Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology that allows you to make phone calls with the use of your home or office computer network. VoIP runs over a linked data network just as the Internet does. The voice signal from your phone is converted by this VoIP technology into a signal that is digitized to travel by Internet. It then is converted back to telephone technology so that a regular phone conversation is possible with any standard telephone number. When you place a phone call by VoIP using your standard phone with a VoIP adapter you hear a regular dial tone and you dial just as if it were a regular call over your telephone line. With VoIP you are sometimes able to call right from your computer using a conventional microphone or telephone.

There are two options for calling by VoIP. The first is to install an adaptor to your broadband Internet connection.
This way the call would actually go through your local phone carrier to a provider of VoIP. The call goes out over the Internet to the local phone carrier of the person you are calling to have the call completed. Another way you can use VoIP is to plug a headset with microphone into your PC or laptop and then dial from your keyboard and route it through your cable modem. To get your VoIP telephone connection active you'll need the use of a cable modem or other high- speed connection such as local area network or DSL. You can directly connect a telephone directly to the phone adaptor or buy an inexpensive microphone and hook it up directly to the computer.

Costs for VoIP services vary by provider. Some charge nothing for their services if you're calling people who are also their subscribers. Your provider of voice over Internet Protocol might permit you to choose an area code that is not your local home area code. What this will do is give you free local calls to this area code, which saves on the long distance charges. It can affect the price of calls that people make to you, however, either negatively or positively. If your VoIP offers this service you'd want to choose an area code that is most active for your outgoing as well as incoming calls. There are VoIP providers that charge long distance fees just as the local carriers do - for calls outside your local calling area. Others charge you a flat rate to call anywhere for a predetermined maximum number of minutes.

You may choose a VoIP provider that charges for long distance just as you're used to with your home phone. You might also end up paying a flat rate that will let you call to any area of the country - and sometimes the world - for a set number of minutes. What destinations you call with VoIP is heavily influenced by your choice of provider. The ranges of calls you can make are as limited as only those with the same provider or as wide as anyone anywhere on the globe.
With VoIP you can call someone's landline phone, their mobile phone, to those in another part of your country or in another country. You can even make three way calls. The person that you call doesn't have to do anything different than pick up her or his phone.

VoIP is digital, unlike the standard landline, and so there are services and features that you can't get with a conventional telephone. If your Internet connection is broadband then you can save yourself the expense of an additional phone line for calls. VoIP is advantageous because it can save you the cost of a landline and with the right provider can save you long distance charges. Some disadvantages of VoIP are that you may not be able to call out during a power or cable outage, and you may not have a direct 911 connection. You also may not have any directory assistance or white page listing.

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