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VOIP

What is VOIP?

VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over IP, or in more common terms phone service over the Internet.
If you have a reasonable quality Internet connection you can get phone service delivered through your Internet connection instead of from your local phone company.

Some people use VOIP in addition to their traditional phone service, since VOIP service providers usually offer lower rates than traditional phone companies.

You may already of heard of Skype and Tesco's telephone deal for broadband users. These are simple forms of VOIP, You may want to go that little bit further and assign yourself a new telephone number as well as your existing POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) number. This will enable to get even cheaper telephone calls abroad and UK. Currently for the UK sipgate.co.uk Tariffs are about 1.2 p/min to landlines and 10 p/min to mobile phones..

How does VOIP work?

A way is required to turn analog phone signals into digital signals that can be sent over the Internet.
This function can either be included into the phone itself or an ATA (Analogue Terminal Adapter).

ATA

Connects an Analogue Telephone to a VOIP network
Usually has an Ethernet jack, and an RJ-11 phone jack.