VoIP, Internet Protocol & Internet Telephony
The ever-expanding availability and use of broadband internet connections has created a lot of interested in Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet telephony. If you have a constant internet connection which can transfer all types of data including audio, then paying for phonecalls seems like a mug’s game…
If you’re making a phonecall to New Zealand, and the recipient also has a constant broadband connection, then internet telephony is possible. You could even have a video-call at no cost other than the webcam. When you’re not paying for the call it doesn’t matter so much if the line falters occasionally.
Even if the recipient only has a standard PSTN phone service then it is still possible to make calls from your computer, but a subscription to a commercial Internet/PSTN gateway connection and paying the local call costs is essential.
For business calls the technology is exactly the same, but would the reliability of the line be good enough to do business on? We have become accustomed to the high reliability and high quality of service of traditional phone lines.
What level of dropped calls would you accept in a business? Jittery, broken and delayed speech may occur at busy times. If you are using ADSL broadband then you could share a 512kbps connection with 50 other users, and if other users are downloading on streaming audio or video it could easily interrupt or slow things down for you.
Internet Protocol allows computers and devices with different operating systems to communicate with each other using an open, shared protocol. The internet is based on IP, as it is what allows Windows PCs, Macs, Unix, Linux, PDAs and mobile phones to communicate online. IP has become the networking protocol of choice for local and wide area networks, developing intranet and extranets.
IP allows data packets to be prioritised so routers can be confugired to recognise certain types of packet, real-time voice or video, and give thempriority over other data rtraffic. Data transfer can be a bit jittery as long as the file eventually arrives, while communications need to be constant and smooth. Streamed audio and video can be buffered and played when seemless delivery is possible. With real-time voice and video telephony, buffering would be inappropriate as jittery delivery would mean poor quality communications.
With free audio and video telephony, VoIP has a great number of benefits for individuals and businesses alike, so why not check it out? Thousands of businesses have already saved a fortune on their phonebills, you could too!
John Mce writes on behalf of G3 telecommunications Find out about enterprise & business VOIP solutions & IP telephone systems at G3 Telecommunications.
Article Source: ArticleSpan
Filed under: VoIP Articles
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