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