Let me set this out.

Those that read this blog will know that my eldest went off to university almost two weeks ago. However he may as well have been at home as the number of emails, texts and voip/video sessions are in the double digits every day.

They’ve varied from “how do I reheat frozen egg fried rice” to “I’ve got a clash in my schedule what do I do about it” – however by the far the most frequent contact has been via voip, especially video calls. We use skype in the house because I was given some free voip to landline call time and not out of any fondness for the company. To my wife the video chat sessions have been a blessing as she’s been able to see our eldest daily and make sure that he’s ok. Although it was easy to set up and advise her on use she still thinks my skills are fantastic – and I’m not turning down any brownie points.

But all this has set me to thinking. How best should I promote voip within the Church? Specifically to the leadership? Along with this goes questions like what company, what hardware / software, what benefits, why and so on. Voip is still very much in its infancy at present in the UK and certainly I know of no other Church in the area that is using it – I hope I’m wrong in this presumption though. Most of these questions can be answered by a bit of research but the one that I’m struggling with is the why.

So why should I push the Church in this direction when I can’t adequately answer all of these questions for myself? Can any of you help me out? Do you use voip and if so why and what are its benefits? Are you still tied in to a PABX or are you utilising your internet connectivity? How do you find the voice quality? Questions, questions!