What is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)?

VoIP is a popular buzzword these days. It stands for voice over IP (internet protocol), and it might just be the way you'll be talking over the phone in the near future. Why are so many people are excited by this technology? You avoid most of the costs that come with a traditional phone line, at least at this point of the game.

That's a savings of hundreds, or even thousands of dollars for some people. Most of the primary entities who are interested in this technology are large corporations, but it can be significant even for the homemaker.

Anyone who has used voice chat software is familiar with the latency issues that proliferate with any sort of data transfer involving the Internet; VoIP addresses the latency issue using RTP, or real time protocol. This protocol ensures that packets arrive in a timely manner.

Voice over IP features some additional advantages including:

you can talk to many people at once
ability to send other types of data other than voice (such as files)
innovations in data transfer and Internet speeds come about, it can only get better.
There are a variety of devices that can take VoIP calls. Some aren't even hardware at all, but software programs you can install on your computer (such as Skype).

Traditional telephone networks are seeing the advantages in offering VoIP services as well, with such national companies as Verizon and AT&T jumping on the VoIP bandwagon. Vonage was one of the first widely known companies to offer VoIP services, and is priced competitively with newcomers to the market.

The VoIP market is predicted to expand rapidly, with predicted numbers rising into the millions in just a few years. The installation procedure for the gadgets required to take these calls is often simple, and can be done with little hassle. If you use a router or other device that can potentially mask or block your IP address, you may have to do a bit more finagling to get it to work.