Voice over Internet Protocol (Voice over IP, VoIP) is any of a family of methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms frequently encountered and often used synonymously with VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, and broadband phone.
Internet telephony refers to communications services — voice, fax, SMS, and/or voice-messaging applications — that are transported via the Internet, rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The steps involved in originating a VoIP telephone call are signaling and media channel setup, digitization of the analog voice signal, encoding, packetization, and transmission as Internet Protocol (IP) packets over a packet-switched network. On the receiving side similar steps reproduce the original voice stream.
Business VoIP systems employ session control protocols to control the set-up and tear-down of calls as well as audio codes which encode speech allowing transmission over an IP network as digital audio via an audio stream. The codec used is varied between different implementations of VoIP (and often a range of codes are used); some implementations rely on narrowband and compressed speech, while others support high fidelity stereo codes.
Voice over IP has been implemented in various ways using open protocols and standards. Examples of technologies used to implement Voice over IP include:
• IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
• Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP)
• Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
• Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP)
• Session Description Protocol (SDP)
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Here are some words that come to mind when thinking of VoIP technology:
1. Cheaper: Primarily because it uses Internet technology, VoIP is much cheaper than traditional phone service. Long-distance calling is usually unlimited with most Voip calling plans. The savings are most evident when it comes to international calling, which end up costing only a few cents per minute.
2. Feature-rich: VoIP phone systems easily integrate different features into your service, usually at no extra cost. Examples of great features supported by VoIP phones are caller ID, voicemail, auto attendants, and call conferencing.
3. Flexible: With VoIP for businesses, adding and changing things are usually easy. Adding or replacing a user can even is done in just a few minutes, online.
4. Scalability: All-in-one - Voip business solutions can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. Some VoIP providers are able to offer all-in-one solutions that integrate phone, email, instant messaging, faxing, and call conferencing into one service. This is commonly referred to as unified communications.
