VoIP

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a way to make phone calls using the internet instead of a landline. You can make calls to and receive calls from other VoIP users, mobile phones, and ordinary landlines. The integration between conventional telephone or ISDN lines is undetectable to callers.

Just like a modem, converting a digital signal into analogue for transmission over a phone line. A VoIP phone converts sound into digital packets (using SIP protocol) making it suitable for transmission over the internet. If you make a call to another VoIP phone, the opposite process happens at the other end. If you make a call to a mobile or landline, your VoIP providers gateway decodes the call and sends it on as an ordinary voice call to the telephone exchange (PSTN).

User A dials the number for user B. The VoIP phone logs onto the router/server, which looks up the destination and sets up the call. Thereafter, the voice traffic passes directly over the internet between A and B.

When A calls B, who has a conventional landline or mobile, the VoIP phone logs on as before. The router/server looks up the destination and finds it is a PSTN (standard) number. The call is routed via the providers PSTN gateway into the PSTN network as a normal call. Thereafter, traffic passes directly via the gateway.

Small to medium-sized businesses with several employees, especially those with distributed offices and teleworkers, are likely to get the maximum benefit from VoIP. It cuts your business telephony cost; all calls to other VoIP phone users are free and other calls are usually competitively priced.

You can configure the system to give whatever impression you want to customers. If you have associates or employees in other areas of the UK or even abroad, you can give them all extensions on the same number, or their own numbers with the same area code as your head office. No one knows whether you have 'REAL' office or a virtual one.

1. A VoIP enabled telephone: This can be an all-in-one handset, or a normal handset plugged into an adaptor, or a softphone: a computer program that uses a microphone and headphones attached to your computer to emulate a real handset. A good solution is an adaptor, which allows you to connect one or two handsets, and has the advantage that you can connect other analogue devices like fax machines. It also has a number of useful inbuilt functions, including call waiting, caller ID, and call back if busy.

2. An internet connection: A leased line or ADSL/cable broadband is ideal; dial-up (ISDN or ordinary telephone line) or a satellite internet connection will likely cause a reduction in sound quality and speed. A standard 256Kb ADSL connection can accommodate 2-3 simultaneous calls; if you expect to need more frequently, you can upgrade to a higher-bandwidth package.

3. An account with a VoIP service provider: This gives you a VoIP external number which is what other people dial to call you.