Just mentioning word to yourself either brings up images of walking in a new city where grass is greener, or it brings up fear of unknown. Some will tread carefully around subject, waiting to hear others opinions about a specific service and some may charge fearlessly into a service that they know little about. Which way is right way to choose a VoIP service? I say neither.

Is there a safe way to choose a VoIP service? You bet there is, but it does take some work and careful research to make sure that you don't get stuck with something you cannot use or worse yet, be forced into a scenario in which your telephone communications is impaired.

There are 3 general steps to choosing Broadband Phone service. They are: 1.Qualify Yourself 2.Qualify a specific Provider, and 3.Research provider.

1.Qualify Yourself – Ask yourself “why do I want voip?” Is it because you want to save money? are you attracted to voip by all of features that it offers? Maybe you're sick of your local telephone company. Whatever reason, make sure that benefits are better than what you're already getting now. For instance, you might want to save money on long distance with a voip provider but don't want to give up your old phone number. In this case you would have to ask yourself whether it would be acceptable to lose your old phone number to save a few extra dollars. These days, most providers (but not all) will allow you to keep your old phone number. Do you have a secondary means of communication such as a cell phone?

This happens all time and sadly very few are prepared to reveal their ignorance and get clarification. You will have come across this at seminars.

I remember discussing an IT issue with a former colleague and after two hours wondering why we could not progress. The penny suddenly dropped when I realised that his understanding of a key definition was at variance with mine and if we had understood and resolved variance earlier we would have saved two valuable hours.

It is so important to be clear on what you are trying to communicate and ‘listening’…

Hearing and listening are two very different things. Master listening and you will perceive more.

Listening is part of skill used in communication that we often take for granted. We are not taught to listen but we can easily fall into trap of failing to concentrate, drawing our own conclusions too soon, hearing what we want to hear by filtering message through our own experiences and prejudices.

We need to maintain interest with an open mind and respond to what we hear in a meaningful manner. We need to be constructive with our responses, seek clarification and contribute positively.

As we only take in 30% of what we hear so it’s important to be attentive. I find I am able to listen very well on telephone because I am less likely to interject (being an enthusiastic listener!!!) so I think carefully about what is being said before I make a response.