VOIP-Voice Over IP at Home: Is it Right for You?

VOIP AT HOME

What is VoIP?

Chances are you've heard of VoIP, or "voice over Internet." If not, you will soon, as major phone companies are now trying to get in on the action. Why? VoIP allows users to make phone calls using their high-speed Internet connection. This essentially translates into "free" long distance, or, depending on set-up, unlimited long distance for a low set price for the service. When using VoIP, the traditional phone company is left completely out of the loop--literally. The concept is much the same as email; for the price of an Internet connection and provider, you can send unlimited email messages.

- VoIP Pros

VoIP is an affordable method for long distance calling, and depending on where you live, you may be able to transfer you current phone number to a VoIP system. VoIP is easy to use, and depending on the service and method you choose, installation can be as easy as downloading software or attaching an adaptor to your computer. For the most part, sounds exactly the same as with a traditional telephone line. If you are using VoIP and the other person is not, they will not know the difference.

- VoIP Cons

Some areas do not yet have this availability, but it is still possible to transfer long distance only to VoIP--it just means that you'll have a separate number for long distance calling. This may be a slight inconvenience, but the savings may offset the cost--it all depends on your needs. Also, some users report hearing an echo when using VoIP. There can also be a slight delay at the beginning of the call.

One primary issue regarding VoIP is the ability to dial out for emergencies. Some providers work to place 911 calls (by configuring your service), and some do not. If you will be replacing your landline or mobile completely with VoIP, this is something you will want to research before choosing a provider and service.

Is VoIP Right for Me?

Deciding to choose VoIP depends on your needs. If you make a large number of long distance calls, it may be well worth looking into. VoIP services are often much less expensive than traditional providers. When comparing VoIP to cell phone programs, it again depends on needs. Most VoIP packages are considerably less than cell phone unlimited calling plans, but of course, VoIP is not as flexible (yet) as far as portability and other features you may not want to give up on your cell plan.

How Do I Get Set-up for VoIP?

Technical requirements for VoIP depend on the service and method you choose to use. There are three types of VoIP options.

- ATA stands for analog telephone adaptor, and it's very simple to use. You connect it to your computer or Internet connection, plug in a regular phone, and you're ready to go! Providers such as Vonage and AT&T CallAdvantage use this option.

- IP phones are special phones that look like traditional phones, but they connect with an Ethernet connector. A similar phone in the works is one that operates with Wi-Fi, which means that when you take your laptop to the local coffee bar to access wireless Internet, you could also make a long distance call.

- Computer-to-computer is an easy way to use VoIP and long distance calls are free; you only pay for the software. To use this method, you will need to download and install the software and be equipped with a microphone, speakers, a sound card and a high-speed Internet connection such as DSL or cable. Aside from the software, the only fees are those for your monthly ISP.

You'll need a high-speed Internet connection to use VoIP, such as DSL or Cable.

Most VoIP options are easy to install. Providers of ATA, for example, will usually send you the adaptor you need when you sign up for the service. If you have a standard Internet set-up, you should be able to easily install the adaptor and software yourself, and be on your way. The process is very simple and straightforward, and once installed, the service is immediate (no waiting 3-5 business days for your phone service!). Connecting an IP phone is equally easy, and computer-to-computer simply requires the downloading and installing of software.

Simple Methods to Make Money with Affiliate Programs

Are you attempting to make money with affiliate programs? If you are, you must focus on some basic systems to increase your hard-earned commissions.

Most important things first, you should build a money-making website. You can turn your website into a profitable site by increasing the amount of targeted visitors. As you increase the targeted visitors of your site, you can make an increased quantity of sales on your internet site and make money with affiliate programs.

Another crucial technique is to promote products which belong to a lucrative niche. Yes, if you really want to make money with affiliate programs, you've got to promote products that interest a big number of web buyers. Start with your visitor under consideration rather than the product. If you use this mind-set, you do your visitor a favor as well as making good money from your site.

There are actually many thousands of services and goods for you to select from to proffer to your visitors. Making profits from those products is not as straightforward as adding links to them from your website. Your internet site's visitors come back to you if they have trust and respect for you. And the speediest way to build this trust and respect is to advocate products that are totally beneficial for your visitors.

Everybody likes to make sure that they're purchasing the most appropriate products money can buy. Your visitors are not any different and are likely to make a purchase if you offer them the best product they can possibly find. Therefore, promote products with good reputation and with quality sales pages.

The most effective way to make money with affiliate programs is by giving an open and fair evaluation of the product including its deficiencies and also strengths.

Subsequently, you need to critique the product impersonally. Folk have to know what they are buying. No matter whether your visitors know a product has limitations, they will still purchase it if it meets their particular or critical need.

Another strategy that you ought to use to make money with affiliate programs is to position your advertisements in the hotspots on your pages. For example, the top left side bar, within content, or at the end of posts are good spots to position your advertisements.

And ultimately, don't put all your affiliate efforts into one basket if you really want to make money with affiliate programs. There are a great number of products out there to plug, so there isn't any need to just work on one. But at the same time, you shouldn't clutter your website up with too many affiliate marketing program links either. If you do so you run the danger of lowering the effectiveness of your links and hurting your readership.

If you are serious about starting to make money with affiliate programs, follow these basic secrets and enjoy earning more commissions from your affiliate business.

5 Ways To Make Night-And-Weekend-Computer-Life Rich

Are you a computer-worm? Do you thrive on a computer 24/7? A �computer-worm� is analogous to �book-worm� � a person who spends most of the time working on a computer. Do you expend most of your time reading or writing emails, chatting with friends, watching movies, listening to music, cyber-window-shopping, etc? Do you relegate your important tasks of completing a school assignment, working on a contingency project, etc to realize later that you spent the prime-time idly? In this article, you would discover few ways of improving your cyber-life � how to make your working on a computer more useful and much more effective.

Technology revolution has supplemented the ease and increase of computer usage. The overall at-home global active internet use for a number of selected countries grew by two-thirds of a percentage point from February 2004 to March 2004 (Nielsen//NetRatings). Switzerland exhibited the largest growth rate at over 3 percent, while U.S. added the most active Internet users over the month. With this enormous increase in internet usage you have to keep the following 5 ideas in mind that would help increase the efficiency of work that you do while on your computer off-work.

1) Chat or email kills your time-

Avoid opening a chatting application, or an email application as your first window. When you find one of your friends on the chatting window (or email from one of your friends), you inadvertently start conversing with the person. On the other hand, if you do not find any friend, you search for a new chat-buddy. In both the cases you deviate yourself from important tasks. This hinders you from working on essential activities that you intended to do when you started the session.

Instead, make a habit of completing tasks that you planned before opening a chat window or an email window. Treat yourself with a chatting session (or an email session) for completing the daily (important) tasks.

2) Audio speakers add to your entertainment-

Turn on your pair of audio speakers, if you have one. Listen to online news, success stories, motivational speeches or jokes while working on your important tasks.

Online news is becoming common day after day. You can view and listen to news on many websites. You would find it easy to access online news channels if you have a �superpass� with Real Networks (http://www.real. com/superpass/). Nevertheless, websites like MSN (http:// msnvideo.msn. com/, ABC News (http://abcnews.go. com/) offer feeds to news and other interesting stories available for free download.

3) Do smart-browsing not the hard-browsing-

When you read on the internet, do it intelligently. One way of intelligent reading is to increase your vocabulary. Look up difficult words in the dictionary when you read documents on the web. You can use innovative internet tools like XemanteX (http://www.xemantex .com) that provide an online-running-dictionary. You can read through the document with a built-in dictionary. Just double click the word to get the meaning on the same screen.

4) Online games as concentration tools-

Play online games. Games not only give you entertainment but also help you increase your concentration. There are many websites that offer free subscription to the games on their website. Perform a Google search on �free online games� that would bring up thousands of resources. Enjoy playing a game, improving your personal skills at the same time.

5) Help your mind concentrate-

Split your entire sitting into various sessions. You would be able to give out more every session. Take a coffee or tea break every 45 to 60 minutes. This would help your mind free up its resources and get back on track after the break. Moreover, this would help you avoid narrow thinking. One gets to think through a narrow channel when deep concentration.

Okay, I told you 5 simple and common ways to make your off-work computer life easy. Try them out and feel the difference. You would be happier and feel more accomplished. As you know internet has redefined human�s life. Computer, which was used only by intellectuals and elite a few years ago, is a basic requirement for a common man now. To add fuel to the fire, internet has supplemented its power transforming them the best communication tool. Instant messaging, emailing, electronic news, etc allow for fast and easy communication among the internet users. Very soon, computers would be indelible parts of our life. You should realize that the tremendous power that this internet has can only be harnessed when it is put to use in the most efficient way.

What Can You Do If Your Email Account Is Wiped?

Not so long ago many Gmail users went to check their mail only to find that their entire inbox and all their contact had been completely deleted. This shocking discovery was something done by Google by accident and only affected a very small percentage of its total users but made many people think about what would happen if all their emails were suddenly wiped forever. With approximately 300 billion emails being sent every day around the world, and as you are probably an email user yourself, you can imagine the carnage this could cause.

This article will attempt to offer some solutions as to what you can do if this happens to you.

Check who you are signed in as 

If you are using one of the many popular online email providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo mail etc. it is possible that you have signed in as someone else. When you sign in you will notice that you can tick a box which says something like 'remember me' which means that every time this computer comes to this mail homepage it will automatically sign you in under whichever password that was used when that box was ticked. If you check the user name you are signed in you may find that your sudden terror need only last for a couple of seconds before you switch back to your account.

Check your hard drive 

If this is not the case you may want to start checking your hard drive. Many email systems, both online and offline provide a system where they back up all your emails in a folder on your hard drive so that you can't lose them. If this is the case you may be able to just bring your emails back to life with a few mouse clicks. Also, if you use a payment service provider and you get a lot of your emails through them when for payment notifications for example, chances are they may have a back-up of a lot of your important emails such as receipts of payments and invoices.

Contact your supplier 

If this doesn't work you may want to contact your email supplier. Companies like Google will generally fall over themselves to help you as getting a bad reputation for losing emails is bad for business. Chances are your supplier will have a back-up of your emails on their servers which they will be able to use to restore your emails to how they were before they got deleted.