What about VoIP?
What is VoIP? Is it the same as an internet phone?
VoIP is the abbreviated term for “Voice over Internet Protocol”. For the most part VoIP is just another name for ‘Internet Phone’. I prefer to use the term ‘Internet Phone’ not only because it sounds less geeky, but because when VoIP first came out it got a bad reputation.
VoIP is a technology that enables phone calls to be made over a computer network like the Internet. VoIP converts analog voice signals into digital data packets and supports real-time, two-way transmission of conversations using Internet Protocol.
VoIP was introduced about ten years ago, but it wasn’t ready. The sellers didn’t care, it was unreliable, and the sound quality was terrible. The good news is that the technology has improved drastically, but the bad news is that VoIP has had a really hard time erasing its past reputation. As a result, many sellers of “voice over internet protocol” have avoided calling it VoIP.
Something else you should know about VoIP is that it also refers to professionally defined standards. This means that in order for anything to be considered VoIP it has to meet certain standards. I won’t get into what these standards are, but I will say that these standards are regularly updated. In fact, there is an actual committee (IETF) made up of engineers that regulate all things to do with the internet, and VoIP is one of these things.
This is why if an internet phone device or a service provider does not completely follow all the VoIP standards it is technically not considered VoIP. Skype is one of these providers, as they operate under some of their own protocols which are not subject to the (IETF) committee review.
In the end whether you choose to use the term VoIP or internet phone is really up to you. But as personally I think the term internet phone seems so much less geeky, and in my opinion much easier to remember!
