Types of Home Phone Service Providers

When it comes to choosing a home phone service, the options seem to be endless. Before you consider which of the home phone service providers are right for you, you’ll need to consider which type of phone service best suits your needs.

Landline Service

Before the rise of the internet, there was only one option when it came to home phone service. A landline phone connects to telephone lines outside your home. Your voice goes into the phone, where a diaphragm converts it to electrical energy. From there, the electrical impulses travel the phone line until they are converted back to sound waves at the receiver’s phone. It’s a similar concept to connecting two tin cans with a string. Sound travels on the string, from one can to the other.

VOIP

Home internet once used phone lines as well. You may remember the signature crackle and beep of a phone receiver when the internet was in use. As technology has increased exponentially, now the roles are reversed. A landline phone isn’t necessary for internet service. In fact, internet service can now provide home phone service.

This type of service is called VOIP. VOIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Instead of using an analog signal like a landline phone, VOIP uses digital voice technology. VOIP takes your voice and converts it to a digital format. It can then send it over the internet to its intended destination, where it is converted back to an analog signal.

This type of call can be made from a VOIP line to a landline or from computer to computer. VOIP home phone service providers may provide one or more types of VOIP service.

ATA

ATA is one of the most common ways to access VOIP service. ATA stands for Analog Telephone Adaptor. A traditional telephone is connected to a VOIP device that converts the analog signal to digital with this type of service.

VOIP

This type of device acts as a phone and a converter. When you speak into the receiver, the device converts the signal to digital. The device can be connected to your internet with an Ethernet cable to your router, or a Wi-Fi connection. Your internet connection then sends the signal to its destination.

VOIP can also use 4G technology. Using the same 4G network as a cell phone, the device acts as a home phone while using the cellular data network.

 Computer to Computer

This type isn’t a traditional home phone service, because it’s done from one computer to another. Services like Skype use your computer and internet connection to send your voice data digitally.