Frequently Asked Questions: Digital Telephone

What is Digital Telephone (VoIP)?
Voice over Internet protocol (Digital Telephone (VoIP), pronounced like "voice" with a "p"), is a technology which allows phone calls via the Internet rather than over a traditional phone line. Digital Telephone (VoIP) provides clear, digital-quality calls at a lower cost than traditional phone service.

Do I need an Internet connection for Digital Telephone (VoIP)?
Yes, you need to combine the Digital Telephone (VoIP) service with our internet packages.

Do I still need my home phone service?
Not really, Digital Telephone (VoIP) will replace your home phone service. If you want to keep your traditional home phone service, our installer will advise you.

Can I dial the 7 digit phone numbers in our local area?
No, you need to dial all 10 digits with any Digital Telephone (VoIP) telephone service, the good news is that you never have to guess if you need a 1 for long distance, you just dial the 10 numbers. You don't need to dial the 1 with toll-free calls, e.g. 1-800 or 1-877, because all of your domestic Digital Telephone (VoIP) calls are placed without a separate charge.

How do I dial internationally?
You dial 011 and then the country code (e.g., 52 for the Mexico), city area code and then the number.

How many lines can I have at my home?
You can have up to 3 lines set up for Digital Telephone (VoIP).

Will my 911 service get to my local service?
Yes. One of the challenges of Digital Telephone (VoIP) (as with cell phones) is that emergency responders can't always track the location of the phone, a capability they rely on to locate someone who has suffered an injury or been the victim of a crime. Enhanced 911, available from most Digital Telephone (VoIP) providers, solves this problem.

Can I use my computer while talking on the phone?
Yes, you can use any number of computers on your broadband service while you are talking on the phone. The system automatically gives priority to your voice to ensure quality of service.

Will my internet speeds suffer by using Digital Telephone (VoIP)?
No, you will not notice any difference.

Can I install the Digital Phone service myself?
Yes! Read more about self-installation of our digital phone service here. Also, there are self-installation videos to watch. If you would rather have a professional service installer do this for you, can may contact us. There may be a fee associated with professional installation.

Can I use my standard existing home phones?
Yes, most of your home's older phones will work on the service. Rotary dial phones will not work with Digital Telephone (VoIP). The installer will check to ensure your phones are working correctly before leaving.

Are all my phone jacks connected to Digital Telephone (VoIP)?
Yes, once the install is complete, all your phone jacks will be live. You can then use any touch-tone dialing analog telephone on the system.

Can I port my current telephone number?
This depends your location. If you provide the 3 numbers after 970, we can determine whether your number can be ported or not.

How do I check my bill?
You can log on to the lpbroadband.net website any time to see your bill. You can also view an inbound and outbound call log.

Are there any taxes to be added to my Digital Telephone (VoIP) bill?
Possibly, there is a bill under proposal that will require that we charge you a 6.7% Universal service fee. No other taxes are added.

What about international rates?
You can check the above website before you place a call to any country to see the rate per minute for the country you are going to call.

The service provides you with very low cost international rates. When you have completed your call internationally, you can log onto the above website and see exactly how much the call costs.

Can I make my cell phone ring as well as my home phone?
Yes, you can program the system to ring your cell phone at the same time as it rings your home number.

I have an answering machine at home, can I keep using this machine?
Yes, you can choose to continue using your answering machine, or you can use the voice mail that comes with the service. It is your choice, and you can change it at any time using the web site.

If I use the voice mail system of the Digital Telephone (VoIP) service, where do I go to pick up my calls?
On a residential line, you can dial your own number from a connected phone and enter only your password. From another phone, you press * during your greeting.

I have an alarm system that calls a control center, will that still work?
It depends. If your alarm is an ADT system then it will not work without modification. However, there are alarm companies that are broadband alarm companies specializing in monitoring your house through your internet connection.

https://nextalarm.com/abn.jsp
http://www.home-technology-store.com/abn.aspx?ID=1890
http://www.protectamerica.com/pa/monitoring

I have satellite TV, will it still be able to function correctly?
Not always, some Direct TV Tivos cannot be set to a low enough speed to work with Digital Telephone (VoIP), you should contact your satellite provider to determine if there is a dialing prefix that can be used to lower your receiver modem speed to 14400 or lower. 9600 is recommended. If the speed cannot be lowered, the connection will likely fail.

I have a fax machine, will it work with the Digital Telephone (VoIP) service?
Faxing over uncompressed Digital Telephone (VoIP) will work in most cases if your fax machine can be set to use speeds no faster than 9600 baud. Faxing over Digital Telephone (VoIP) will have a higher failure rate than faxing over conventional phone lines. If you are a business or professional and faxing is very important to you, then you should maintain an analog line for your fax machine.

Will my phone number be published in the DEX phone book?
No, your number will not be in the DEX or Yellow Book phone books; however, you can have it listed in the Names & Numbers Directory at: http://www.namesandnumbers.com/customer_service/change_your_listing.html to add your number.

What is Voice Priority (QoS)?
This is the methodology that prioritizes your voice traffic on the network. Our network is configured to provide priority for voice communication over other internet traffic when you sign up for our Digital Telephone (VoIP) service, or if you are using another Digital Telephone (VoIP) provider, we can prioritize their traffic for an additional monthly cost.

What is QoS?
This stands for Quality of Service. It is used to describe how a data network performs in delivering data. In the case of Digital Telephone (VoIP) it is important that the voice data packets arrive in a timely manner, and in the correct order. In technical terms, the timely manner is measured in latency, and the correct order is measured as jitter.

How secure are my phone conversations using Digital Telephone (VoIP)?
Digital Telephone (VoIP) actually can be considered more secure than traditional telephone lines, according to global business and technology consultant Kevin McCarty at West Monroe Partners. We use Motorola's CanopyŽ platform, which adds a layer of security because it uses a proprietary technology to carry the already encrypted packets of information over the local network, or last mile.

What does a voice transmission over Digital Telephone (VoIP) sound like versus a regular phone service?
A Digital Telephone (VoIP) conversation will sound like both parties are on a cell phone. Your voice is digitized in a similar manner as a cell phone service and sent via the airways for a portion of the distance.

Best Internet Security Practices

Many of our new customers have never had "always on" Internet access. Because of the long times to download files, most people haven't kept up to date on the latest Operating System (OS) patches and other important updates to their computers. With always on, high-speed Internet access, you should keep your operating system updated to protect both your PC, and the rest of our network. We are sure you have read the news or heard about the latest internet worms or email viruses. It is critical that you do whatever you can to prevent these `bugs' from attacking your machine. This section is intended to help educate you on what you can do that will help you prevent worms, viruses or other problems on your computer.

Windows Update
The Windows Update feature of Windows is available for all supported versions of Windows. You should make it a regular practice to visit this site (weekly) in order to keep your computer updated. The section below labeled "MANUAL UPDATES" describes how to manually update your computer. There is a section entitled "MAKING WINDOWS UPDATE AUTOMATIC" will teach you how to be notified of critical updates. A "critical update" is an update that fixes a security flaw in Windows.

Manual Updates
1. Click "Start" then "Windows Update" and install all updates for your system that are called "Critical update". You can, also, type the address http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ in Internet Explorer (IE 5.5 is required to use the windows update feature).

2. If you are prompted to reboot after installing the update, do so.

3. As soon as your computer is back up, you should return to the Windows Update site to insure that there are no further updates available. Depending on the updates that were applied, there may be other updates that will show up as "Critical Updates". Repeat the steps described in this section until there are no critical updates listed. This can take quite some time.

Making Windows Update Automatically
WINDOWS XP
1. Click "Start" then "Control Panel"
2. Click "System"
3. Click the tab labeled "Automatic Updates"
4. Check the box next to "Keep my computer up to date" near the top
5. In the "Settings" section (below), select the first option "Notify me before downloading any updates and notify me again before installing them on my computer".
6. Click "OK" and close the control panel

OTHER VERSIONS
1. Follow the steps above in the section labeled "Manual Updates" and install the "Critical update notification" utility. The exact name of the utility depends on the version of Windows you are using.

VIRUS ALERT IS HIGH PLEASE CHECK YOUR COMPUTER REGULARLY AND KEEP IT UPDATED!

Please refer to the information below for more information and tools to help keep your system clean of viruses and worms.

This will help us keep the Internet working better for everyone. Thank you!

Router Support Information

Highest-Rated Anti-Virus Tools by AV Comparatives

Anti-Virus Software Links

AVG GriSoft (a free anti-virus software).

See also reviews at Star Reviews

Other Resources