An Introduction to Voice Over IP (VoIP)

Published on: 28 June 2018 Last Updated on: 31 October 2024
Voice Over IP

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a new technology that enables users to make voice or telephone calls through a broadband connection as opposed to the traditional phone line. VoIP services can vary as some of them only allow the user to call people on the same service, but you will also find many VoIP services that allow users to call telephone numbers across the world.

This technology has revolutionized the way people communicate and has been a major boost to businesses.

How VoIP works?

How VoIP works

In order for the calls to be successful, VoIP uses signals through a digital network, which routes communication across the internet or intranet. A signal is received through the VoIP system then coded to conform to internet protocols. This process uses two coding standards namely Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and H.323.

The H.323 platform was developed some years ago and was purposed for video conferencing through ISDN telephone lines. It is considered outdated and requires more overhead costs, lacks modern features, and might not allow the flexibility you would enjoy with SIP.

On the other hand, SIP includes an end-to-end server/client session signaling protocol, which is less complicated. Its programming is easier and it provides all the features that are required to enable VoIP communications to go through smoothly. It is a more reliable solution for voice communication. However, with the development of VoIP, there are few technical issues that have to be addressed including security, which is threatened by wiretapping and other vulnerabilities.

Security may not be an issue if you are a small business with no sensitive data transferred over calls, but major players have to invest in additional features to prevent data leaking. The first step to security is ensuring a sound IP network connection.

Accessibility :

One of the reasons VoIP has become a major breakthrough is the fact it can be implemented much easier. You don’t need special equipment to use the service. As long as you have a PC and a webcam, you can use VoIP to communicate over calls, which include video calls.

You can find different VoIP services that provide low rates and free services for client-to-client calling. The technology relies on existing infrastructure and does not demand additional costs to set up the functionality. This is the kind of technology used by Skype and other video calling services out there. Most of them have mobile apps that you can use on your smartphone to make calls for free.

The VoIP trend :

This is a relatively new technology that has managed to attain widespread acceptance and application. Although there’s still more improvement to come, it has been instrumental in supporting businesses and enterprises that require to make calls to clients without spending a lot. It is poised to replace the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS). To help you understand how it could be beneficial to both businesses and individuals, below are some of its advantages that you could tap into.

Advantages of VoIP :

Advantages of VoIP

VoIP was introduced to offer access to voice communication, but it has grown and you can now do video calls over the internet. It is accessible across the world and you can easily reach users at any time of the day for free or for a small fee.

If you are wondering how VoIP can benefit small business owners, there are many things the technology allows businesses to enjoy. Below are some of those benefits:

Save money :

If you are using the old phone line, each minute you speak costs money. You pay to use the service and when you don’t have the money you cannot communicate.

However, VoIP takes away this cost as you need the internet to connect with users, and international calls are free unlike in the case of a packet-switched telephone network. This allows you to make business calls without the worry of additional overhead.

More than voice :

Another advantage of VoIP is that since it uses an Internet Protocol (IP), the technology allows you to share other media apart from voice. You are able to share images, videos, or text along with the voice. You can easily speak as you also send files and if both of you have a webcam, you could chat over a video call. This is a good step in business that enables the transfer of data at no cost quickly.

Does VoIP work when it comes to RinglessVoicemail:

There are many products and software in the industry when it comes to scanning, identifying, and blocking ringless voicemails. However, the effectiveness of ringless voicemail as a form of service is dependent on the features that the VoIP offers. Not all VoIP packages will help you when it comes to ringless voicemails. Banks, financial institutions, and automobile dealerships use these. Even though they offer businesses great marketing and selling advantages, they might have certain disadvantages as well.

Useful features available :

Using VoIP also allows you to benefit from its features, which can improve your experience. It could support your business and make communication better. For example, depending on the software you are using, you can access extra-virtual numbers, Voicemail, Contact Lists, and Caller ID, and you are able to make calls from anywhere in the world as long as you can access the internet.

The development of VoIP has come as a major breakthrough in the way people communicate. This is a technology that relies on the internet to transmit calls. It has been especially pivotal in supporting business communications as you can use the service anywhere at no cost. The service gives useful features and could be used to share media like photos and videos.

Read Also :

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Metrology Tools

How Portable Metrology Tools Are Making Manufacturers More Flexible

So far, the 21st century has proven to be a period of intense change and rapid development in the world of manufacturing. As new technology has driven automation and given birth to Industry 4.0, North American manufacturing has become more financially viable, and a growing number of firms are taking advantage of the economic and political climate to re-imagine their supply lines and production models. Different Metrology Tools can work well for you. One area where this has had a particularly significant impact is in the tools and machinery manufacturers are using to meet their production needs.Metrology Tools can make things easier for you. For example, in order to find more flexible solutions to issues like quality assurance, many firms are turning to new tools like portable CMM equipment that help ensure their products meet the highest standards of quality, but which are versatile enough to serve a variety of different functions. Portable CMMs have quickly become one of the most popular metrology tools on the market, and are frequently used both to supplement more traditional, stationary CMM models like gantry or bridge CMMs, and as a replacement for them. Portable CMMs like ROMER Arms and laser scanners can offer a helpful supplement to standard manual-probe CMMs in part because they gather data much more quickly, which allows technicians to get quick, accurate measurements on parts that are still being produced for quality control purposes. But portable CMMs are also being put to other uses. In particular, portable CMMs have proven to reliable and useful tools for managing a wide range of metrology-related tasks, such as measuring existing parts to create CAD blueprints that can be used to reverse-engineer these parts. These functions have made portable CMMs indispensible for manufacturing companies who are exploring new products and building prototypes. At this vital stage, it is often necessary for designers to make manual changes to parts, and with portable CMMs, re-translating the new prototypes into CAD is easy. Because ROMER Arms, laser scanners, and white light scanners are mobile, they have become an indispensible way of gathering data from parts and products being built and designed off-site (in some cases, they are even seeing use in the construction industry, as a way of gathering precise, accurate data about structures that are still in the process of being built). The next six years are set to be a turbulent time in the manufacturing industry, and portable CMMs are precisely the kind of tool manufacturing businesses will need to adopt if they want to weather the uncertainty to come. While President Trump’s administration claims to be re-building the American manufacturing industry by bringing more manufacturing jobs back into North America, it is not yet clear what effect his much-vaunted tariffs will have. And with another presidential election only two years away, the industry may well see more upsets and sudden policy swings in the years to come. One thing is clear in all of this: the biggest winners will be those firms that are able to respond to the uncertainty of the times by becoming more flexible, versatile, and efficient. Read Also: 5 Ways Construction Businesses Can Gain New Clients Construction Plans In Australia

READ MOREDetails
Oracle

Oracle & The Cloud: A Dream Team

What is Cloud Computing? Cloud computing provides on-demand availability of data storage, computing power, and other system resources that are not located on the user’s computer. There are many benefits to offloading these previously local resources and tasks. Customers of cloud computing move the responsibility for managing applications, storage, and computing power offsite to providers like Oracle, Microsoft, and Amazon. The cloud offers organizations and companies of any size, access to powerful data centers without the overhead. Customers now have cost-efficient ways to access the latest technology, application software, and unlimited storage without a dedicated data center or large IT department. Click here to find an Oracle consultant. Types of Cloud Computing: Based on the organizations business requirements, companies can choose from three broad types of cloud services: public, private, and hybrid. The difference between them is primarily the amount of management time required by the customer and the level of security provided. Public Cloud: Public clouds are owned and operated by cloud service providers that deliver their services over the internet. Customers are free from maintaining their own computers reducing or even eliminating their existing IT department. Private Cloud: A private cloud is exclusive to a single business or organization. It can be physically located at the company or the cloud provider’s data center. Private clouds are maintained on private networks and provide the highest level of security and control. Hybrid Cloud: By combining public and private clouds, data and applications can move between the two providing greater flexibility, security, and more options to optimize the company’s existing infrastructure. The decision to use a hybrid cloud rather than a public or private cloud comes down to the services needed by the organization. Cloud Services: There are four broad categories of cloud services available: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and serverless. Companies need to decide on the services they require and how much time they have to manage those services. Generally, the more an organization offloads to the cloud service provider, the less they have to manage themselves. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)With Oracle: Infrastructure as a Service is the most basic type of cloud computing. It is an on-demand, pay-as-you-go model that provides compute, storage, and network capacity in the cloud. Subscribers are responsible for installing and maintaining any software on the cloud such as databases and application software. Platform as a service (PaaS): Platform as a Service provides an on-demand environment for developing, testing, and delivering, mobile and web applications without investing in or maintaining the underlying servers. The customer accesses the services via a web browser. Software as a service (SaaS): Software as a Service allows software applications to be delivered over the Internet, on-demand and typically on a subscription basis. The cloud service provider handles software updates and security patching, reducing in-house IT resources. Cloud Computing Service Providers: With the growing adoption of cloud-based services and technology, comes an ever-expanding field of players including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Oracle offers a complete suite of integrated business applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Human Resources, along with their cloud-based services. Microsoft and Oracle recently announced a partnership designed to give customers the best of what both companies have to offer. Oracle is the leading database and enterprise applications vendor in the world and Microsoft Azure is the second-largest cloud vendor in the world. Customers can migrate their entire existing suite of applications to either or both cloud providers as needed without having to re-architect anything. The cloud brings many advantages to organizations, allowing businesses to outsource expensive hosting, security, and storage costs. The growing need for companies to take advantage of the latest technology without the expense of a dedicated data center or even an IT department is a game-changer. Read Also: Cloud Hosting: Top Five Reasons To Take Your Business To The Cloud

READ MOREDetails
unzipping

Ways of Unzipping Files on Mac

There are several low-cost and third-party compression apps that you can use on your Mac device. This operating system comes with inbuilt compression systems that you can use to unzip and zip files. The inbuilt system is primary, which is the reason why many apps are available in the market. When you look in the store, you will realize over fifty applications that will show you ways of unzipping and zipping files. Below are ways and instructions that will direct you on decompressing and compressing folders and files using zipping tools that come with the Mac operating system. The device is basic, and it gets your job done. The OS X Compression Application: When you have this app, it will be secure when you are pondering on how to unzip files on mac the easy way since it comes from the Set app. It also comes with possibilities of modifying the data. There is no need of wasting time looking for it in the apps folder because it is not there. The app is not readily visible because it is a primary service of the operating system. App developers and apple can employ core services for purposes of enhancing the capabilities of an application. For instance, Mac Mail employs this service to decompress and compress attachments; and Safari uses it to decompress downloaded files. The utility of archives has several settings that you can modify, and you can make changes after some time. As at now, it is better to keep using this utility the way is configured in the default state because it is possible to try new settings later. This utility may not be visible, but it is not to mean that you cannot access the services. Apple makes unzipping and zipping folders and files very easy by allowing the finder to get utilize the utility archive app. Zipping a file: The first step when you are learning how to unzip files on mac the easy way from the settings app is by knowing the procedure of zipping. When you are zipping a file or folder, you begin by opening the finder window and then navigate to the folder or file that you want to zip. You will then have to press control-click if you have the mouse with this capability on the file and then choose compress from the menu. The item’s name will show up after the term compress so that the ideal menu item will compress “item name.” Unzipping a File: How to unzip files on mac the easy way from Setapp has never been easier. Double-click a zip-file and the folder or file will become decompressed in the same folder as the compressed file. If the compressed file contains one file, the decompressed item will have a similar name as the primary file. In case the file has the same name as an existing name in the folder, the file undergoing decompression will have the number appended to the name. For files with multiple items: When the zip file contains several items, the files that undergo unzipping will then get stored in the folder that has a name that is similar to the zip file. For instance, if you zip the file with the name archive.zip, files will get placed in the folder that has a name called Archive. The folder will then get placed in a similar folder to the archive.zip file. In case the folder already has the folder called archive, a digit or number will get appended on the new folder as the archive. By default, compressed folders and files open by use of the archive utility. It shows inside the dock while files are undergoing unzipping, not unless you are choosing to open them with another program. Read Also: Why DRM Is The New Standard For Document Security MSVCP140.Dll File Missing Problem And Ways To Tackle It

READ MOREDetails