Changes in technology are opening doors and creating jobs that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. VoIP is one of those areas, and this emerging technology has produced significant changes in the way people communicate. Understanding VoIP is rather difficult for many, but the concept is actually a fairly basic one.
VoIP is the acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Most commonly, the term is written as VoIP (note the small “o”), though there are many other terms that refer to this same process. Telephony is one of those terms, and Broadband telephony is another.
The idea of VoIP is too simply to create a network and then allow people to send all sorts of transmissions across that same network. Consider what that can do to the costs of communicating in some situations.
For example, a large office of a half-century ago would likely have two major methods of communication. There’d be a telephone system that connected all the desks and offices within that building – a network of telephones that may or may not have also been connected to outside lines. But what happened when those workers on the second floor needed to see a report that the workers on the eighth floor had just produced? For that situation, there were usually messengers who had the important task of physically taking those documents, messages and packages from one point in the office to another.
Then personal computers and personal fax machines became affordable and available, effectively replacing the need for messengers in most cases. Email and faxes became the norm, making it possible for those people within a specific network to instantly share those documents and reports. But there was still a need for telephones for those cases in which voice communication was necessary as well.
As technology tends to do, it was probably inevitable that the personal computers and telephones would eventually find more common ground. VoIP is that common ground.
VoIP allows data and voice streaming within a particular network. That network may or may not be limited to a specific building or company, though many companies are finding that it’s a very cost effective way of dealing with the need for data and voice streaming.
The fact that this is typically a very effective and cost effective way of communicating means that more companies are likely to be moving in this direction in the future. For those who are technically adept at understanding VoIP, this means that there will continue to be more jobs in the field. As is the case with computers, it takes some natural ability to be truly adept in this field, but there are also many schools and training facilities ready and able to offer quality programs to prepare you for a career in this field.
As more people and companies understand the potential for effective communication with VoIP, there’s likely to be more career opportunities in the field. If you’re one of those people who understand technology, computers and electronics, you may very well find that this is a perfect field for you.
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By: Scott Knutson
Posts Tagged ‘Norm’
VoIP – Thee Emerging Technology
November 21st, 2009VOIP Considerations
October 14th, 2009
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is changing the way that we look at phone service. The relatively new technology is quickly becoming the norm in many homes across the world. But a variety of VOIP considerations should be explored before you take advantage of the technology.
It allows a caller to make long distance calls without having to pay much, or anything for them. Combine the VOIP technology with a broadband, or high speed, internet access line, and VOIP provides an easy, inexpensive way to make phone calls all over the world. However, there are still some disadvantages of VOIP – especially when it comes to using the technology for functions beyond the one caller to one caller scenario.
VOIP considerations for you to examine start with understanding how the technology works in comparison with traditional phone service. With traditional phone service, your long distance phone calls are routed from your local provider’s network to your chosen long distance provider’s network, where it is routed to the receiving party’s local phone provider’s network and finally, to their home phone line. Since multiple providers are involved, multiple providers charged a fee for the call, which the long distance provider passed on to you in the form of an often hefty per-minute charge.
But VOIP has changed all of that. It removes the long distance company from the equation, making a long distance phone call virtually the same as a local phone call. How? By using the internet as the routing method that passes the call from your local phone provider to your receiving party’s local phone provider. You initiate the call, and your analog voice signal is translated into a digital signal. That signal is then sent via your internet service to the internet, where it is routed to the receiving party’s local phone provider’s network, translated back into an analog signal and sent to the receiving party’s phone.
The disadvantages of VOIP should be part of what you understand regarding VOIP considerations, but they are relatively limited for the average consumer. The main complaints regarding VOIP have to do with providing the level of quality of service that customers are accustomed to with regular telephone technology.
The reason for this is multifold. VOIP requires a large amount of data to be compressed and transmitted, then uncompressed and delivered, all in a relatively small amount of time. Problems develop in VOIP conversations when this process takes too long and the callers experience one of two problems; echo or over-talk.
For businesses, VOIP considerations have more to do with how to manage the traffic over their network. Since they may be using their bandwidth for internet and even voice conferencing, they will need to analyze the amount of bandwidth that is necessary to handle all of their activities.
But for the average consumer, the greatest advantage of VOIP is the cost – or rather, the lack of cost. If you have a computer with a sound card, modem, speakers, a microphone and a (preferably) high speed connection, and you download software from companies such as skype.com, you can be making free long distance and international phone calls using VOIP in as little as 5 minutes.
By: Van Theodorou
