VoIP Basics

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology that makes it possible to have phone conversations over the Internet instead of standard (or traditional) phone lines. Take instant messaging for instance, you continuously send packets of text (data) to the person you are chatting with. VoIP uses the same concept: Your voice can be compressed into voice data packets and sent over the network.

Since VoIP functionality is software-based, its advantages over traditional telephony include:

• Lower costs per call, especially for long-distance and international calls.
• Lower setup costs: once your network as been set up, you have both voice and data.
• New advanced features such as conference calling, multiple location ringing, and voice-mail e-mails.
• Improvements can be easily implemented without requiring additional hardware.

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