If you are just starting to look at VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) as an alternative to conventional POTS (plain old telephone service) for your home or office, you will be hit with an all new set of technical terminology and industry jargon. This is a guide to help clarify and define some of the basic vocabulary used in the VoIP world.
Many of these terms are not limited to the VoIP world. As with so many technologies that revolve around broadband access, wireless networking and telephony, you will see these terms elsewhere so it will be helpful for you to understand their meaning as they relate to VoIP.
Telephone Adapter – In the world of VoIP, a telephone adapter is a device that is installed between your network and your telephone hardware. You can think of it as a converter as it sometimes referred to by this term. The most simple of these devices have three connections: power adapter connected to a power outlet, a 4-wire telephone connection where you plug in your conventional telephone hardware and an Ethernet adapter to connect the device to your network. The adapter converts (digitizes) the analog phone signal to an IP protocol.
Codec – Short for coder/decoder, this is a compression and decompression utility that digitizes and compresses the analog voice signal created by your telephone. There are a number of different codecs used and each one offers differing levels of compression. With varying levels of compression come different levels of quality of voice over the line.
VoIP Service Provider – This is a provider of the actual connectivity of your VoIP hardware, your network and the rest of the world. Some provide only computer-based services while others provide complete home or office solutions including multiple phone numbers and fax/data solutions.
RTP – Real-time Transport Protocol is the protocol used to specify standards for carrying voice calls over broadband connections. RTP is used in conjunction with RTCP (Real-time Transport Control Protocol) to provide QoS (Quality of Service) support. This provides a precedence or ‘right-of-way’ traffic control of voice calls over standard traffic over the network. Standard traffic can be thought of as text, email or other low priority, non-time sensitive traffic.
SIP – Session Initiation Protocol controls the way VoIP traffic is transmitted and routed over a broadband network. In simple terms, SIP is the standard by which a session (phone call) is initiated and terminated (phone hangs up).
VoIP phone – This is a telephone that is designed specifically to be used with a VoIP service. It has the functionality of both a telephone in its basic design but incorporates all the functionality of a telephone adapter making is a single, self-contained VoIP device.
Softphone – This is actually a misleading term in that it is not really a phone at all. A softphone is a computer that is equipped with a microphone, a speaker (or headset) and a software program that allows you to make telephone calls without the need for a conventional telephone or adapter.
By: Jeff Runyon
Archive for October, 2009
Internet Telephone VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) – Technology and Terms
October 29th, 2009VoIP Technology, How Does It Work?
October 29th, 2009
VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, is a protocol that has been optimized for transmitting voice via the internet or through other packet switched networks. VoIP carries telephony signals as digital audio that are usually reduced in data rate with speech data compression methods, encapsulated in a data packet stream over IP. In other words, VoIP is the routing of vocal conversations over the internet, or any other network that is IP based. VoIP is also known by other names including Internet telephony, IP Telephony, and Broadband telephony.
VoIP services can have two types of public switched telephone networks (PSTN):
1. Access numbers – the caller is required to key in the extension number of the VoIP user
2. Direct Inward Dialing (DID) – directly connects the caller to the VoIP user.
One of the great aspects about VoIP is that it has the ability to facilitate tasks and provide services that a more traditional PSTN might have difficulty implementing, or may charge more for. Some examples of services that VoIP features include:
• VoIP makes it easy to add an additional telephone line for a home or office, because VoIP has the ability to transmit more than one phone call down the same telephone line connected to broadband.
• VoIP automatically comes with popular phone features such as call forwarding, caller ID, automatic redial and 3-way calling. All of these features can be included in a traditional phone line, but usually each service has an additional cost.
• VoIP already has security in place such as digitizing and digital transmission, which traditional phone lines can sometimes struggle with.
• VoIP phones can work form any location that has a stable and fast internet connection.
• VoIP can integrate with other services that are available though the internet including message or data file exchange, video conversation, managing address books, audio conferencing, and so on.
As you can see, there are many features you can enjoy with VoIP. Furthermore, on the whole, VoIP tends to be the cheaper telephone service in comparison to a traditional phone line. However, regardless if you use a VoIP telephony, or are called by an unknown VoIP user, you can still find out more about a phone number and who it belongs to here.
By: Dan Krasky
Introduction to VoIP Technology
October 28th, 2009
Voice over Internet Protocol, also called VoIP or Internet telephony, is the transportation of voice conversations over the internet or through any other IP-based network rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Protocols which are used to carry voice signals over the IP network are commonly referred to as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols. Some cost savings are due to utilizing a single network to carry voice and data. Users that have existing underutilized network capacity can use VoIP at no additional cost. VoIP to VoIP phone calls on any provider are typically free, while VoIP to PSTN calls generally costs the VoIP user.
There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: DID (Direct Inward Dialing) and access numbers. DID connects the caller directly to the VoIP user, while access numbers require the caller to input the extension number of the VoIP user. Access numbers are usually charged as a local call to the caller and free to the VoIP user, while DID usually has a monthly fee. One can also find DID that are free to the VoIP user but charge the caller instead.
Key features of VoIP:
VoIP can facilitate tasks that may be more difficult to achieve using traditional networks, such as:
• Routing phone calls over existing data networks to avoid the need for separate voice and data networks.
• Incoming phone calls can be automatically routed to your VoIP phone, regardless of where you are connected to the network. Take your VoIP phone with you on a trip, and receive incoming calls whenever you are connected to the Internet.
• Free phone numbers for use with VoIP are available in the USA, UK and other countries from several organizations.
• Call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast and stable Internet connection.
• Many VoIP packages include PSTN features that most Telcos normally charge extra for, or may be unavailable from your local Telco, such as 3-way calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID.
• VoIP allows users to travel anywhere in the world and still make and receive phone calls.
Flexibility:
• VoIP service users can make and receive local phone calls regardless of their location. For example, if a user has a US phone number and is traveling in Europe and someone calls the US phone number, it will ring in Europe. Conversely, if a call is made from Europe to US, it will be treated as a local call. Of course, there must be a connection to the internet, for e.g. Wi-Fi, to make all of this possible.
• Users of Instant Messenger based VoIP services can also travel anywhere in the world and make and receive phone calls.
• VoIP phones can integrate with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange, in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.
By: Waqas Taimoor
