The technology that allows you to
communicate verbally via an Internet connection has been available for some
time. It has been used very successfully by many instant messaging systems,
for example MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. The attraction is that it allows
you to talk to your correspondents anywhere in the world for free (over and
above the cost of your normal connection to the Internet, which in the case of
broadband services is usually a fixed cost).
This technology converts the spoken word
into data bits (a series of zeros and ones) and “packages” the data so that it
can be transmitted via the Internet in the same way as any other kind of data.
In the past, the problem with using the
technology has been one of quality, caused by the delays in receiving the
voice-encoded data. However, with the increasing use of broadband services,
the quality has improved considerably and the quality of connections is now
comparable to conventional telephone services.
Internet telephony, also referred to as
Voice Over IP (VOIP), has for some time been used by large businesses to
communicate internally using telephone systems (PABXs) that use the same
technology. The advantages of this are many, since it also allows their voice
communications to be totally integrated with their Local Area Network (LAN)
infrastructure. This, in turn provides for the delivery of voice communication
internally within the organisation via the desktop PC and the treatment of
telephone calls in much the same way as electronic mail.
For external voice communication, the
technology is becoming even more widely used by commercial telephone service
providers, enabling them to offer reduced cost calls to any location in the
world.
This technology is now set to be extended
further by the availability of IP (Internet Protocol) telephone instruments
aimed at small businesses and home users.
A Danish company (RTX) recently announced
the availability of a new cordless telephone that can be connected directly
either to a conventional telephone line, or more importantly to your PC,
enabling you to make international telephone calls via your existing Internet
connection. The device is designed to work with an Internet Telephony computer
program called SKYPE (see separate article).
Siemens and Cisco are both also working on
telephones that will provide the same functionality.
