What is VoIP?

What is VoIP? It is "Voice over Internet Protocol". The VoIP enables the carrying of Telephonic speeches or audio over an Internet Protocol. For this purpose Data Compression techniques are used. The data transmission takes place over Packet-Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN).The VoIP is also commonly referred to as Internet Telephony or Broadband Telephony. The main goal of this service is to provide transparent communication throughout the world.

It all began with the development of Software called the VocalTec which provided the first VoIP in 1980's with some added features like Caller-ID and Voicemail. The year 2000 saw the shaping up of Soft-switch which overcame the shortcomings of its predecessor. This switch connects one phone line to another by means of computer software.

So, what is its functionality? It minimizes the existence of duplicate networks and reduces the communication and infrastructure costs. It permits the end-users to have more than one telephone line and allows conference-calls, call-forwarding, automatic redialing and much more. The most important functionality is that it is Location-Independent and thus VoIP can be activated if one has an Internet connection. The VoIP is advantageous over the existing systems as it can be easily integrated with other services which are available in the Internet. It also has the ability to accommodate more than one phone call in the same broadband spectrum.

Despite its advantages the VoIP is highly unreliable and insecure in more than one way. Since the IP's are connected to routers which depend on the local electricity, the system will not work in the event of Total black-out. The second one is the VoIP cannot accommodate MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and LNP(Local Number Portability). The inefficiency of this service to place Emergency calls is rated high in its disadvantages list. The next in the pipeline is its security. VoIP is yet to support Encryption Techniques. This makes it easy to tamper with the data (speech) being transmitted. Thus it paves the way for hackers to attack any user in the network resulting in DoS (Denial of Service).

But, these disadvantages can be overcome by usage of advanced technology and data compression techniques which would improve the security and reliability quotient of the VoIP. Once the security and other factors are looked into, the VoIP would be made accessible to all end-users. VoIP is the next big thing that is going to happen in the coming years.