Voice over IP (VoIP)
Why pay for phone calls between a virtual team when you can hold voice communications over your broadband internet connection courtesy of Voice over IP (VoIP).
Telephone operators are migrating from their existing public switch telephone networks (PSTN) to internet based telephony. This migration is underway now and many telephone operators are offering VoIP services to their business customers. However, when communicating between a closed user group (a virtual team for instance) there's no reason to wait for the big telephone operators to get into gear, internet telephony is available now and it's free.
With internet based telephony you can hold conversations between team members with the minimum of expense in equipment and at no additional call costs.
Low Cost Internet Telephony
For point-to-point, PC to PC telephony it's possible for all call costs to be free by using free software and your broadband internet connection.
How do i do that?
You need to use a service such as Skype. To do that you need to:
- Download and install the free client from Skype.com
- Purchase a headset with microphone.
- Connect the headset to your PC or Mac.
- Follow the instructions on the Skype site to call a similarly equipped friend.
What about...
...contacting landlines and mobile telephones? Skype offers a paid for service called SkypeOut that allows users to call non-Skype phones.
What about...
...contacting Skype users behind a corporate firewall? Due to a known limitation it may not be possible for virtual team members to make calls between colleagues on the public internet and those behind a corporate firewall.