VoIP Technology » Voice Signals

How Does VoIP Work With Your Current Phone?

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:53:18 +0000

Technology is growing and changing everyday. Consider phone service; at one time when people made telephone calls they did so with their phone attached to a jack in the wall and literally “dialed” the number they were calling. Then came the push-button phones; it was great to quickly “dial” the number by pressing the key pad. Soon the cordless phone jumped on the technological scene. This was wonderful; now people could walk around their house and talk without being limited to the phone cord attached to the wall, or worse tripping over the one hundred foot phone cord that they used to walk all around the house and talk on the phone.

Just as people were getting used to the cordless phone, soon came the invention of the mobile phone. It was cumbersome at first but what a thought – being able to use a phone in your vehicle. Now the cell phone is sleek, compact, and can do much more than simply make a call. Enter Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) – Internet phone service, how does VoIP work with your current phone?

With this technology, instead of the signals going out over a public network the voice signals travel over your high-speed broadband connection. You do not need to buy a new phone for this service, and you can enjoy substantial savings as you combine both the Internet and phone service into one low monthly rate. The amazing concept of VoIP is that it combines one technology to operate two different types of service; your phone and Internet. Making a call with VoIP technology can occur one of three ways:

* Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) – With the use of this device, you simply plug in your current phone into the adapter and then connect the adapter to your broadband service (possibly a modem). That is it you can now make calls. The way this system works is by taking the analog signal and changing it into a digital signal sent out over the Internet.

* IP Phones – these types of phones look exactly like analog phones the difference being they have an Ethernet connector instead of the standard phone connector and come equipped with the software and hardware needed for VoIP service built into them. You connect directly to your modem and begin enjoying exceptional quality with your next phone call.

* Computer-to-Computer – All you need for this service is high-speed Internet connections, sound card, microphone, and speakers. Typically, you pay a monthly rate from your Internet service provider.

By: Mike Singh

Challenges of VOIP in 2007

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:45:09 +0000

Today average customer uses Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) which is latest trend in communication industry. The technology is rapidly advancing because all telecommunication product companies are now investing fund to have more improved VoIP products and services.

This year the VOIP market has picked up. Many corporate have started using VoIP and have realized a large savings of 52-percent or more off their phone bills. Use of wireless VoIP helped hospitals to reduce cost of mobile phones. Technologically VoIP is better than pagers and hence it is getting popular in nursing homes and hospitals.

What are the disadvantages of Voice over Internet Protocol?

VoIP is becoming very popular to business houses but it is still not very popular to residential segment. The qualities of VoIP services are inferior to the quality of call in regular telephone technology due to various reasons.

VOIP technology requires a large amount of data to be compressed and transmitted in a packet format, then uncompressed and delivered, all in a relatively small amount of time. This digitization of analog voice signals takes too long and the callers experience either echo or over-talk.

Regular phone calls function with a delay of no more than ten( 10) milliseconds whereas in the case VOIP the delay is up to 400 milliseconds, meaning that the callers won’t hear each other fast enough to make the conversation flow easily. Due to this delay, either callers will hear themselves talking or they will start talking again before they have heard the other person reply. It is true that this delay problem does not occur for each call.

The disadvantages of VOIP are usually acceptable if the callers are using a free service and the calls are for personal in nature. The degradation of voice quality is not acceptable to corporate houses. Apart from delay in voice conversation, IT security network like firewall sometimes failed to route a VOIP call once it is received.

Moreover, if several people use VoIP, bandwidth utilization also increases. Excess use of bandwidth also increases the infrastructural cost.

By: Arindam Chattopadhyaya

VoIP Technologies in the Philippines

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:27:07 +0000

In today’s global change in technology, a lot depend on how to make everything possible and easily done in a fastest and effective way of communication. Choosing good equipment tool in a call center industry is something that will be given a top priority. If you want your call center business to be on top of the competition then you have to check the kind of tools for you to stay on this business.

This article will discuss about VoIP (Voice-over-Internet Protocol), its importance and how its work to your contact center industry. Many are still do not have sufficient idea how this technology help you in maintaining quality calls overseas. I have to say that the company I work for is known to be expert in providing pieces of information to any form of services like in an off-shore business. Based on the article wrote by Beau Rudd, chief executive officer of Unique Interaction, he outlined the straight definition of VoIP. Mr. Rudd is a wizard in a call center arena since he had been working in call center at the age of 17. I admit that I am not pretty much “knowledgeable” about this technology nor how is this work but Mr. Rudd’s idea helps me a lot to fully understand this technology.

It is no doubt that the Philippines is one of the leaders in using VoIP services, as the country is known to be the key leaders in outsourcing. Call center owners are very particular when it comes to the money they spent for their business to succeed. Venturing to call center is a serious matter. This is not just spending money and losing it in such a careless way. Better solutions to the concerns of the customers is a way of proving to your clients that they are important.

WHAT IS VoIP?

Let me start first defining VoIP – it is the ability of an IP network to carry telephone voice signals as IP packets in compliance with International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) specification H.323. VoIP enables a router to transmit telephone calls and faxes over the Internet with no loss in functionality, reliability, or voice quality. Another translation of this term is a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls. Voice data is sent in packets using rather than by traditional POTS circuits. One advantage of VoIP is that the telephone calls over the Internet do not incur a surcharge beyond what the user is paying for Internet access, much in the same way that the user doesn’t pay for sending individual e-mails over the Internet.

HOW IT WORKS?

Majority of the telecommunication companies in the Philippines are using VoIP to streamline their networks through routing the phone calls from a circuit switch and into an IP gateway. Once the call is received by a gateway on the other side of the call, it is decompressed, reassembled and routed to a local circuit switch. Today, more and more companies particularly call centers are installing VoIP system. IP telephony just makes sense, in terms of both economics and infrastructure requirements. With VoIP, you can make a call from anywhere you have broadband connectivity. Since the IP phones broadcast their info over the Internet, they can be administered by the provider anywhere there is a connection.

Mr. Rudd, on the other hand, disclosed that his company offers attractive package to any of the interested investors who will venture in a call center. He said that VoIP is one of the backbone for the contact centers industry because it is guaranteed that many software developers believe that this service have a great future in helping the industry survive from any possible changes of the technologies in the future. He stressed that with his predictive dialer, you have to capability to:

Do real time monitoring of your agents Do Outbound, Inbound and Blended campaigns Do predictive, progressive and power dialing Do Remote monitoring Do full and/or on demand recording Do call barging, conference and internal/external call transfer CRM IVR Voicemail Call Conferencing Your own phone extension Your own toll free number for your account

The effect of having quality service increase their sales and no complains from the clients who became his business partners when the company starts to outsource up to now. VoIP will help you save a lot of money particularly in telephoning to the mainland US. The benefits of this service is that international and long distance VoIP charges are much cheaper. Depending on the package or service that you select, you will either get unlimited or a set number of minutes for North America (US & Canada) long distance calling. It simply means, that any international calls are significantly lower from VoIP providers than traditional phone companies, although the differences between the providers are vast.

It is expected that within the next following years this technologies will continue to provide a great impact to the off-shore business in the Philippines and the rest of the world.

By: Roberto Bacasong

VOIP Telephony – The Benefits and Limitations

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:55:57 +0000

Previously we explored the history and technology that gave
rise to VOIP Telephone service (*see footnotes). Today we will examine
some of the benefits and also the drawbacks of this new opportunity.

In previous articles we discovered that traditional “Landline” type
phone service is set up much like a “Toll Highway”. Billing starts
when the “Circuit” is opened, and continues until it is closed.
Just like travelling down a Tollway, the longer you stay on, and the
farther you travel, the more “Toll Booths” you pass through. These
toll booths are the phone company’s switches, and you get charged
for every one that you pass through.

In contrast, VOIP phones use “Packet” switching. As the broadband
Internet connection is always open, digitized voice signals are
sent to the receiver in discrete packets. The result is that no
“dead air” exists on the line, as no traffic is sent when there is
a lull or pause in the conversation. This allows several two-way
conversations to use the same “bandwidth”, or space that previously
was tied up by ONE call.

This has resulted in great economy for VOIP providers who in turn
pass along the savings to the end user. Most top VOIP plans run
around 30 dollars a month, and the best include International calls
to many countries worldwide within that base fee along with a host
of features like Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Three-way
Calling, Online Access, Etc.

While most major traditional carriers have an “all inclusive” plan,
none that I know of include International calling, and most of their
“basic” plans are double the cost of VOIP. In my experience, the most
coveted features are also charged extra for. Add in the taxes and fees,
and all of a sudden you’re talking REAL money!

The other great benefit of VOIP is the ability to take your device
anywhere and make calls just like you were at home. The best services
are fully find-me, follow-me capable. This means that wherever you
happen to be, your phone number will find you and ring at THAT location.
I use mine with a Laptop, a cheap cigarette lighter a/c converter,
a wireless card, and an old “princess” phone in my truck parked outside
of hotspots all the time. That’s huge. You can have your office in
whatever hotel or airport or Starbucks you happen to be in at the moment.

Having covered most of the benefits of VOIP, let’s examine some of
the drawbacks. The major one is spotty 911 service availability. As
the device is portable, any call to 911 will result in emergency
crews being sent to the device’s address of record, which is set up
when you activate the VOIP device and service. Obviously this doesn’t
do you much good if you are in a hotel in Montana but live in Ohio.

One way around this is to change your address with your provider when
you travel, and then change it back when you return home. Of course,
this only works with domestic addresses, and you must remember to do it.

A better way is to ignore the issue entirely, and keep a very basic,
cheap, no frills service plan with your local phone provider. This will
still be cheaper by far than a full blown plan. Also, you avoid the other
main issue with VOIP- Power Outages. If power goes out, or you lose your
Internet Connection, you lose your phone service. Of course, you run
that risk with today’s cordless phones too, so it’s always a good idea
to have an old hardwired phone around the house, or at least a cell
phone available.

By: Glenn Grundberg

VOIP

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:28:48 +0000

VOIP is an innovative and pioneering technique to make and receive telephone calls. It engrosses the transmission of regular phone calls over the Net. In the other way, VOIP is made used in order to send and receive voice through Internet instead of passing voice through the standard telephone network. Voice over Internet Protocol is shortly known as VOIP. The main and essential router of voice conversations for any IP stationed network is Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone, IP telephony and finally Voice over Broadband. Organizations rendering VOIP services are generally pertained as providers. The protocols that are utilized to acquit voice signals over the Internet Protocol network are generally denoted as VOIP protocols. They can be easily reckoned as commercial actualizations of the observational Network Voice Protocol which was contrived for the ARPANET providers.

Functionality

There are certain VOIP functionalities that can alleviate several tasks and which would be difficult to a greater extent to accomplish using traditional networks:

• Inwarding telephone calls could be robotically routed to the VOIP phone, despite where it has been connected to the network. People can receive calls if they take over their VOIP phone at the time of their journey and also they can connect to the cyberspace if they want to surf in the net.

• Disengage telephone numbers for the utility with VOIP are accessible in countries like United States of America, United Kingdom. Few other countries avail it from institutions like VOIP User.

• People working in Call center who make use of VOIP phones can ferment from anyplace with a comfortable and libertine Net connection.

• Quite a number of VOIP service admits PSTN features where maximum telecommunication companies ask for additional charges. Sometimes local companies may not offer services like forwarding calls, caller ID, conference calls and automatic redialing.

VOIP services convert a voice signal into a digital signal that moves over the Internet. If a person trying to call to a veritable phone number, immediately the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal earlier reaching the destination. VOIP can permit the user to create a call directly from a computer or from a special VOIP phone or also through a traditional phone attached to a special adapter.

VOIP Requisites and Technology

• The major magnetism of a VOIP is the capability to minimize the expenditure, as telephone calls pass through over the data network to a certain extent than the phone company network.

• IP communications comprises business appliances which improves the quality of interactions to facilitate several features like integrated contact centers, unified messaging, and robust-media conferencing with voice, video and data.

• IP telephony includes the complete collection of VOIP enabled services together with the interconnection of telephones for interactive services like placarding and phone plans. It also includes some fundamental boasts like transfer, forward, conferencing and hold.

By: Nila Priya

VoIP Guide- Some Guidelines for VoIP

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:19:19 +0000

VoIP refers to voice over Internet Protocol. This latest technology provides voice conversations over Internet or via IP-based network. In VoIP technology, protocols are used to carry voice signals over Internet Protocol network. VoIP is also known as IP Telephony, Internet telephony and Digital Phone.

Nowadays VoIP technology is very popular. People generally like to use this technology because its costs are less than traditional phone. Several large corporations use this IP technology to increase their working area. Everyone is currently familiar with voice chat software. Internet protocol telephony has some additional advantages over traditional phone lines.

VoIP technology enables you talk to several people simultaneously. You can also send some other types of data like files, with the help of VoIP. It offers different services with developing technologies. VoIP enables you to send any type of data at higher speeds of Internet.

Several devices can easily receive IP calls. It doesn’t require hardware but some software programs like Skype are required to install on your computer. Some national companies such as Verizon and AT&T also offers VoIP services. Vonage was the very first company that offered voice over Internet protocol services at reasonable rates.

Due to developing technologies, it is said that VoIP has a great future. It has gained a large number of clients in a short period. Its installation procedure is very simple and anyone can easily handle it with a little knowledge.

By: Sardool Sikandar

VOIP Phones – An Affordable Broadband Communication Technology

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:12:18 +0000

Cordless VOIP phones have become increasingly popular because they afford the caller a bargain-priced way to communicate. Unlike conventional international and long distance telephone calls where you pay quite high charges per second, the VOIP call will only cost you accordant with what you pay for your internet access. So if you have flat rate monthly internet billing, then you can make as many calls including interstate locations as much as you want without being billed for any further costs.

Cordless Skype telephones give the user extra leverage when it comes to communication due to the fact that the same high speed internet service that is used for voice signals may also be used for other data transfers such as web browsing. With Voice-Over-IP Phones, you are able to do away with numerous bundles of telephone wires and the resultant holes through ceilings.

There are primarily three means to connect a wireless VOIP phone. The most common method of connection is through the use of a regular VOIP phone – this could even be simply a run of the mill mobile telephone handset with VOIP capability – meaning it is able to transmit over the web in lieu of the normal telephone system. They also make VOIP phones via alteration of a normal telephone. In this instance you’ll need an adaptor so that the regular phone can be made to transmit digital audio signals via the net. A third type is the soft phone. In this example you’ll use your computer speaker and headset as the phone. The pc will also have a program that will enable you to transmit the resulting digital audio signals over the internet.

It is extremely critical to use a high speed ethernet connection for your VOIP Phone. A low speed web connection will cause your connections to break very often, resulting in inferior voice quality. If you are buying a usb VOIP Phone from a shop, ensure that you have access to fire and emergency services such as 911.

There are many things to think about if you are using a wifi skype telephone. You’ll need to consider the communications standards that the phone offers. You will also have to determine if your wireless and Web connections are able to support them. Again, you’ll have to look into whether it comes with features like conferencing so you are able to talk to more than 1 people at a time. It might be practical to get a wireless Voice-Over-IP Phone with a LCD or LED screen so you are able to place calls or otherwise make use of the phone in dimly lit areas. You’ll need to find out what standards employed by the Voice-Over-IP are directly supported by your computer. This is vitally critical if you are using an adaptor to make the telephone work. You’ll also need to figure out this specification if you plan to use a Voice-Over-IP Phone handset.

Wireless Skype phones provide a very cheap way to communicate with family. You’ll spend much less money to talk interstate or overseas.

By: Kyle Zoltowski

Introduction to VoIP Technology

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:37:07 +0000

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