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VOIP
Voice over Internet Protocol. The technology used to
transmit voice conversations over a data network using the
Internet Protocol.
Such data network may be the Internet or a corporate
Intranet.
VoIP is a popular buzzword these days. It stands for voice
over IP (internet protocol), and it might just be the way
you'll be talking over the phone in the near future. Why are
so many people are excited by this technology? You avoid
most of the costs that come with a traditional phone line,
at least at this point of the game.
That's a savings of hundreds, or even thousands of dollars
for some people. Most of the primary entities who are
interested in this technology are large corporations, but it
can be significant even for the homemaker.
Anyone who has used voice chat software is familiar with the
latency issues that proliferate with any sort of data
transfer involving the Internet; VoIP addresses the latency
issue using RTP, or real time protocol. This protocol
ensures that packets arrive in a timely manner.
Voice over IP features some additional advantages including:
• you can talk to many people at once
• ability to send other types of data other than voice (such
as files)
• innovations in data transfer and Internet speeds come
about, it can only get better.
There are a variety of devices that can take VoIP calls.
Some aren't even hardware at all, but software programs you
can install on your computer.
Traditional telephone networks are seeing the advantages in
offering VoIP services as well, with such national companies
as Verizon and AT&T jumping on the VoIP bandwagon. Vonage
was one of the first widely known companies to offer VoIP
services, and is priced competitively with newcomers to the
market.
The VoIP market is predicted to expand rapidly, with
predicted numbers rising into the millions in just a few
years. The installation procedure for the gadgets required
to take these calls is often simple, and can be done with
little hassle. If you use a router or other device that can
potentially mask or block your IP address, you may have to
do a bit more finagling to get it to work.
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