What is Flat Rate VoIP calling: uses voice gateways to convert VoIP into TDM PCM encoding which is used by traditional telephones back and forth. Since these two worlds are bridged by VoIP gateways, you can use your PC to call POP phones or vise versa. It can give a flat rate, not based on the distance, is because it uses Internet as its transport. That is why there are no distance sensitive charges for this kind of Flat Rate VoIP services. The good part of it is Flat Rate but the bad part of it is only allowed in the service providers serving area. There is VoIP gateway needs to be installed in each region. Vonage is serving only within US can Canada, not everywhere and you need to check it's availability in your area. As for Global Flat Rate VoIP, the service providers have to install VoIP gateways in that area. That is why we want to find out where and when they will provide Flat Rate VoIP in each area so we can make Flat Rate Global VoIP calling.
What is Flat Rate VoIP calling: This kinds of services allow phones on PC through to call regular telephones through Internet both domestically and internationally. Since Flat Rate VoIP calling service providers have to install many VoIP gateways to allow voice traffic transported across Internet and Public Service Telephone Network, PSTN, the charge is based on both Internet and PSTN portion. General speaking, if the service providers have less VoIP gateway installed, then, the PSTN charge will be dominated. For example, A guy in New York calling someone in Singapore, if the service provider got a gateway installed in Singapore, then most voice traffic is going through Internet. If there is no gateway there, then the voice traffic has to come out from a gateway in San Francisco and use PSTN to transport the voice traffic. Then this part of international PSTN transport can not be waived and will be charged by a distance sensitive rate, x cents per minutes. And the x is depending upon the distance. The farther, the rate will be more expensive along with other factors.
Flat rate VoIP uses voice gateways to convert VoIP into a form that will allow the voice message to be transported via a traditional telephone connection. This is known as TDM PCM encoding. The voice gateway is a communication network device that has two type of interfaces, one is Internet interface and the other is PSTN interface. The voice traffic can transfer from either Internet side or PSTN side to the other side. The voice encoding will be different and the gateway need to convert on encoding to the other.
These two methods of communication are bridged by VoIP gateways. This means that you can use your PC to call a traditional (POP) telephone or vice versa. This gives you much more flexibility and means you can make calls for a much lower rate as the charges are based on your internet connection and not on the distance you are from the person you are calling.
