VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and is counted among one of the outstanding voice communication solutions over the years. Despite its ever-increasing popularity among businesses, many people are not familiar with its functionality. And that has prompted us to come up with this piece of blog on everything about VoIP, including definition and functionality.
What is VoIP?
You must have made calls over Skype or Slack.
Well, these are some of the best examples of VoIP.
VoIP is the delivery of voice communication and multimedia content over Internet protocol networks like the Internet. VoIP service is also used to make a call to landline or cell phones, apart from calling computer-to-computer.
Simply put, VoIP is a technology that lets you make a call over the Internet.
Or you can say that it is your phone service over the Internet. That’s why it is also known as internet telephone, broadband telephone, broadband phone service, and IP telephone.
It functions like any other content you send over the Internet such as messages in that it transforms voice communication into data packets and delivers it over an IP network. In other words, VoIP converts your voice into a digital signal, letting you make a call directly from your PC, a VoIP phone or other data devices.
With a VoIP service, you have little to no need for the traditional phone as you can make calls using an Internet connection.
How does it work?
Understandably VoIP converts your voice into data packets to be sent over the Internet. Let’s break that down further.
VoIP utilizes the “omnipotent” nature of the internet to achieve the call-like result, though in a different way.
When you speak into PC’s microphone, your voice is assumed as physical sound waves by the machine that converts it into a digital signal using hardware known as a driver. Then, the voice coder-decoder converts this digital signal into binary data. From here, your OS sorts out, separates binary data into smaller pieces of information that are called packets.
These packets of audio are transmitted from your PC via the router through copper or fiber optic cables across the world to another PC and reversed processed via the computer’s code.
An analog telephone sends information in a slow, linear manner. The internet can deliver these packets in an exceptional faster way, known as packet switching. Packets are rearranged in the right order when they reach their destination (another IP address). This speeds up the delivery over analog telephones and minimizes costs since no exclusive wire has to be installed.
What are the Benefits of VoIP for Businesses?
By opting for this technology, you can minimize cost, accelerate productivity and improve collaboration.
Here are some key benefits of VoIP service for businesses:
- Cost-Effective:
VoIP calling services are exceptionally cheaper than using a traditional phone. In fact, long-distance and international calls are generally free with VoIP service. You only pay for the usage of data.
- Portability:
You can use your Voice over Internet Protocol system anywhere as long as you have an active Internet connection. It lets you make and receive calls from any devices, including your smartphone, meaning that customers or colleagues can call you no matter where you are in the world.
- Call Recording:
It lets you record calls so that you or your clients/colleagues can playback important calls. Plus, you can also analyze call logs to find out what time of the day clients/colleagues call the most, call duration and relevant information.
- Wide Range of Features:
VoIP communication keeps things in one place, leading to enhanced collaboration. With unified communication, your colleagues or workers can easily interact through voice, video chat, instant messaging and web conference.
