Keeping-in-touch: VOIP

Another acronym to learn to love: Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). It’s the next big thing in the telecommunications industry, and could be useful to voyagers as well. The idea is actually very simple: phone calls get routed over the internet instead of the long-distance lines owned by traditional telephone companies. The idea of long-distance makes little sense on the internet, i.e. an email from Mongolia really costs no more or less than one from Saskatoon. Once a call is on the net, it makes no difference how far it has to go. Consequently the cost of making a call from the other side of the world should be no more than ringing up your next-door-neighbor. In practice, it’s more complicated than this, however.

The least expensive option, and one that could be very useful with a little planning, is for two people to use computers connected to the internet to talk to one another. All that’s required is that each has a high-speed internet connection, compatible VOIP software, and a computer headset (very similar to a handsfree headset for a cellphone). With these ingredients, using the VOIP program called Skype, for example, individuals can make unlimited calls to one another for free. All the sailor needs to do is find a good internet café to hook up the laptop and call home (if whoever is at home has their computer on).

And what if you need to call someone who doesn’t have a computer with a high speed internet connection? This typically incurs some additional costs because phone companies are the gatekeepers of telephone numbers. You can’t call a phone number without a phone company getting a connection fee for the privilege of using their lines. For example with the Skype, calling a phone number incurs a cost, depending what country the number is located in. For example, to call any number in the U.S. runs about 2 cents a minute. To call numbers in Mexico is typically 7 cents per minute. By the magic of VOIP, though, it doesn’t matter where you are calling from. Any high speed connection, anywhere in the world will have the same connection costs.

Another scenario is one that doesn’t require a computer. There are “black boxes,” some as small as a deck of cards, that connect directly to a broadband internet connection. Hook up a regular telephone, and it works just like a phone line. The most widely marketed of these is Vonage, but there are many contenders out there. Many of these companies charge a monthly fee similar to a normal phone bill, but with inexpensive or unlimited long-distance calling. Some others simply allow you to buy minutes in advance to make inexpensive calls. It’s a very new market, so prices and plans vary widely, and will likely become even cheaper over time. Of interest to the voyager is the possibility of carrying along such a device and hooking it up to the internet wherever there’s an opportunity. Then you can call your friends, family, colleagues, and boat part suppliers, and have others call you just like you were at your regular phone number, only it rings in Paradise!

An even more tantalizing scenario that’s a bit too complicated to recommend widely at this point, are new cell-phone-like cordless phones that can be used to make phone calls from Wifi hotspots. It’s a lot like having the little black box from Vonage, but without a cord. See Om Malik’s review for a more in depth look. Within the next year, these may have matured to point of being widely usable. Watch this space for updates…