Individual Assignment 3.

Find and compare several internet telephony services.

I was very lucky to find one article describing all advantages and disadvantages of the problem above. That is why I’ll give a short summary, which will be my reply to the assignment. Also I would like to mention that I use internet phone service by myself and I am very satisfied with it. It’s a great opportunity. I use Skype and the only minus – the quality of connection depends on the Internet speed. So if speed is low it’s almost impossible to talk. It is not a problem for well-developed countries, but a serious one for others – such as Ukraine for example, where not all the people have access to high-speed internet.

Ok. So let’s talk about the internet telephone service.
An Internet phone is nothing more than an inconsequential-looking electronic adapter with blinking lights on the front and a few jacks in the back. Plug a normal telephone into its phone jack, then plug the adapter directly into your router, which is hooked up to a broadband Internet connection. Some Internet phone carriers also let you make calls through your computer; others, like Skype, require it. But the genius of most Internet phones is that your computer isn't involved at all.
Advantages: Increasing competition from tech upstarts like Vonage and anxious traditionalists like Verizon has led to insanely low prices for VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) service (as low as 20 per month). Competition has also led to a development of additional new Web features, many of which have spread to most carriers.
The downside of VoIP is that it's not real phone service. You may pay fewer taxes, but you don't automatically get, say, 911 service, and the thing won't work in a blackout. Reliability also is not always up to land-line snuff. Sometimes there's no dial tone, your outgoing calls don't go through, or the other party can't hear you.
To find out if VoIP is really mature enough to replace your land line, there is a rating below given, which is based on series of tests on seven internet phone services.
Factors included in the test: sound quality, reliability, international scale, portability, bells and whistles, number selection option.
Results:

Source: Smooth Operators. Which Internet phone service is best? By Sam Schechne, http://slate.com/id/2121742/r