IP Telephony

IP TelephonySuch device as a telephone, invented, by the way, not so long ago, became a part of our lives and displaced almost all previously existing forms of communication. Now we can't imagine our life without telephone communication... The Internet appeared which later caused to appear such type of communication as IP telephony. What is it, and do we actually need it? IP telephony is a technology that connects the two completely different worlds - the world of telephony and the world of the Internet. Until recently, circuit-switched networks (telephone network) and packet-switched networks (IP-networks) existed almost independently of each other, and were used for different purposes. Telephone networks were used only for voice transmission, and IP-based networks - for data transmission. The IP-telephony technology integrates these networks.How does it work?To convert digital voice data from the traditional telephone network to the Internet, it was necessary to create a device that would allow you to move from circuit switching to packet switching - so there came the devices known as "voice gateways". Their use allowed us to bring telephone conversations to the Internet, transmit them over long distances and receive them anywhere in the globe in the regular telephone network. What are the advantages of this technology? The IP-telephony technology, often called VoIP (Voice-over-IP), performs tasks and provides solutions, which would be more difficult, or more expensive, to perform using the conventional circuit-switched technology.For example, there is a possibility to transmit more than one telephone call within a high-speed telephone connection. Therefore, the VoIP technology is used as a simple way to add an extra phone line at home or at the office. Such services as conferencing, call forwarding, automatic redial, Caller ID, are provided free of charge, or almost free of charge, whereas traditional telecommunications companies usually charge for them. Safe calls protected from wire-tapping are available via VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt the data packets. They are located independently which is also a huge plus. You only need an Internet connection to connect to a VoIP provider. For example, call center operators using VoIP phones can work from any location where there is an effective, fast and stable Internet connection. The technology can be integrated with other Internet types of communication including video calls, messaging and data transmission during a call, audio conferences, address book management, and the information whether other subscribers are available for call. The fact that a phone call is in the same data network as a PC user opens the door to many new opportunities. IP-telephony technologies are widely used by millions of users, one of the examples is the program Skype which allows for telephone calls over the Internet between computers, a well as between a computer and a phone, regardless of their location on the globe. Thus, we can say that VoIP is the future of telephony, a cheap, convenient, safe and fairly reliable system even today.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• communication
• data transfer
• PC
• phone