by: rebook
Broadband Internet
What is Broadband Service?
Broadband refers to a connection that has capacity to transmit large amount of data at high speed. Presently a connection having download speeds of 256 kbps or more is classified as broadband. When connected to the Internet such a connection allows surfing or downloading much faster than a dial-up or any other narrowband connections.
What are the benefits of broadband
Fast downloadsAt least 4.5 times and upto 140 times faster than dial-up connection
Always on connection
Telephone and Internet access can be used together
No telephone call charges
Cost effective way to access
Internet
A host of free content on the web can be downloaded faster
What kind of PC do I need to run broadband
The following minimum is, however, recommended:
Processor 200 MHz (or better)
Operating System Windows 98SE (or higher)
RAM (memory) 32 MB RAM
Free Disk Space 125MB
SVGA monitor
CD-ROM Drive
Network Interface Card(NIC) with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port with RJ45 socket
For more information please visit www.honostreview.com
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Advantages Of VoIP Broadband Phone Service
by: Randy McClure
There are many advantages of VoIP broadband phone service. Over the next couple of years phone over Internet will be the norm for most homes and businesses.Internet Phone Benefits. More than likely you receive many VoIP phone calls in the course of a week without realizing it. This is because the phone line quality for VoIP is the same as traditional phone services. If you are considering Internet phone service, you are making a good choice. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as it is called is quickly becoming the best value for telephone service. Most companies like Sprint and AT&T are already offering VoIP within their internal networks and are starting to offer it as a complete service offering.
How VoIP Phone Calls Work and Voice Quality.
The simple answer is that your voice is digitalized and transported over the Internet as well as over the phone company's private network using Internet Protocol (IP) service. A broadband phone call happens in real time just like on a digital TV, except you are using your broadband Internet service (DSL, Cable, or Satellite). Traditional phone services use analog, circuit technology. Because of improvements in voice quality and throughput of VoIP, small idependent carriers have already started offering VoIP to residents and businesses. Now most phone companies are using Internet phone technology over their private networks. This means that most of your calls today go over, at least in part, VoIP networks. This change in technology is a major factor in the drop in long distance rates in recent years. Now that many phone companies are extending VoIP service to the homes and businesses, we can now enjoy additional savings, great voice quality, and great features.
Price.
Low Price. Prices for broadband phone services start at under $10 a month. VoIP service is available to anyone in the world who has an Internet broadband connection. International and in-country rates start at 1.1 cents a minute or even unlimited for some VoIP monthly plans.
Broadband Phone. When signing up with a carrier you will normally have the option of using your own broadband phone, buying a broadband phone from the carrier, or getting a special adapter to connect your existing phone to your broadband connection. You can also elect to make VoIP phone calls using your PC. PCs normally do not need any special equipment, but many people purchase a wired or wireless headset. Broadband phones start under $40 and phone adapters cost under $10 depending on the VoIP carrier. Broadband phones look much like regular phones, but usually have a full range of digital features. Watch for promotional offers and you may get your broadband phone or adapter free when you sign-up with an broadband phone carrier.
No Contract, It's Prepaid. The other great pricing feature for most VoIP phone carriers is that there is no contract. You just pre-pay. This eliminates the risk of unexpected high phone bills.
No Regulatory Fees. Currently, there are no regulatory fees or special taxes with Internet phone call service. This can be a significant saving as many traditional phone plans have a 20% or more in fees and taxes added to the bill each month.
FeaturesInternet phone call service has many additional features over traditional phone services. Features include: most traditional add-on services (call waiting, voice mail, caller ID, etc) are standard, video phone option, travel with your phone number, service available worldwide (need high-speed Internet connection), your area code not tied to your geographic area, ultra-low International calling, more... Visit http://www.accessphoneservices.com/broadband-phone-service.html for our article on the Features of VoIP Broadband Phone Service.
For more information please visit www.honostreview.com
There are many advantages of VoIP broadband phone service. Over the next couple of years phone over Internet will be the norm for most homes and businesses.Internet Phone Benefits. More than likely you receive many VoIP phone calls in the course of a week without realizing it. This is because the phone line quality for VoIP is the same as traditional phone services. If you are considering Internet phone service, you are making a good choice. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as it is called is quickly becoming the best value for telephone service. Most companies like Sprint and AT&T are already offering VoIP within their internal networks and are starting to offer it as a complete service offering.
How VoIP Phone Calls Work and Voice Quality.
The simple answer is that your voice is digitalized and transported over the Internet as well as over the phone company's private network using Internet Protocol (IP) service. A broadband phone call happens in real time just like on a digital TV, except you are using your broadband Internet service (DSL, Cable, or Satellite). Traditional phone services use analog, circuit technology. Because of improvements in voice quality and throughput of VoIP, small idependent carriers have already started offering VoIP to residents and businesses. Now most phone companies are using Internet phone technology over their private networks. This means that most of your calls today go over, at least in part, VoIP networks. This change in technology is a major factor in the drop in long distance rates in recent years. Now that many phone companies are extending VoIP service to the homes and businesses, we can now enjoy additional savings, great voice quality, and great features.
Price.
Low Price. Prices for broadband phone services start at under $10 a month. VoIP service is available to anyone in the world who has an Internet broadband connection. International and in-country rates start at 1.1 cents a minute or even unlimited for some VoIP monthly plans.
Broadband Phone. When signing up with a carrier you will normally have the option of using your own broadband phone, buying a broadband phone from the carrier, or getting a special adapter to connect your existing phone to your broadband connection. You can also elect to make VoIP phone calls using your PC. PCs normally do not need any special equipment, but many people purchase a wired or wireless headset. Broadband phones start under $40 and phone adapters cost under $10 depending on the VoIP carrier. Broadband phones look much like regular phones, but usually have a full range of digital features. Watch for promotional offers and you may get your broadband phone or adapter free when you sign-up with an broadband phone carrier.
No Contract, It's Prepaid. The other great pricing feature for most VoIP phone carriers is that there is no contract. You just pre-pay. This eliminates the risk of unexpected high phone bills.
No Regulatory Fees. Currently, there are no regulatory fees or special taxes with Internet phone call service. This can be a significant saving as many traditional phone plans have a 20% or more in fees and taxes added to the bill each month.
FeaturesInternet phone call service has many additional features over traditional phone services. Features include: most traditional add-on services (call waiting, voice mail, caller ID, etc) are standard, video phone option, travel with your phone number, service available worldwide (need high-speed Internet connection), your area code not tied to your geographic area, ultra-low International calling, more... Visit http://www.accessphoneservices.com/broadband-phone-service.html for our article on the Features of VoIP Broadband Phone Service.
For more information please visit www.honostreview.com
20 Tips for Creating a Customer-Friendly Web Site
by: Christopher Smith
What annoys an Internet user the most? A quick unscientific survey of a local Internet café suggests the top three turn-offs are:
Sites that are very slow to download;
Ones that are confusing to use;
Sites that do not contain the promised information;
The single most common reaction to sites like these is that the visitor very quickly moves on to another web site. Clearly, if you get things wrong there is usually no second chance.
How can you avoid this happening to your business? Well, here are twenty tips to help you when designing or redesigning your company’s web site.
Start with a clear understanding of the purpose of your site.
Is the aim of your site to sell, entertain, or inform? The design of your site should be consistent with its purpose. The requirements for a site selling software online will be very different from say the web site of a local community newspaper.
Plan the site with the customer in mind.
Imagine how your customers (existing and prospects) will use your site. Consider their reasons for visiting and their needs. Something that looks logical to you may not appear so to a first-time visitor.
Design for cross-browser compatibility.
Although Internet Explorer dominates, do not overlook those people who use alternatives such as Mozilla, Opera and Netscape. Make sure your site can be viewed in other browsers; that way you will not unintentionally reduce the number of visitors to your site.
Choose simplicity over complexity.
Unless you are a design company showcasing its skills, keep things simple. Visitors (especially frequent ones) may not be impressed by your complex animated graphics especially if they serve no apparent useful purpose. Make it simple for visitors to get to the content – that is what most of them are coming to your site for anyway.
Make the navigation intuitive and easy to use.
This is probably one of the two most important aspects of designing a web site, the other being content. Make your site’s navigation logical and clear. Ensure the most important and most often-accessed information is easy to find. Link names should be concise and self-explanatory. Test navigational links to make sure they work and keep them up-to-date.
Your site should be as visually appealing as possible.
Visual appeal is subjective but the design of your site will undoubtedly influence customers’ perceptions of your business as a whole. An uncluttered layout, careful choice of font size and colors and appropriate use of graphics and images should go a long way to ensuring your site creates a good impression of your business.
Apply a consistent design or ’look and feel’ to your site.
Keep design consistent across your site unless you want your visitors to ask themselves whether they have wandered into another company’s site by accident.
Integrate your web site design with your offline branding.
For many, the Internet is still an alien environment so reassure your customers by applying the same branding online as you do offline. After all, if you have spent a lot of money building your brand why spend more appearing to build an entirely different online brand (unless, of course, this is your intention).
Keep page size manageable to ensure speedy downloads.
Online visitors’ patience is measured in milliseconds and not everyone has hi-speed or broadband Internet connections. So, keep page sizes within reasonable limits to ensure that they download quickly. Optimize graphic size and avoid putting an image on a page unless it adds something for the visitor.
Ensure your site’s content reflects its purpose.
If yours is a sales site for example, ensure that your content concentrates on selling. Stay focused and avoid the temptation to upload content that is not relevant to your web site’s purpose.
Enable quick and easy location of information.
Quite simply, most customers will quickly leave your site if they cannot locate the information they are seeking. Internet users increasingly require information to be instantly available and there is no shortage of other sites eager to take business from you. Think what information customers are likely to want and do not hide it away.
Make sure content is relevant, accurate and up-to-date.
Provide accurate and relevant content and keep it up-to-date. Failure to do this will make your company look inefficient and reflects badly on your customer service levels. Search engines also appreciate content that is updated regularly.
Encourage interaction.
Get visitors to interact with your site and spend more time on it. Make a visit an interesting experience for them by including useful online tools, etc. Just make sure they are relevant to your site.
Personalize your site.
Depending on the technology you have available to you, it may be possible to greet visitors to your site by name and serve up content tailored specifically to their needs. If you can do it then do so.
Invite dialogue.
Give your customers the opportunity to contact you via email, online forms, a call-back/call-me facility, web chat, etc. Ask for their feedback via online surveys and feedback forms. Invite them to subscribe to a customer newsletter.
Acknowledge customer contact.
It is common courtesy to say ‘thank you’. Very little effort is required to set up an email auto-responder. When requiring customers to complete and submit a form, make sure there is a ‘thank you’ page or pop-up. It reassures the customer that you have received their communication and does not leave them wondering whether or not your site is working properly.
Make it a ‘seamless’ experience.
Aim to give customers the same level of service online as you give them offline. Your goal should be to facilitate the customer’s interaction with your company and allow them to choose how to do business with you. You know that customers are your most valuable asset and that retaining them is vitally important.
Give your customers support.
Reassure visitors to your site by providing elements such as help pages, FAQ’s, a site map, terms of use and a privacy policy. They will appreciate it.
inspire confidence.
Ensure that your site works properly and its content is up-to-date. Check error messages make sense and forms and data entry fields are logical. Get someone to proofread your site and spot any grammatical and spelling mistakes. The quality of your site tells customers a lot about the quality of service they can expect from you.
Get to know your customers.
Learn as much as you can about your customers and the way they use your site (and, if you can, find out how they use your competitors’ sites). Then use this learning to improve your site and increase your return on investment.
The number of web sites is growing every day and now just about anyone can create one. If you want your site to stand out from the rest, plan it carefully and design it with your customers in mind. Far too many web site owners just do not bother.
For more information please visit www.honostreview.com
What annoys an Internet user the most? A quick unscientific survey of a local Internet café suggests the top three turn-offs are:
Sites that are very slow to download;
Ones that are confusing to use;
Sites that do not contain the promised information;
The single most common reaction to sites like these is that the visitor very quickly moves on to another web site. Clearly, if you get things wrong there is usually no second chance.
How can you avoid this happening to your business? Well, here are twenty tips to help you when designing or redesigning your company’s web site.
Start with a clear understanding of the purpose of your site.
Is the aim of your site to sell, entertain, or inform? The design of your site should be consistent with its purpose. The requirements for a site selling software online will be very different from say the web site of a local community newspaper.
Plan the site with the customer in mind.
Imagine how your customers (existing and prospects) will use your site. Consider their reasons for visiting and their needs. Something that looks logical to you may not appear so to a first-time visitor.
Design for cross-browser compatibility.
Although Internet Explorer dominates, do not overlook those people who use alternatives such as Mozilla, Opera and Netscape. Make sure your site can be viewed in other browsers; that way you will not unintentionally reduce the number of visitors to your site.
Choose simplicity over complexity.
Unless you are a design company showcasing its skills, keep things simple. Visitors (especially frequent ones) may not be impressed by your complex animated graphics especially if they serve no apparent useful purpose. Make it simple for visitors to get to the content – that is what most of them are coming to your site for anyway.
Make the navigation intuitive and easy to use.
This is probably one of the two most important aspects of designing a web site, the other being content. Make your site’s navigation logical and clear. Ensure the most important and most often-accessed information is easy to find. Link names should be concise and self-explanatory. Test navigational links to make sure they work and keep them up-to-date.
Your site should be as visually appealing as possible.
Visual appeal is subjective but the design of your site will undoubtedly influence customers’ perceptions of your business as a whole. An uncluttered layout, careful choice of font size and colors and appropriate use of graphics and images should go a long way to ensuring your site creates a good impression of your business.
Apply a consistent design or ’look and feel’ to your site.
Keep design consistent across your site unless you want your visitors to ask themselves whether they have wandered into another company’s site by accident.
Integrate your web site design with your offline branding.
For many, the Internet is still an alien environment so reassure your customers by applying the same branding online as you do offline. After all, if you have spent a lot of money building your brand why spend more appearing to build an entirely different online brand (unless, of course, this is your intention).
Keep page size manageable to ensure speedy downloads.
Online visitors’ patience is measured in milliseconds and not everyone has hi-speed or broadband Internet connections. So, keep page sizes within reasonable limits to ensure that they download quickly. Optimize graphic size and avoid putting an image on a page unless it adds something for the visitor.
Ensure your site’s content reflects its purpose.
If yours is a sales site for example, ensure that your content concentrates on selling. Stay focused and avoid the temptation to upload content that is not relevant to your web site’s purpose.
Enable quick and easy location of information.
Quite simply, most customers will quickly leave your site if they cannot locate the information they are seeking. Internet users increasingly require information to be instantly available and there is no shortage of other sites eager to take business from you. Think what information customers are likely to want and do not hide it away.
Make sure content is relevant, accurate and up-to-date.
Provide accurate and relevant content and keep it up-to-date. Failure to do this will make your company look inefficient and reflects badly on your customer service levels. Search engines also appreciate content that is updated regularly.
Encourage interaction.
Get visitors to interact with your site and spend more time on it. Make a visit an interesting experience for them by including useful online tools, etc. Just make sure they are relevant to your site.
Personalize your site.
Depending on the technology you have available to you, it may be possible to greet visitors to your site by name and serve up content tailored specifically to their needs. If you can do it then do so.
Invite dialogue.
Give your customers the opportunity to contact you via email, online forms, a call-back/call-me facility, web chat, etc. Ask for their feedback via online surveys and feedback forms. Invite them to subscribe to a customer newsletter.
Acknowledge customer contact.
It is common courtesy to say ‘thank you’. Very little effort is required to set up an email auto-responder. When requiring customers to complete and submit a form, make sure there is a ‘thank you’ page or pop-up. It reassures the customer that you have received their communication and does not leave them wondering whether or not your site is working properly.
Make it a ‘seamless’ experience.
Aim to give customers the same level of service online as you give them offline. Your goal should be to facilitate the customer’s interaction with your company and allow them to choose how to do business with you. You know that customers are your most valuable asset and that retaining them is vitally important.
Give your customers support.
Reassure visitors to your site by providing elements such as help pages, FAQ’s, a site map, terms of use and a privacy policy. They will appreciate it.
inspire confidence.
Ensure that your site works properly and its content is up-to-date. Check error messages make sense and forms and data entry fields are logical. Get someone to proofread your site and spot any grammatical and spelling mistakes. The quality of your site tells customers a lot about the quality of service they can expect from you.
Get to know your customers.
Learn as much as you can about your customers and the way they use your site (and, if you can, find out how they use your competitors’ sites). Then use this learning to improve your site and increase your return on investment.
The number of web sites is growing every day and now just about anyone can create one. If you want your site to stand out from the rest, plan it carefully and design it with your customers in mind. Far too many web site owners just do not bother.
For more information please visit www.honostreview.com
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