So many people today are still afraid of the ever elusive VoIP — Voice over Internet Protocol. What makes them afraid? It’s new technology; technology that might make them step out of their comfortable little boat called POTS — Plain Old Telephone Service into new uncharted waters. No matter what the fear, new technology can be, and has proven to be, a great thing.
Take a look at the history of cell phones. According to Mike Singh’s Ezine article, The History Of Cell Phones — How Did The Cell Phone Come About?, the concept of cell phones started in 1973, by a scientist named Martin Cooper. People were initially apprehensive about cell phones. What? Use a phone while I travel? Preposterous idea! It couldn’t possibly work! But guess what…it does, and now cell phone usage is almost the main source of telephone contact that people use. According to Andrew Clogg in an accuconference blog, “cell phone usage in the US has increased from 34 million to 203 million in the last ten years.” Consumers are now riding the wave of cell phone technology. They can’t live without it, and most people feel naked without their cell phones. Even now if you look, you can see consumers in their cars or walking down the street appearing to converse with themselves, but if you look closely, you will see a little device attached to their ear. What is this device? It is new cell phone technology that allows the consumer to have their hands free for other activity.
How does VoIP compare? VoIP has proven to be a new technology that can make lives even more simple, and consumers are catching on. VoIP News, has stated, “…NPRG [New Paradigm Resources Group] estimates that there are approximately 6 million VoIP users in the United States. It is expected that this number will climb to 9 million users by the end of 2006 and 24 million by the end of 2008.”
VoIP technology was developed in 1973 through ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Department of Defense. Then, a company called Vocaltec produced the first VoIP phone software that could be used by consumers in 1995 called “Internet Phone.” How does this new technology work? Voice packets run over a consumer’s high speed internet connection to any phone whether it is a call to a VoIP line, cell phone, or POTS line, anywhere in the world.
Why use VoIP? The real question is why shouldn’t you? VoIP is technology that you can take with you anywhere you go and can be used in conjunction with a cell phone or landline. You just plug your VoIP adapter or router into a high speed internet connection, and you’re ready to make calls. You can even take your phone number with you wherever you move to. That is something you cannot do with your traditional landline phone service. Other perks: the monthly cost is so much cheaper than a normal landline or cell phone, the features are better, you can forward all your calls from home or the office to your cell phone or any other phone when traveling so that you don’t miss any calls, there are little to no per minute long distance charges, there are no exorbitant taxes because the service runs over the internet, international rates are extremely cheap, and the list goes on.
There is no need to fear the “Big Bad VoIP.” Just grab hold and enjoy what this new technology can do for you.
© 2008 Mconnect, Inc.
By: Lisa Evanock
Posts Tagged ‘Plain Old Telephone Service’
Who’s Afraid Of The "Big Bad VoIP"?
March 2nd, 2010Internet Telephone VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) – Technology and Terms
October 29th, 2009
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
