Making a VoIP Call - Voice over ip equipment - Part 2

travelling, you can take your ATA with you and receive phone calls anywhere in the world. You can simply plug a regular telephone into your ATA and connect it to the modem. Any calls to your phone number will be routed to your ATA (which has an identification number making it unique in the world) at the same cost as the call to your residence or business would cost no matter whether you are in Hong Kong or Toronto.

If the idea of carrying around an ATA seems cumbersome, you can buy an IP phone that combines the phone set and the ATA into one unit. Don't confuse IP phones and Internet Phones. IP phones plug directly into the modem, but Internet phones plug into the sound card or USB port of your computer. Internet Phones are still considered soft phones because you need VoIP software installed on your computer to make and receive telephone calls. They are just a step up from headsets. They feel a lot more like "real" telephones -- they ring, they have regular number pads, and you use them like traditional telephones.

IP phones are plugged into a modem and can be used to make or receive calls anywhere in the world. As an example, suppose you are based in San Francisco and are travelling in Asia. Anybody can call your regular San Francisco phone number and their call will be routed to your IP phone in Hong Kong or Tokyo or wherever you are. If they are calling from San Francisco there are no overseas charges involved. Similarly, if you want to call someone in San Francisco, your call will be treated as a local call.

All the extra features of VoIP are available with both ATA's and IP phones. Call waiting, call forwarding, call display, and conference calls can all be done with either an ATA or an IP phone. The cost of these services is usually included in your monthly rate – a substantial saving over similar services offered by your traditional phone company.

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