What Is VOIP And How It Works

What is VoIP? VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and is a technology that is continuing to grow in the telecommunications market. VoIP is a telecommunications service that allows you to talk and transmit audio over the internet and surfaced in the mid 90's. VoIP uses a type of network that is called packet switching; a standard telephone system uses circuit switching which is a much more expensive. So if you want to talk for a cheaper price than VoIP is the way to go.

Normally with VoIP you will still make calls by using a handset that is connected to your computer, however in the 90's many companies decided to introduce free VoIP which allowed you through your computer with very simple controls talk to people over your computer screen for free, these day however most of these companies have been forced to charge a small charge to use their service. Nevertheless there are still services out there which you can still use for free, some of these include – MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and many many more. Many of these programs are referred to as instant messaging and allow you to call from PC to PC and make calls with 2 or more people.

Programs like this are a great was to talk to friends and family for as long as you want anywhere around the world for free, it is so easy to use and we will begin to see a large amount of our population becoming apart of this community. All you need to make these free VoIP services work is have a PC, the program installed, speakers and a microphone, after this you will be set to go with your VoIP and you will be able to talk for free to anyone around the world. It is however important to note that although you will be able to talk from PC to PC with these free VoIP services you will not be able to make PC to phone calls with them, to do this you will have to look at companies that provide you with a full system and charge you a small cost.

The best thing about VoIP however is its price. The price of it is so much cheaper than conventional telecommunications that you will be able to save a large chunk on your phone bill. Most companies that charge for VoIP will not only be able to provide you with discounted local calls, they will be able to provide you with cheap international and long distant calls. If you are looking to switch over to VoIP from a conventional telephone than I will just recommend one thing, go for a service that is going to provide you with all the required hardware and handsets and a service that is reliable and stable. Lastly one of the other great things of VoIP is that if you have it installed on a laptop you are able to take it with you anywhere within the world and still make calls using the same number and ID. VoIP is an excellent service that can provide you with a lot of saving and for you that means some extra money into your pocket.

A Brief History of Video Over IP

Video over IP has an interesting history and it is interesting to learn a little bit about what IP video really is. Basically, video over IP simply refers to the way Internet Protocol, also known as IP, is used to send video and audio. This is simply the step that followed video and audio being delivered over WAN or wide area networks.

Over the years telephony technology has been developed and all of these developments have worked to allow video over IP to exist. Basically, a technology was discovered for use with the phone companies and it was called ATM or asynchronous transfer mode. This was used to for transmitting and switching digital voice date. With the information age it was important to have a type of technology that allowed for moving large amounts of data. The ATM system worked well but as computers and the Internet evolved IP took its place. This was a big decision because changing core networks is no easy or cheap job, but it was a worthwhile one. Telephone companies realized they could save a lot of money by moving voice traffic over IP since all of their data was already transported that way. This decision forced the hand of broadcasters to make the same decision and switch to IP for video transmission. However, lots of research was needed on how to transfer video over IP and a lot of analyses was conducted. Soon, both audio and video were sent over IP and the ATM system was put to rest. Today IP is the best method of sending conference over IP video to homes, businesses, or other computes.

It really is interesting that video over IP could have gotten its start from telephone companies and their changing technologies. However, this is exactly what happened. It truly is interesting to see one thing lead to another as far as technology is concerned and to see how different technologies play on one another. ATM was the best way to send video and audio for some time, but things changed and IP came in and took its place. Who knows if things will change again, but looking back at history it is not entirely crazy to think it will since the only thing constant is change! And that is the basic history of how video over IP came to be. It took a lot of building on old and different technology, but video over IP was born.