There has been a radical transformation in the way we communicate in the modern day world. Gone are the days of long queues outside pay-phone booths and exorbitant costs for making long distance calls. With the emergence of VoIP, quite a lot has become possible. It has become possible, for instance, to rout calls over broadband networks at affordable costs. It has become possible for people to verbally 'connect' with their loved ones and family members from the comfort of their homes or workstations. It has become possible to break down geographical barriers and communicate across continents and that too in real time.

The one group that is facilitating all these and quite a bit more are the VoIP service providers. They play an important role in the VoIP value chain - delivering call termination as bundled services to cater to the needs of both corporate clients as well as individual users. With the demand for IP telephony solutions increasing by the day, there is a concomitant increase in the intensity of competition in this domain. Quite a few providers are trying to attract potential customers. From the customer's perspective, it becomes rather difficult to select any one from all the multiple choices that are available.

Certain parameters need to be kept in mind while choosing a Voip service provider.

When making a call – the most important parameter naturally becomes the quality of the voice that one gets to hear. It is no use paying less – if we are not able to hear clearly the things that are being said to us. A VoIP provider having multiple switches can ensure that the voice quality is upto global standards. The parameters and their ranges that a potential user should check to ensure optimum voice quality are mentioned below.

1.ACD:Ranging between 5 to 6 minutes 2.ASR:Ranging between 40 to 50 percent 3.PDD:Ranging between 3 to 4 seconds

The price factor also plays an important role and affects the decision. After all, who would not want to benefit from the low calling charges that VoIP entails? As it is, a competitive scenario is sufficient to drive down the prices. However, it would be in the interest of potential users to select a service provider that has the most competitive rates.

Like with all products and services, technical support is more than welcome. There may be some untoward circumstances, wherein users could come face to face with problems pertaining the stability of the services. In such situations, it becomes imperative that all the technical queries can be directed to concerned people – 24 days a week and 365 days a year.

A VoIP service should therefore come with technical support – with an initial period of training thrown in for good measure. This becomes all the more important for corporates as well as small and medium businesses – who are into reselling operations and have made a foray into the world of VoIP telephony.