It is not yet widely known, but the second key benefit of VOIP over a
traditional phone line are the additional calling features available.
The first major benefit being the substantially lower call costs.
Whilst many may not use these additional features they can be very
handy. Most VOIP providers offer a wide range of innovative calling
features included in their packages.
VoIP Features
The largest incentive to replacing your traditional phone line with a
VOIP line is of course the price. A VOIP phone line can save you a
great deal of money over your traditional phone service, especially on
long distance and international charges.
A lesser-known benefit however, is some of the new features that are
offered to VOIP customer. VOIP service providers are no longer limited
by the traditional PSTN telephone network and can offer a wide range of
innovative features. Additionally many VOIP providers bundle the
traditional phone service features for free with a VOIP package
including:
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* Call waiting
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* Three-way calling
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* Call forwarding
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* 69 (find out who last called you)
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* 67 (block your number from caller ID)
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* Repeat dialing (keeps trying a busy number)
New VOIP Calling Features
The new features offered are quite varied and can be useful for both
business and residential customers. When choosing between VOIP
providers, you should keep these features in mind and see if the
companies you are deciding between have these features available. Here
is a summary of some of the new calling features offered by VOIP
providers:
- Online call logs. Provides you with an online log of all
your incoming and outgoing calls. This feature is useful for easily
tracking your expenditures on long distance calls.
- Do not disturb.
Allows you to automatically forward all calls or calls from specific
numbers to your voicemail. You can also set the time when you want
calls to be forwarded. For example, you could have your phone
automatically switch to do not disturb mode from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am so
a call doesn’t wake you up while you’re sleeping.
- Locate me. You can
set up your VOIP service to ring multiple phone lines simultaneously or
in sequence. This feature is very useful for someone with multiple
phone lines or if you only want to have to give out one phone number.
For example, you could set up your phone service to ring both your home
phone and cell phone at the same time. With this feature, you’ll never
miss that important call again.
- Online voicemail. This feature takes
your traditional voicemail service and adds a number of new elements.
Not only can you access your online voicemail from any phone, you can
access it from any PC as well. With online voicemail, you can access
your voicemail account from an Internet browser and listen to your
messages using your computer. You can also have your voicemail messages
sent to your e-mail account.
- Conference calling. Although you could
create conference calls with a traditional phone line, VOIP service
makes this feature much easier. Some providers allow you to create a
conference call between up to 10 people and include this server in your
monthly package.
- Free in network calling. Long distance rates from
VOIP providers are already much cheaper than the rates of traditional
phone or long distance companies. Some VOIP providers take these
discounts a step further and offer free long distance service if the
other person you are calling is also using the same provider.
- Area
code selection. When selecting the phone number for your VOIP service,
most providers allow you to select the area code as well. You can use
this feature to further cut down on your long distance charges. For
example, if your mother lives in New York and you live in LA, you can
set up a virtual phone number with a New York area code. You can then
have this virtual phone number forward to your LA number. This way,
your mother will never have to pay long distance charges when she calls
you. You could also use this feature to set up a “virtual” business
presence in another city.
- Call Transfer. Allows you to easily
transfer calls to another number by pressing a few numbers on your
phone.
- Computer Dial. Allows you to store phone numbers on your
computer and use your computer to dial them for you. This feature is
very useful for dialing calling lists. For example, say you wanted to
call all of the members in your book club. You can organize all of the
members into a contact list on your computer. You can then use your
computer to dial all of the contacts sequentially. When using computer
dial, your computer will first ring your phone, wait for you to pick
up, and then dial the number you are calling.
- Ring Lists. Gives you
one virtual number that can be connected to multiple lines. This is
especially useful for businesses that want to have multiple phone
lines. You can set up this feature to ring each line sequentially,
randomly or all at once.
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