Communication has become increasingly accessible with the advancement of technology. One such example is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a feature that enables free calls over the internet.
With VoIP technology, users can communicate and even conduct various business activities solely through a broadband network—such as conference calls or video calls.
Without realizing it, you’ve likely encountered this technology frequently in your daily life. Examples of its applications include platforms such as Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, LINE, WeChat, Viber, Google Hangouts, and Facebook Messenger.
Are you familiar with the term “VoIP”? If not, this article will explain what VoIP technology is, how it works behind the scenes, and its key technical components.
What is VoIP Technology?
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a communication technology that uses the Internet Protocol (IP) network to transmit voice and multimedia data. It no longer uses conventional copper cable networks.
Via a private IP network or the public internet, this technology converts standard voice signals into digital data packets. There are several internet protocols commonly used to establish, manage and terminate VoIP sessions. These include:
- Session Initiation Protocol (SIP): Manages the establishment, signaling, and termination of voice calls.
- Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP): Controls telecommunications gateways that connect IP networks to conventional telephone networks.
- Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP): Manages the real-time transmission of audio and video media streams.
- Session Description Protocol (SDP): Defines media stream parameters for initialization.
- Inter-Asterisk eXchange (IAX): Optimizes trunking connections between Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs).
How Does VoIP Work?
VoIP works by converting analog signals into digital data packets. Audio entering a VoIP device, such as a laptop or mobile app, is digitized by that device.
The digitized audio stream is broken down into small data packets. These data packets are easier to manage for transmission over a broadband internet connection to the destination IP address.
The receiving device then reassembles them into a continuous analog audio stream. This conversion and transmission process takes only a fraction of a second, just a few milliseconds.
This technology relies entirely on internet infrastructure. Therefore, it is important to maintain a stable broadband connection with low latency. This will affect the clarity of the resulting audio.
You might like to read DECT VS WiFi Phones on our previous article.
VoIP vs Traditional PSTN Landlines
The key difference between VoIP and traditional PSTN landlines lies in the use of digital networks versus physical line networks. VoIP operates over existing IP networks, so it does not require dedicated physical copper wiring for each extension.
What makes VoIP stand out is its lower implementation costs. This is thanks to customisable cloud-based PBX management, such as auto-attendant, call forwarding, CRM integration, auto-dialler and virtual local telephone numbers.
Deploying VoIP Services for Business
Enterprise VoIP technology is implemented through service providers. They offer either cloud-based VoIP or on-premises IP-PBX systems.
Service providers use Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking to seamlessly route calls across the global telephone network. This infrastructure enables VoIP calls to connect with users on any external telephone network worldwide.
That’s what you need to know about VoIP technology and how it works. With this knowledge, you can understand the basic protocols that enable internet telephony to continuously adapt to modern global connectivity.
