Whether you’re an I.T. guru or someone who shies away from modern technology, you’re bound to have heard the term VoIP. If you’re in the latter group, you may still be wondering what, exactly, it is? Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a process for seizing analogue audio signals, such as what you hear when you speak on a regular telephone, and converting these signals into digital data, which can then be transmitted via the internet.
VoIP allows you to take advantage of much cheaper phone calls, without compromising service quality. As long as your internet connection and speed are reasonable, you will be able to enjoy utilising a VoIP service with business-level clarity.
So, how does this miraculous process work? Simply put, VoIP is grounded in the same notion as electronically recording your voice on the computer, however, it is more sophisticated. While a voice recording on the computer captures only a restricted frequency range and uses simple CODECs to convert analog signals to digital audio, VoIP CODECs are optimised to compress sound and filter white noise.
After the audio is recorded by the VoIP caller’s computer, it is then compressed into small samples, which are collected in to larger groups. The larger groups are then placed into data packets which will be transmitted over the communication network (IP network). The term for this process is packetisation. It is estimated that these data packets contain ten or more milliseconds of audio.
Packetisation is a little hard for the average person to understand, as it can get very confusing. Suffice it to say, the basic process involves data packets travelling over the internet to your provider’s server. It is then received and bypassed to a terminator at the final destination. Once they reach this point, they are with the receiver of the call. Now, the packets can be converted back to voice signals for the recipient to hear.
If you’d like to know more about VoIP, Imagine Now I.T. are your local I.T. experts and we offer VoIP as one of our many client services. Please contact us on 4934 4966 for further details.