Telecommunication is realised to its full potential in a smart home. Imagine assigning different ringtones for different members of the family. You wouldn't have to rush to pick up the phone upon hearing the ringtone-you would know beforehand whom the call is for. What about transferring calls around the house? Saves you the effort of running around or calling out to the person intended. And if you've got a videophone, you can also see the person while you're talking. You can even have wireless phones at home, and this is fast becoming popular even in normal homes.

            How about using your television set to surf the internet? For example, if you see something on a television programme that interests you, you can actually click on the image and you will be instantly directed to websites related to that certain topic. Convenient, isn't it? Whatsmore, you can combine a small video camera and microphone with the TV monitor and create an instant videoconferencing opportunity. Sounds like what Lara did in Cradle of Life? And if your TV becomes part of your internet connection, you can also preview incoming faxes before printing them.

            Nowadays, voice-over IP services are fast becoming popular. Voice-over IP services uses your internet connection to place and receive phone calls. In this scenario, the internet access provider will carry your telephone calls as bits and bytes of IP data traffic through the internet connection, meaning you'll be able to make phone calls through the PC, home-phone network or even through the set-top box on the TV. A voice-over-IP gateway is installed to allow calls to be transferred from the internet to regular phones.

            A simple phone network can be expanded by using wireless phones and special phone systems. Conventional cordless phones expand the network by adding mobility to your telephone devices. Some wireless phones have special functions, for example, the VTECH cordless phone system, which operates in the 2.4GHz digital spread spectrum has a phone directory that you can use for calling and checking inbound caller ID. There are also other features including hold, mute, intercom, do not disturb, conference calling and a visual message waiting indicator. Cordless phones are convenient and easy to use at the same time, which is the reason why more and more people choose to install cordless phones in their homes.