Intro To Voice Over Internet Protocol — Save Money With Every Phone Call
You’ve probably heard about Voice over Internet Protocol (abbreviated VoIP or VOIP). It is one of the hottest computer technologies today.
VoIP was developed to provide voice communication between computer users at different locations. Although still used in this manner, it’s been developed much further — into a full-fledged telephone network that allows us to place telephone calls through the Internet.
People who use VoIP can place calls to any telephone anywhere in the world. The calls are received on telephone sets connected to the Internet or Local Area Network (LAN). VoIP is already replacing some telephone networks with people and businesses canceling their traditional phone lines in favor of the cost savings of VoIP.
Background
Israeli computer enthusiasts were the first to make computer-to-computer voice connections back in 1995. That same year, the technology was further developed into a software package called Internet Phone Software. All you needed to speak with another computer user then was a modem, sound card, speakers, and microphone.
The software digitized and compressed audio signals before sending them over the Internet. These voice connections only occurred between computers equipped with the software. The original sound quality was very poor.
Technology progressed. By 1998 gateways had been established allowing PC-to-phone connections. Later that year phone-to-phone connections using the Internet for voice transmission were in place. Phone-to-phone connections still required a computer to initiate the call, but once the connection was established, callers could use a standard phone set.
That Was Then — This Is Now
There are now a variety of VoIP services available, for both residential and commercial use. Some continue to rely on PC-to-PC connections, but may also offer PC-to-phone and phone-to-phone services.
There are phones that plug into a sound card or USB port of a computer. These phones may have number pads and ringers that allow you to use them just like conventional telephones. The computer can even be bypassed completely by connecting a phone directly to a broadband modem (either DSL or cable).
How Does VoIP Work?
The first step in using VoIP is converting your voice into digital data. This is done by ’sampling’ your voice. The analog sound signal is divided into distinct steps that can be assigned number values. After your voice is digitized, the data can be compressed.
The compressed digital data is then split into ‘packets’ of about 1500 bytes that can be transferred via the Internet. In addition to voice data, the packets contain information about their origin, destination, and a time-stamp that permits a reconstruction in the exact order. When the packets arrive at their destination, the data are reassembled and converted back to analog. The receiving party then — voila — hears your voice.
A broadband Internet connection, however, is needed to speed up voice data transmission. Many households and businesses are already using broadband, either DSL or cable, which makes adding VoIP fairly simple.
So, if saving money is on your To Do list for this year, check out VoIP.
How to get Skype on your USB drive
This article should help explain on how to get Skype on your USB thumb drive in 3 simple steps. With help from simple script and the Skype executable file (Get the latest version of “Skype Here), You should be able to run Skype from any Windows PC on the earth.
1. Copy the Skype.exe file to a folder named Skype in your USB thumb drive.
The Skype executiable should be in C /Program Files/ Skype/ Phone/ Skype.exe.
2. Copy the Skype.exe file to the folder called Skype on your USB thumb drive.
2. Set up a batch file to make it work
to build a batch file and do like so. Open NotePad, and paste the following text in there:
@echo off
set APPDATA=%~dp0Application Data
if not exist “%~dp0Application Data” mkdir “%~dp0Application Data”
set USERPROFILE=%~dp0
set ALLUSERSPROFILE=%~dp0
echo Starting Skype…
start %~dp0skype.exe
Save the WordPad as Skype.bat.
Now, simply open the batch file, and you’re using Skype on a USB thumb drive! That’s all you need to know!
That’s all there is to it! Now you can run Skype anywhere, anytime you want from a USB flash drive to any PC. You can see the other uses of Skype in my other articles avaible here.
The code is derived from the Skype forums and is considered open source. I do not assertion any of the credit for the code displayed here. I just helped put this tutorial together.
I believe with the increased use of flash drives, Skype which is already the #1 online long distance phone carrier will become more accessible to everyone. For one thing, people on business trips can use there plug and play USB drives to launch a version of Skype onto a computer which doesn’t already have the Skype app downloaded onto it. This is the ability to make contact with your office or clients anywhere on earth! Vacationers can also use their USB flash drives at internet cafe computers. The ability to run a portable version of Skype to phone home and stay in touch with your acquaintances anywhere is almost priceless. Being a portable version, any personal identification information that Skype produces will be written to the USB thumb stick and never to the host PC. This is perfect for people who are not inclined to log into their Skype accounts on a computer they can’t know they can trust, for fear of leaving behind sensitive or secure information. For more info on putting software on USB drives please feel free to read my other posts on the subject. If you like the article or it helped you in any way please dig this up!
Voip and Its Existing Drawbacks VOIP
Voice Over Internet Protocol or VOIP is a buzzword has become a much debated topic of late. Opinions vary from one to another; while some feel this could be an economical alternative to the existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), others think it has too many drawbacks and needs upgrading before it becomes really useful to us. However, I am sure, many of us would be wondering what this fuss is all about. Let’s talk a bit more about VOIP here.
VOIP which is also known as Internet Telephony revolves around Internet. It is an emerging technology which makes phone calls much cheaper than ever before. Technically speaking, VOIP is a method that uses internet to make calls. So how does it work? Usually, in VOIP, voice travels a packet-switched network i.e, internet wherein the voice signal is digitized and broken into small packets or portions that are sent through a series of routers until they reach the recipient.
Existing Drawbacks of VOIP
VOIP has been touted as an economical option which, however, is subject to individual interpretation. A few companies who have tried this have thrown mixed response about its performance. This technology is still in its nascent phase. Many people who have been using PSTN services still consider this as unreliable. So, basically, VOIP is facing to challenges – reliability and performance.
Reliability
PSTN is considered to be more reliable than VOIP as the latter depend on equipments which require uninterrupted power supply for making phone calls possible. Although incase of cordless phones, your PBX or phone based system may require electricity, however, the phone lines themselves do not required to be powered. Hence, you are able to make calls even when there is no electricity. In case of VOIP, if you lose power, the line goes down. Moreover, the quality of internet connection also decides the quality of calls as well – if the internet connection goes down, you will be facing problems to make or receive calls. Further, the transmission errors, viruses threats and hack attacks can considerably bring down the network which affect the calling experience.
Performance
Calls in VOIP are routed through PBX systems and hence, the quality of the PBX systems decides the quality of the calling as well. Some users who have tried VOIP have negative experience about its reliability. For instance, sometimes the users would pick up the phone to find no dial tone and they would have to reboot the VOIP box before making or receiving a call. Similarly, other problems such as defective call ID reporting and much echo during the phone calls have contributed the popular disapproval of the VOIP as an alternative the existing PSTN system.
