Background Information Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or Internet Telephony refers to communication technologies involved in transmitting voice and multimedia communications over data networks and the Internet. VoIP provides more features, easier management and less expensive cost of office communications by leveraging VoIP-specific hardware and IP-based service providers.

IP telephony also includes a variety of communication applications -- voice, fax, SMS, and/or voice-messaging applications -- that are transported through the Internet rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Efficient and Affordable for Small Business

Because of the bandwidth efficiency and low costs that VoIP technology can provide, businesses are migrating away from traditional analog telephone systems to take advantage of the efficiencies and lower cost of VoIP.

VoIP solutions aimed at businesses have evolved into unified communications services that treat all communications—phone calls, faxes, voice mail, e-mail, Web conferences and more—as discrete units that can all be delivered via any means and to any handset, including cellphones.  Two kinds of competitors are competing in this space: one set is focused on VoIP for medium to large enterprises, while another is targeting the small-to-medium business market.

VoIP allows both voice and data communications to be run over a single network, which can significantly reduce infrastructure costs.  VoIP devices have simple, intuitive user interfaces, so users can often make simple system configuration changes.

IP telephones, such as the new models from RCA, are designed to operate like traditional telephones but instead of using the standard RJ-11 analog connection, IP phones use standard RJ-45 Ethernet cables such as Cat-5E to connect to the same data network as PCs. And while IP telephony can be used in an ad-hoc set-up, an integrated approach with VoIP hardware and hosted services will maximize VoIP's benefits.

How VoIP Works

According to HowStuffWorks.com’s Robert Valdes and Dave Roos, 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 (usually in the reverse order) such as reception of the IP packets, decoding of the packets and digital-to-analog conversion reproduce the original voice stream.

Early providers of Voice over IP services offered business models (and technical solutions) that mirrored the architecture of the legacy telephone network. 

Second generation providers have built closed networks for private user bases, offering the benefit of free calls and convenience, while denying their users the ability to call out to other networks. This has severely limited the ability of users to mix-and-match third-party hardware and software.

Third generation providers, who provide services compatible with the new RCA IP telephone products, have adopted a more universal approach that allow arbitrary and dynamic interconnection between any two domains on the Internet whenever a user wishes to place a call.

Today’s full-service VoIP phone companies provide inbound and outbound services.  Many offer unlimited domestic calling for a flat monthly subscription fee.  This sometimes includes international calls to certain countries.  Phone calls between subscribers of the same provider are usually free when flat-fee service is not available A VoIP phone is necessary to connect to a VoIP service provider. 

Rev. Fall 2012

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