WhichVoIP Awards Vocalocity Business VoIP Phone Service Provider of the Month

Leading residential and business VoIP comparison resource WhichVoIP.com, announced today that it has awarded Vocalocity, one of the most established Internet phone service providers, with its provider of the month award for October 2009.

"Vocalocity's Hosted VoIP solution is a proven leader in all aspects of its service. From reliability to price, support and overall value," says Michael Jones from WhichVoIP. "We've long been aware of Vocalocity's presence in the industry and have used the service here at WhichVoIP ourselves. Our own great experience was confirmed by positive feedback from site visitors regarding the reliability, sound quality, feature set, value, customer care, and ease of setup, all of which earned Vocalocity this award." Vocalocity offers a powerful yet affordable solution for small business owners. "We have been in the industry for many years serving thousands of small business with our hosted PBX solution and it is nice to get this recognition," says David Politis from Vocalocity. "WhichVoIP's prominence as an internet VoIP authority makes this award very meaningful." Vocalocity's Business VoIP phone service stands out from the competition for its high quality service, responsive customer care and technical support, and competitive prices. As business VoIP continues to expand as the most affordable phone solution for small businesses, Vocalocity is positioned as a top choice in the Hosted VoIP industry.

For more information on Vocalocity and other top choice business VoIP phone service providers, visit www.WhichVoIP.com.

The WhichVoIP.com VoIP website provides consumers with extensive information on residential and business VoIP phone services, including available plans, their features, prices and special offers, as well as explanations on how VoIP technology works, benefits of VoIP, consumer submitted VoIP reviews, the latest VoIP news, VoIP articles, VoIP forums, Blogs, and much more.

ABOUT WHICHVOIP.COM WhichVoip.com is based in Seattle, WA. The company consists of experts in the VoIP and telecommunications field, utilizing their knowledge to ensure consumers and businesses understand VoIP and choose the best VoIP service plan and provider available to them.

ABOUT VOCALOCITY Vocalocity, founded in 2003, is the leading provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Vocalocity powers small businesses with its core offering, VocalocityPBX, a business voip solution that provides them with the quality and reliability of traditional PBX phone system, with more features, flexibility and cost savings. Vocalocity helps small businesses compete more effectively, by giving them the communication services traditionally reserved for larger organizations, at small business prices.

Telesphere Receives 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award

www.telesphere.com announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC (News - Alert)) has named Telesphere Complete™ as a recipient of the 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.


Telesphere Complete is an all-in-one smart voice and data solution that simplifies the way businesses connect. A fully hosted PBX technology, Telesphere Complete comes with: Private, secure data connection Hosted VoIP with Quality of Service (QOS) Business-class IP phones and installation The latest user and system features 24x7 support "We are extremely honored to receive such a prestigious award for our flagship product," said Sanjay Srinivasan, CTO for Telesphere. "Customers love our Complete product because it provides everything they need at a predictable cost. As businesses continue to search for ways to streamline their business processes while reducing costs, we expect our Complete product to gain even more popularity." "The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY were pleased to grant Telesphere with an INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award for their achievements in advancing IP communications and providing genuine solutions in the marketplace. Telesphere Complete™ has proven its outstanding contribution to IP communications and delivered winning solutions for its customers," said Erik Linask, Group Editorial Director of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

"We are very pleased to present Telesphere with a 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award. Telesphere Complete™ has made an incredible contribution to IP communications and has also delivered great solutions for its clients," stated Rich Tehrani (News - Alert), CEO, TMC.

The 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award winners are published in the October 2009 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine, www.itmag.com.

Zultys Receives 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award

Zultys Inc., an award-winning IP telephony solution provider for SMB and Enterprises, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) has named Zultys' family of advanced IP PBX products (the MX250 and MX30) and Unified Communications solutions as the recipient of the 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.

"We're honored to be recognized by TMC for our innovative family of IP PBXs, SIP phones and Unified Communications products and the high quality service they provide every day to thousands of companies worldwide," said Steve Rothenberg, CEO of Zultys. "Not only are our solutions cost effective, but our all-in-one design approach provides a highly energy efficient system that lets companies do more with one IP PBX than any other system on the market. Zultys' distributed architecture also helps companies maintain 99.999% reliability, while being simple to install, manage and scale. We continue to innovate, adding new features such as MXmobile, a Unified Communications client for BlackBerry devices, video, and new conferencing options to provide the maximum value and ROI for any company's telecom investment." "The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY were pleased to grant Zultys with the INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award for their achievements in advancing IP communications and providing genuine solutions in the marketplace. Zultys family of IP PBXs and Unified Communications solutions have proven their outstanding contribution to IP communications and delivered winning solutions for its customers," said Erik Linask, Group Editorial Director of INTERNET TELEPHONY.

"We are very pleased to present Zultys with a 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award. Zultys has made an incredible contribution to IP Communications and has also delivered great solutions for its clients," stated Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC.

The 2009 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award winners are published in the October 2009 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine, www.itmag.com

Google Voice offers Free Calls to Hawaii And Alaska

Google Voice has been instrumental in changing the way we make or receive calls in USA. Its already being used by thousands to manage their busy schedule or even make a free call anywhere in the USA.

However, not many people knew that when google was launched it was only limited to Continental USA that means you could only make calls to only 48 states. However, Google Voice has finally expanded its free VOIP service to all 50 US States which means you can now make totally free calls to Hawaii and Alaska along with continental US.

Please note that this is full deployment of the Google Voice service for these states. According to the official Google Voice Blog, You can initiate free calls to Alaska and Hawaii from your inbox online, from our mobile apps, or by dialing your own Google Voice number from one of your phones and selecting option 2 to place a call. You can also forward calls to any hawaii or alaska number for free with google voice.

How SkypeIn Works?

We know that Skype is free for PC-to-PC calls, but when there is a PSTN or cell phone involved, Skype offers a fee-based service. There are two modes for involving a PSTN or cell phone in a Skype conversation: SkypeIn and SkypeOut.

SkypeIn Defined

Skype In is the service you should have if you want to receive a call from a PSTN or cell phone on your computer using Skype. This is a very interesting option, especially if you want to be reachable from anywhere locally as well as internationally while on the move.

You can take calls on your laptop equipped with audio input and output devices (like headset, or microphone and speakers), and being connected using wireless technologies.

To use SkypeIn, you have to buy one or more phone numbers, which will be associated with your Skype user account. Then you can give the number or numbers to any person who wishes to contact you through Skype from their conventional phones. In fact, you might give the number without mentioning anything about Skype if you want to be discreet, since the person calling you will hear the same sounds as for a conventional phone call and will be unaware that the call is being received on a computer. Your location will also not be known to the people who contact you.

How it works

Unfortunately, SkypeIn service is not offered everywhere in the world. At the time I am writing these lines, you can buy SkypeIn Numbers in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. Very restrictive, you would say. Well, Skype are working on other places.

You can buy up to 10 numbers in each place. Say you buy a number in New York and you travel to Mauritius (which is on the other side of the globe) for your holidays, and want a friend to be able to contact you through Skype. Your friend can call from New York using the SkypeIn number you gave them. Other people from other places can call too using that number.

How much does it cost?

Skype buys blocks of phone numbers from local phone companies in the locality in which the service is offered and sells them to SkypeIn users. They work out their mechanism in such a way that these numbers can be used to contact the Skype users.

You can buy SkypeIn numbers on subscription, for either a year or three months. For a year, it will cost €30 and for three months, €10. Prices are in Euro because Skype is European, most precisely from Luxemburg. You can easily convert that to dollars or any other currency.

How much does the caller pay?

When your friend calls from New York, his cost will be at the rate of a local call. If someone calls you from somewhere else (not in New York, where you bought the number/s), they will have to pay the cost of an international call from their place to New York plus the local (SkypeIn) cost of New York to you.

Voicemail Bonus

SkypeIn is offered with free voicemail. This means that if your friend calls and you are enjoying sun, sand and sea, away from you phone or computer, he can leave a voice message which you can listen to later, when you switch on your machine.

How AT&T CallVantage?

AT&T is a company with a huge experience in telephone service provision. Which phone user does not know it? Now, it has come around with VoIP service, CallVantage, and as a result we should expect something quite professional. Well, we are not deceived since few VoIP service providers match CallVantage in voice quality.

In this review, we see

• Pros and cons of the AT&T CallVantage service


• Included service features


• Features that can be added


• AT&T CallVantage service plans


• My review

Pros

• Very good and consistent call quality, reportedly better than that of other providers


• Loud phone volume, with clear voice free of static


• Very good online account management service


• Hardware options


• Interesting large range of features

Cons

• Slightly higher monthly costs on the whole, compared to other providers


• Setting up and installation slightly more complicated


• Limited number of service plans

(Free) Included Service Features

• Caller ID with name


• Call waiting


• Call forwarding


• 3-way calling


• E911 service




• Call logs
  Allows you to see a list of the phone numbers you called and the people who called you.


• Voicemail


• Phone book


• Locate me
  Allows you to forward calls to (up to five other phone numbers) where you can be reached


• Do not disturb


• Speed dial


• Safe forward number


• Fax and modem support
  Allows you to use AT&T CallVantage service with most commonly used fax machines and modems


• Directory assistance


• Control by phone
  Remote dialing at the same rates as at home

(Paid) Features That Can Be Added On

• Second line


• Simple reach number


• Add phone users - AT&T CallVantage Plus
  Ability to set up additional phone lines, add additional callers to all your lines, and give each caller several different ways to set up her features. Each additional user is $7.49/Mo. per user.


• Call filtering


• Record and send
  Use Record & Send to broadcast a message to several different telephone numbers at the same time. You can also manage Record & Send using your AT&T CallVantage service phone.


• Conference calling
  With Conference Calling, you can set up a call with 10 people for $0.35 per minute per conference on the call.

Top Voip Service Providers ...

For phone users that want a type of VoIP that is more or less like their existing landline, with traditional phones, the most suitable of the types of VoIP services are the subscription and hardware based services. They are aimed primarily at households and small businesses. Upon subscription, the user is sent an adapter (ATA) and is given a phone number. This requires an Internet connection, which adds up to the cost, but the overall cost is relatively much lower. Added to the benefits are the numerous features that come with VoIP.

Here is a list of the most prominent VoIP services providers of this type:

1. Vonage

Vonage tops my list because it delivers the goods. The price is not the lowest, but not the highest as well. Call quality is great, as well as the service and all it entails, including the features and customer service. The adapter is provided for around $40, refundable on returning it. 14-day trial.
Vendor's Site

2. Lingo

For $21.95 a month, Lingo offers unlimited calling to the US, Canada and 22 other countries. There are around 25 features with the servoce, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Equipment comes free.Vendor's Site

3. Voip.com

Voip.com offers VoIP service at a price lower than most of the competition, $16.95 per month. Among the strong points are a huge amount of features, the softphone that ships with the service, and a second line and voicemail for your mobile phone. They provide a Grandstream ATA, shipped free. A 30-day money back guarantee allows you to try the service.
Vendor's Site

4. BroadVoice

If you make a lot of international calls, Broadvoice is the company to subscribe to. It offers service plans that are specifically tailored to users that call mostly outside the US, without however sacrificing local calls. Another interesting thing with Broadvoice is its BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) scheme, whereby you can bring along your own device and sign up with a fee starting at $5.95 a month. The service works with most SIP-capable devices. The money back guarantee period is 30 days.
Buy Direct

5. Packet8

Packet8 is an important player in the VoIP market as it has a series of services, including a hosted PBX and a mobile VoIP service called MobileTalk. The price is the standard $24.95, and with $5 more you can call unlimited to 40 countries. It has an activation and a termination fee and 30 days trial period. They provide an IP phone instead of an ATA. You can use their softphone SoftTalk for free.
Vendor's Site

6. ViaTalk

What draws most people to ViaTalk is the price, even though they have to commit themselves for a year to get the cheapest price. ViaTalk also stands out with the long list of features it has. It also allows users to use their own devices (BYOD), which saves them from paying for activation and shipping. It has a money back guarantee of 14 days.



Vendor's Site

7. AT&T CallVantage

CallVantage shares a lot of its focus on small business and enterprise VoIP service. The cost is slightly higher than that of competitors, but the service is somewhat worth it, with great features, good call quality and good service. An ATA is provided with the service, and $29.99 applies for activation and termination fee. No money back guarantee.

Update: AT&T has closed subscription to the CallVantage service, but existing users can still use it.
Vendor's Site