What is VOIP?

VoIP stands for (Voice Over Internet Protocol) in which we can make calls using the internet instead of the local telephone company. 

Before VoIP was developed, legacy phone systems carry voice signals using analog phone lines which required a lot of circuit wiring to make and receive the phone calls. Callers communicated using the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or we can say landlines.

VoIP is used to convert the analog signal into a digital signal by sending these signals as data packets over the internet by compressing them.

In other words, instead of using a traditional phone or other types of mobile networks, you can now connect with anyone using an internet connection such as a personal laptop, smartphone, tablet, and computer. VoIP is also referred to as IP telephony. It uses RTP (real-time protocol) to ensure that these packets get delivered on time.

Nowadays, the demand for VoIP is increasing day by day and is becoming the golden era for modern corporate communications. It was introduced in 1995 and has become the more reliable and stable broadband and became the best solution for many businesses when upgrading their phone systems. As the customer’s demands are increasing and 62% of the customers prefer phone calls over other methods of communication and they expect you to be fast, VoIP is the best solution for any business in order to increase sales or to expand your business, VoIP can connect you to team members and clients with lower costs and best functionality. It changed the way to communicate and helped many businesses to speed up their sales calls.

VoIP is often confused with the SIP which stands for session initiation protocol (SIP). The main purpose of the SIP is to initiate a session between 2 or more people. Each person who owns the SIP address is known as a SIP client.

How Does It Work?

VoIP works using some protocols like SIP which enables the VoIP. It is a protocol used for VoIP calls and other multimedia sessions such as videos and chats.

SIP trunking is based on the SIP protocol which is basically a virtual service that is established using internet connections and is provided by the ITSP which stands for (Internet Telephony Service Providers).

Working on VoIP calls in simple steps:

• When a caller dials a number, the call is passed from the device to a router.
• The router passes the call to the internet where it reaches a VoIP phone service server.
• Then the call is transmitted using the local internet to the receiver’s router.
• Finally, the call is then connected to the receiver’s IP device.

Whenever the individual uses VoIP to make phone calls over the internet, the user’s voice gets encoded into digital data and this digital data gets decoded into voice signals at the other end of the call. this process is also called codecs. In order to transmit it faster, the data gets compressed with the help of the codecs, and the call quality is better.

In-country like Australia, The PSTN is almost getting to an end and being replaced by the NBN. That means the VoIP is going to be the main communications protocol.

To use VoIP service you will need VoIP devices like ATD, IP Phones, and Softphones. 

ATD (Analogue Telephone Device) is an adapter that allows users to use VoIP service using the analog telephone. It creates a connection between the phone and the internet service.

IP Phones are like a normal landline telephone but are built for VoIP. It uses an RJ45 ethernet cable to connect the router. And you don’t need an ATA if you have IP handsets.

Softphones is a software that uses VoIP service on the computer. Skype, WhatsApp, and Facebook are such examples that use interfaces in order to make a call.