional and remember it does not matter where you call from.
Here is a sample of some of the international rates.
-
Sydney
$0.03
-
Hong
Kong $0.02
-
Tel
Aviv $0.03
-
Tokyo
$0.03
-
London
$0.02
-
Rome $0.02
Also
available are unlimited packages to Europe or Asia that can be added to
your service.
One
example is unlimited calling -
to the US, Canada, Austria,
Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Moscow-Central and St. Petersburg in Russia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom for a total of 49.90 a month.
Other
unlimited international plans can be found at our website.
http://providetechnology.com/packet8.htm
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How
do I order service and are there any special deals available?
Just go
to our Packet8 website http://providetechnology.com/packet8.htm
to place your order. As for
special deals yes we have a great one.
The cost to set up service with Packet8 is 49.90, which includes
the cost of the adapter plus your first month’s bill of 19.95.
If you order service from us we will give you 5 dollars of the
cost of activation reducing that cost to only $44.90 to insure that you
receive this discount please make sure that you enter our discount code cog-4timefreedom
and be sure to hit update card before you check out this will insure you
get the $19.95 off the cost of activation.
What
if I have more questions?
We are
here to help you any way we can just contact by…
1.
Just send us an email with your questions to jack@providetechnology.com
2.
Call us with your questions toll free at 866-994-1212
3.
Visit our Packet8 web page for more details at http://providetechnology.com/packet8.htm
Can
I sell this service?
Yes
you can. Some of our
clients want to sell this service to others.
To do so just become a Cognigen Agent you can sign up at www.4timefreedom.myld.net
if you have questions about our partner program just contact us at the
information above.
©
2004, 2005 ProvideTechnology,
LLC
This
document is not to be reproduced with out expressed written permission.
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