VOIP Information

VoIP Overview


Since we're using computers all the time to do our work, let's make it easy and add the phone to the pile. VoIP also known as (voice over Internet protocol), Internet telephony, IP telephony, and Internet voice is catching on and is expected to grow in the next few years. The technology has been around for about a decade, but it isn't till now that we have the supporting technology to handle it and an market reaching critical mass (hate using jargon, but there isn't a better way to say it).

VoIP requires users to have broadband connections. With 22 percent of Americans connected to the Internet by broadband, the numbers are large enough for making money with Internet voice and big telecoms are already in the game.

How VoIP works

VoIP works like email. TCP/IP networks consist of IP packets with a header for controlling communication and information for transportating data. VoIP uses the IP packets to send the human voice across the Internet using IP packets to its destination.

It digitizes a voice into data packets, sends them through the network and converts them back to voice when arriving at the destination. Digital format can be compressed, routed, and converted to other and better formats.

When calling someone using VoIP, you use a phone with an adapter. Just like we use a telephone to make phone calls on POTS (plain old telephone service), the adapter is a device to connect the phone to the network. The VoIP phone has its own phone number for callers to dial.

The good and bad things

An advantage of VoIP is it can avoid charges typically found on PSTNs (public switched telephone network). For customers, there is less worry about how long or how often they make phone calls. Calling another state costs the same as calling another country even on the other side of the world. IP-based boxes are cheaper than analog PBXes.

However, service reliability is an issue. How many times has a download or connecting to a Web site faltered? That may not be such a big deal, but it is more disruptive to phone calls. Network issues are complicated by customers getting broadband from one company and VoIP from another. When a call gets switched from network to network, it impacts quality.

When the Internet is down, so is VoIP. Traditional phones aren't affected by power like VoIP since they have its own power and work during blackouts.

Money and regs

Companies make their money by selling features and services. Connect anytime and anywhere there is an Internet connection or while in Wi-Fi-enabled hot spots. It's also exempt from traditional regulations and taxes, but that could change tomorrow though telecoms are working to keep it unregulated. This exemption is keeping prices down, and current prices are anywhere from $20 to $65 a month.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl's notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesn't wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.


MORE RESOURCES:

Cox Did Not Infringe Verizon's VoIP Intellectual Property, Jury Finds
InformationWeek, NY - 17 hours ago
By W. David Gardner Verizon Communications' attempt to make use of its VoIP patents against competing providers ran into a stonewall Monday in the form of a ...
Verizon loses VoIP patent suit against Cox Telecom Paper (subscription)
Verizon loses out in VoIP patent case, signs accord with Comcast TeleGeography
Verizon Gets Smacked Down For Its VoIP Patent Suing Spree Techdirt
CNET News - Silicon Alley Insider
all 33 news articles


FreedomVOICE VoIP Hosted PBX Solution to Aid Resellers Eyeing SMBs
TMCnet - 12 hours ago
Officials from FreedomVOICE Systems say that under the deal, members of the Technology Assurance Group in the United States and Canada can use their VoIP ...
FreedomVOICE Forms Strategic Partnership With TAG MarketWatch
all 12 news articles


TrustedReviews

iPod Touch and VoiP vs. iPhone
VoIP-News, CA - 9 hours ago
A simple comparison, now that the new iPod Touch has a microphone and there is at least one working VoIP application to use with wifi. ...
IPhone gets VoIP ITBusiness.ca
Fring VOIP and chat client goes mainstream CNET News
Fring VoIP Client Hits App Store TrustedReviews
Ars Technica - TG Daily
all 20 news articles


Dialaphone

All Signs Say “Go” for Mobile VoIP
Dialaphone, UK - 31 minutes ago
Mobile VoIP has been in development for a short time now but only a small percentage of users are taking advantage of the increasing availability of the ...


BroadSoft Adds Support for IBM SPDE
MarketWatch - 12 hours ago
Lotus Sametime offers built-in instant messaging, VoIP, video chats, and Web conferencing capabilities with the security features required for today's ...


Expert: Guidelines for Implementing SIP, VoIP Technologies
TMCnet - 12 hours ago
By Paul Segre The advent of Voice over IP, or “VoIP,” allows contact centers and businesses around the world to make global communications instantaneous, ...
Hotels' Communications Completely Down, Thing5 Solution Goes Live ... MarketWatch
all 8 news articles


NeuStar Completes Successful Trial of SIP-IX VoIP Interconnection ...
MarketWatch - Oct 6, 2008
today announced the successful completion of the trial of its SIP-IX VoIP Interconnection Exchange service with four competitive local exchange providers ...


Blockshopper

VoIP president selling Toscana condo for $1.395M
Blockshopper, IL - 9 hours ago
Mr. Toha serves as the founder, owner and president of VoIP.com, an Internet-based phone service provider. He is also the founder and president of Rapid ...


CyberTech offers improved and unique means for recording Cisco ...
Call Centre Clinic News (press release), UK - 48 minutes ago
CyberTech International a leading global provider of advanced voice and data recording technologies announced Gateway Selective Recording for Cisco VoIP ...


Verizon loses VoIP patent suit against Cox
Trading Markets (press release), CA - 19 minutes ago
Oct 08, 2008 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- VG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- US-based telecoms company Verizon Communications has lost its ...

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