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VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and is the process of placing a voice call over the Internet using Internet Protocol (IP) Packets. Packets are bits of data that are passed, or routed, from node to node, until they are received by the final digital device (node). The final Node then turns the packet of information back into an analog voice stream that can be heard over a regular telephone.
While both types of phone service, VoIP and Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), rely on switching the telephone call through the quickest connection. The POTS telephone call creates a static, dedicated connection, traveling over the same exact route in both directions. This connection stays open until the callers break the connection. The packet switched phone call over the VoIP system actually contains the complete destination address of where it is going, and each packet can take different routes and different amounts of time to reach their destination.
To make a VoIP telephone call, the user has to have two things, a high-speed Internet connection (256kbs or higher) and a broadband telephone adapter. The telephone adapter plugs into the users existing system, either directly into the modem, or into a router. Many of the new broadband phone adapters have a router built into them, so that the user just plugs it directly into their high-speed modem and they can then plug their computer or router into the broadband phone adapter.
In most situations, it is best to have the router built into the broadband phone adaptor, so that if the user is making a telephone call and on the computer at the same time, the router knows to give most of the bandwidth to the phone call, thereby reduce lag time and the frequency of dropped calls. While the new VoIP phone systems are a hundred times better that the ones seen just two or three years ago, they can still drop calls when confronted with a slowdown in the network between the caller and the person receiving the call.
So, while the new VoIP can save the average user a lot of money, VoIP telephone service is still only practical for home and small business users, since the stability isn’t there that is required by large business ventures. Anyone who is thinking of switching to VoIP should remember that anytime their Internet service goes down, so does their phone service.
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