What is VoIP?

Voice over IP is the ability of an IP network to carry telephone voice signals as IP packets in compliance with International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) specification H.323. VoIP enables a router to transmit telephone calls and faxes over the Internet with no loss in functionality, reliability, or voice quality.

Other Benefits of VoIP

Long distance service is another benefit of VoIP. There is not a separate charge for long distance calling with VoIP. Most of the time your local phone company doesn’t offer long distance calling without extra cost. With VoIP you usually get unlimited long distance calling with your service.

Along with the long distance benefit of VoIP you also get call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, and a lot more. With VoIP you even have the benefit of virtual phone numbers. This means that some companies offer you the ability to add phone numbers for any area code you want. For instance, say most of your family lives in a different state than you do. You can set up a virtual phone number with their area code. This way you save them the cost of a long distance call. Also with some VoIP phone companies if you call someone who has the same service the call is free.

By far the biggest benefit of VoIP is the cost. Because VoIP works over the top of your High Speed Internet connection and not through regular telephone lines there is no high cost for phone service. It’s kind of like sending and email only it’s audio and you use your telephone. Your voice is converted to digital information and sent in small packets over the Internet, then converted back to audio on the receiver side. Because of this technology VoIP companies are able to offer you telephone service for a lot less than the local phone company.