MyRepublica.com reports that Nepal’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has submitted plans to the Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ) looking for clearance for its proposal to open up voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) services to any companies holding a requisite licence.
The term VoIP is one that many people with be familiar with, especially the tech-savvy and those in business, and it is perhaps a concept that most of us will become increasingly exposed to over the coming years. But what is it and where did it come from.
The Background
VoIP stands for Voice over the internet protocol and although the term may not quite be in the mainstream yet the technology itself is already commonplace in both our business and personal lives, underpinning services such as Skype whilst also being used as the telephony system for a growing number of businesses – large and small.
In fairly simple terms, the protocol works by taking the input, someone’s voice, and converting or encoding it into small digital packets of data which it then transmits via the internet’s infrastructure straight to the recipient at the other end.
Prior to the arrival of VoIP, phone calls had relied upon the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) which itself dated from the early days of telecommunications. This system, which these days utilises many varying technologies, has at its heart a series of physical cables and switch exchanges which, depending on the number you dial, direct you to connect with a user on the other side of the network. However, with the growth of the internet, opportunities presented themselves for people to transfer information through different channels, including ultimately information such as voice.
The History
What we would now recognise as VoIP first made an appearance back in the earlier days of mass internet use when an Israeli company called Vocaltec released its InternetPhone service on which users could, with the InternetPhone software, speakers, a microphone and a sound-card, speak to each other across the internet. This service was quite primitive in terms of the quality of service and functionality that today’s VoIP providers offer but it was the first step for a technology that brought a revolution in the way we communicate with one another.
From the mid to late nineties a few competitors entered the market and in 1998 the first handsets to use VoIP became available. The technology failed to fulfil its potential though due to the low bandwidths, and therefore, the low quality voice signals that the majority of its prospective customers or users had to contend with. However, with the arrival of broadband, the benefits of VoIP came to the fore and the industry flourished. In the five years from 1998 to 2003 the percentage of voice traffic in the US that utilised VoIP jumped from a meagre 1% to a very significant 25%.
The reasons behind the this growth remain some of the key drivers for the service today – the low cost in comparison to PSTN services, the lack of geographical restrictions and the increasing range functionality that can augment a VoIP service. The need for physical exchanges has been supplanted by software driven systems and businesses throughout the ‘noughties’ began to realise that they could establish their own telephone systems for a fraction of the cost – with less physical hardware – and, in addition employ greater functionality within their communication strategies.
Where we are now
VoIP services can now come in many shapes and sizes to suit the needs of personal users and large businesses alike.
Packages can include IP Phones, which can behave just like traditional (digital) phones but instead of connecting to the traditional phone network, connect to the internet; VoIP software, which allows users to use a PC or to integrate a phone and a PC; and mobile VoIP which brings these elements together on the move and offers the chance of using the service over the internet via WiFi or a 3G phone signal.
In a personal context, millions of us use services at home such as Skype, and as a result VoIP has become a key element in social networking. Whether using physical phones or PCs it is now relied upon to keep in touch with loved ones all over the world in a way that has never before been as accessible or as affordable. What’s more the extra functionality that comes with these services, like video conferencing and photo sharing means that we can now share an unprecedented amount of information when socialising – even across mobile devices.
Businesses have adopted Business VoIP with relish, doing away with local exchanges on site – big businesses have been able to easily relocate call centres to anywhere in the world to keep their costs down, without the need to physically re-install branch networks and exchanges in each location. Small businesses have kept costs to a minimum, whilst also benefiting from flexible and scalable systems which can quickly respond to growth. Increasingly, all businesses are turning to VoIP as part of a Unified Communications approach in which all facets of a company’s communication (email, fax, instant messaging) are integrated so that all dealings with clients, staff etc can be managed, recorded and linked together – improving both internal communications and customer service levels.
Although VoIP still has many stumbling blocks to overcome it certainly seems to be here to stay and will no doubt play a key role in the way we all communicate with each other in the 21st century.
© Stuart Mitchell 2011
Many smartphones are WiFi-capable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your carrier will support WiFi for voice calling — particularly if you bought the phone elsewhere. You can use a Nexus S purchased from Best Buy to surf the Web on any WiFi network, for example — but not to make voice calls. That can be a problem if you spend much time in an area where your carrier’s cellular coverage is weak. The answer? VoIP.
CES 2012 has been a bit of a washout by all accounts: a few exciting droplets have news have found their way out of the trade show, but it’s mostly been a case of herding the entire show into two distinct pens: Smart TVs and endless tablets. Except, of course, for the usual rollout of crazy…
SALISBURY — Granite Quarry resident David Pruett hasn’t had a landline telephone in about three years, and he doesn’t miss it.
“I like not having a home phone,” he said. “It’s cheaper… and if I move, it makes things a lot easier. I just pick up the phone, pick up the charger and go.”
Driven by increased smartphone penetration and a growing breadth of offerings, mobile VoIP usage is on the rise. As the addressable market increases with smartphone penetration a greater number of providers are introducing services, including a growing handful of mobile operators that are beginning to embrace, to some degree, mobile VoIP. New In-Stat (www.in-stat.com) research reports that active mobile VoIP subscriber rates will triple in 2011, growing from 9 million in 2010 to 29 million.
When a construction crew inadvertently cut through fiber-optic cables in St. Louis Park, Minn., last summer, things could have been catastrophic. With the city’s public safety answering points (PSAPs) out of commission, it might not have been possible to field emergency calls — but service resumed rather quickly.
PSAP traffic was rerouted to neighboring Minnetonka with only a 30-minute lapse in service. “That’s fantastic for an unplanned event,” said PSAP Manager Lt. Lori Dreier.
St. Louis Park pulled off this save thanks to a decision a year earlier to convert its telecommunications infrastructure to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). With its portability, cost savings and the promise of enhanced functionality, Internet-based telephony is becoming the de facto choice in jurisdictions whose PSAPs are approaching the end of their five- to seven-year life cycle.
Summary: European regulators are set to challenge how mobile operators prioritise its traditional mobile calling traffic over voice-over-IP traffic.
Companies that provide voice-over-IP services, like Microsoft and Google, are calling on European Commission officials and telecoms regulators to penalise landline operators that relegate voice traffic.
VoIP, or Voice over internet Protocol to give it its full title, is a concept at the vanguard of the telecommunications industry which, if you haven’t already heard about, will become an increasingly familiar part of all our lives in the near future. But what is it and how can it benefit small business users?
The concept (which has a number of interchangeable titles such as Voice over Broadband, VoBB) actually covers a set of technologies whereby voice data is transferred in essence, over the internet. The service is distinct from the traditional telephony systems of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) which transmits both analog and digital voice data on a combined network of physical cables and wireless connections, using switch exchanges to connect the network together. In contrast VoIP transmits voice as digital data packets across internet connections, encoding and then decoding the packets at each end. VoIP packages can therefore vary in terms of the functionality they offer, often depending on the software that is supplied by the VoIP provider.
There are three main types of VoIP that can be combined within a single package, IP Phones (or VoIP Phones, which can be used just as traditional handsets), Software VoIP (which runs from a computer) and Mobile VoIP (or Mobile and Integrated VoIP). In fact you may already be very familiar with one example of this technology, an example of software VoIP which has permeated many of our social activities – Skype.
At a business level, users of a traditional telephony system need to implement a network and hardware, such as a PBX exchange, on site to split their incoming connection in order to provide the separate lines amongst their staff. However, with IP telephony such as VoIP, the service can use existing data networks to create the required number of lines.
As a consequence there are significant benefits to be had from switching your business to a VoIP service:
1. Improved Functionality
As briefly touched on above, a VoIP service can provide a business with many more communications options than a traditional telephone system. Most packages will include a software element which drives the functionality and which can be kept up to date remotely by the VoIP provider so that the business continues to benefit from the latest developments in the technology.
With enhanced software driven communication channels such as video conferencing and the fact that the service is not tied to a geographical location (e.g., colleagues can be accessible on simple extension numbers in different offices in different locations) businesses can cut unnecessary travel and costs and open channels which may have previously been difficult to access – without the need for heavy investment in expensive hardware.
Moreover a VoIP service can change and improve the way in which your business operates with many efficiencies to be had thanks to functionality such as the ability to dial simply by clicking on phone numbers on a PC, integrated computer based phone directories, self-managed caller ID and the scope to assign both multiple numbers to a single phone and a single number to multiple phones.
2. Improved Customer Service
By taking advantage of the extensive functionality generated by a VoIP service a business will no doubt enhance the way in which they operate and work with their customers, however using VoIP can also boost customer service in a number of more direct ways.
Handling of calls can be improved with features, such as ring groups, transfers and forwarding and even automated call handling coming into the reach of smaller scale businesses, ensuring that calls are dealt with by the right people in a timely manner. This can not only improve customer satisfaction but present customers with an advanced phone service at an affordable cost giving them the right impression of your business irrespective of its size. Previously this has been the reserve of big business with big budgets.
A company can even give its customers a free contact channel by supplying them with VoIP enabled telephones.
3. Flexibility
VoIP can greatly improve the flexibility of a business in a number of ways. One key area is the ability of business to respond and adapt to changes in personnel due to positive or negative growth. VoIP offers more cost effective scalability than traditional fixed line telecoms as you need only pay for the exact number of lines that are needed at any given time with less hardware to upgrade – depending on the package, the handset or headset may be the only the outlay required for a new line.
What’s more, many VoIP packages come with the capability for the business to use a simple piece of front end software to configure their network to their business needs as and when they need it rather than depending on third party providers
A VoIP product can also offer flexibility in the manner in which a business operates. Staff can work whilst being fully mobile, receiving their communications in a variety of ways – email, voice calls, instant messaging – on a variety of devices – smartphones (mobile VoIP), landlines – ensuring that they are easily in contact with colleagues and clients whenever they need to be. And all this using the same number, wherever they are in the world. Traditional phone systems, conversely, which rely on a physical network with physical exchanges connecting the relevant elements of the network, are often defined by their location.
This has further benefits for business in the event of an office or workplace becoming unavailable. A switch to VoIP will allow a business to set redirects to mobiles and handsets in other locations from any device with an internet connection. Therefore ensuring interruptions to customer service and operations are kept to an absolute minimum, without needing to physically access the office and manipulate any hardware in situ.
Last but not least of course is the fact that VoIP systems are fully integrated with traditional PSTN services so users will not have any trouble communicating with the rest of world.
4. Unified Communications
Unified communications is a term used to describe the integration of different communication channels which is made possible by the fact that VoIP uses the same data networks as other data transfers to handle voice data. As a result it may be possible using VoIP to easily switch between voice and instant messaging, receive voicemail messages into an email client, share and collaborate on documents through your VoIP software whilst discussing them on call and even integrate Customer Relationship Management (CRM) databases with telephone systems.
5. Cost
Switching to VoIP phones will arguably lead to a host of efficiency savings and operational improvements as a result of the aforementioned benefits, which therefore mean indirect cost savings. Improved communications in general, telephone and video conferencing in particular perhaps, can reduce the need for business travel and in the current climate that is an increasing expense.
However, there are also plenty more immediate savings to be had when switching; for example, the fact that businesses are able to use their existing data networks (no need for additional voice networks) and therefore potentially reduce the installation and maintenance costs of their network infrastructures. The only hardware needed are the phones/handsets, the hard work is done by software.
Furthermore, the actual costs of renting an equivalent of better VoIP service from a provider are likely to be significantly lower than a traditional service (due in part to the fact that this is a growing worldwide market with healthy competition). Whilst the services that are often considered extras in a traditional package will often be included in standard VoIP billing or be available at a far cheaper rate.
Whatever size of business you operate switching to VoIP can generate both cost savings and significant improvements in your operations and services. However, if you are a small business the switch to Business VoIP could give you that leading edge over your competitors and ensure that you are free to develop your business efficiently and dynamically.
© Stuart Mitchell 2011
Right now there are large billboards all around the city of Chicago with lightning bolts and bold colors, proclaiming the promise of 4G and LTE. The ads are also plastered on buses and inside trains–it’s difficult to escape them. I recently flew to Florida, and on the plane, every seat-back tray was emblazoned with the same marketing.
There’s only one problem: customers buy and consume services, not networks.