First of all we need to get some terms stated. I have been in business for just over two years and there is still some confusion over topic.

Mail forwarding: is a service that allows you to have your mail sent to a "mailbox" and then they will forward it off to your location. This mail is generally sent in bulk to recipient and is very useful if you travel, or don't have a permanent address.

Mail Redirection: is when you have mail sent direct to a mailbox and then it is "remailed" to another location. This is mainly used by organisations or individuals who wish to keep their physical address a secret.

Remailing: is as simple as receiving a letter, re-stamping and addressing letter then posting it again. This is pretty much what happens when mail is forwarded or redirected.

Mail Drop: is defined as "an address or place at which a nonresident person receives mail, often of a secret nature" (2005) Dictionary.com

So why are there so many names for same services? It is pretty simple to understand why there are so many names and that is because vendors that offer these services are trying to obtain as many hits through search engines as possible, they use phrases such as "forwarding" "redirection" etc. In doing this they can confuse customer and they will not have a clear understanding of services that are available.

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?