What are VoIP Phones?

In simple terms, VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol and if you remove protocol from this abbreviation, it is very simple to understand, it says voice over internet which means this application provides verbal communication over internet just like common cell phones and landline phones but it is getting very popular because of low cost bills and free of cost calls.

Around thirty years ago, Internet did not exist and all communication was conducted through telephone systems via the PSTN (public-switched telephone network) but now and, technological advancement has given birth to new gadgets and technologies which are quite useful to all of us and made us think to create new communication technologies for examples personal computers, mobile phones, and finally the Internet.

Today, we are seeing a big revolution in the field of communication where everyone is using computers and internet at the workplace and after business hours when there is free time, people communicate with others to exchange personal and professional data and sometimes to talk with more people at a time using applications like IP phone (Internet Phone) or NetMeeting and now with the advent of new communication technologies, we have started using real-time communication via PC and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol).

With Voice Over Internet Protocol, anyone can make phone calls over the Internet. Some years back when VoIP started, people thought that IP telephony is just like a toy because the voice quality was poor as it was obtained via the Internet but now the time has changed and conversation done using VoIP has better voice clarity. For example, if your organization has a data network that has enough bandwidth, you could consider using this network for voice traffic. The most important factor or advantage gained by using VoIP system is cost saving of communications, because many calls between the various delegations of the company would go free of cost.

Actually the integration of data and voice via one network is an old idea but now more solutions have emerged from different manufacturers using multiplexers that allow the use of WAN data of companies for the transmission of voice traffic. It is really important to consider that the voice packet is different from the data packet and therefore it can be easily transported via a network that would normally be reserved for transmission of data, where costs are often on the lower side.

The latest emergence of VoIP along with lowering of digital signal processors or DSP's, which serve as key factors in the decompression and compression of voice, are elements, which have made possible the launch of this new technology.

IP telephony combines of 2 historically separate worlds, the transmission of data and voice. These carry data and voice previously converted between two distant points. This allows use of data networks to make phone calls and VoIP is one step further which is a single converged network that is responsible for all communication, whether it is data, voice, video, or any other type of information.

The voice over IP is not itself a service but it is a technology that allows voice to encapsulate in packets to be transported over data networks erasing the need for traditional circuit-switched PSTN lines. PSTN networks were developed to transmit voice conversations based on the concept of circuit switching or in much more simple words making a communication which requires establishment of a physical circuit as long as it lasts which in other words means that resources which are involved in the making a conversation or call cannot be used on another call until the first call is finished.

According to this, there are many advantages and features provided by VoIP and nowadays it’s service, quality, and speed is higher, but there are also one great disadvantage of security threat and it is also not possible to determine length of packet within the network until it reaches its destination and there is also a possibility of packet loss as IP protocol does not have a type of tool to retrieve the lost packet.