Using Voice over IP to control your phones

The idea of cheap phone calls over the internet is appealing to most people. Who wouldn’t want to be able to call relatives abroad for next to nothing, or even free? But, in practice, using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can be anything but straightforward.

Some products need the PC to be turned on, or to be connected directly to it – leaving you to make calls sitting in front of the screen. Others have complex setup routines that can leave most people baffled. You can buy an adapter, or a dedicated handset – but then you are often restricted to using a particular phone to make overseas calls.

Then you need to make it all work with your existing phone number. Even handsets and adapters that support both VoIP and traditional calls in one can be fiddly to use; you’ll find yourself having to explain to family members which button to press to make cheap calls, or discover that because the handset on the adapter is being used for a local call by someone else in the house, you’ll have to wait for their call to finish, before you can make yours.

And, given that in many cases you can make calls very cheaply by using calling cards or alternative carriers, from any phone in your home, it’s not surprising that a lot of people end up thinking that internet telephony services are probably just too much trouble to bring into their home. In this article, we’re going to explain how you can overcome some of those obstacles, and save money too.

Picture this
Before we look at the technical nitty-gritty, think about the important stuff. What can VoIP do for you, and how could you use it at home? Everyone might want to use it differently, depending on the size of their home, or the number of people living there.

But imagine, for example, being able to pick up any phone, and dial a nu mber, know it will be routed automatically in the cheapest way – local calls could go via your existing phone line, along with emergency calls. Calls to people who use the same VoIP provider as yourself could go over the internet, free of charge; calls to Australia might use one VoIP provider, while calls to other countries use a different one.

Everyone can have their own voicemail, delivered as a sound clip to their email inbox, if you like, alongside any faxes.

When an elderly relative in Sydney, Australia, wants to call you, she just has to dial a local number on her ordinary phone, and it will ring on all the handsets – or perhaps just on the extension that ‘belongs’ to her nephew. If she wants to speak to someone else in the family, the call can be transferred, just like on an office phone system.

And, with a combined Wifi/GSM phone, you don’t even need extra handsets; when you return home, a couple of button presses on your mobile will connect it to the phone system via Wifi, and it too becomes an extension of the home phone system.

When you’re away from home, anyone dialling your extension will automatically have their call re-routed over the mobile network. If you can find a free Wifi connection, you can even connect to your VoIP system from anywhere in the world.