Article 19 - Voice Over IP

Telephoning Using Broadband

Many of you will have heard about the possibility of making “free” phone calls using the Internet – or, to be a bit more accurate, using your Broadband Internet connection. As is often the case, the technology to achieve this has been around for some time, but the facility has not yet really caught on. Until recently, these phone calls were only possible as computer - to - computer calls, i.e. you had to be on your computer, and the person you are talking to is also on their computer, preferably with both of you on a broadband connection. A recent innovation is the availability of a telephone handset that plugs onto your broadband router, meaning that you can still receive calls if your computer is switched off. Unfortunately, these handsets costing of the order of £100, and you can only talk to people using the same internet telephone service (e.g. skype).

Now that faster broadband speeds are becoming more widely available, combined with more people using broadband, the possibilities become more attractive. I suspect that hand sets will become cheaper in the coming year or so, this giving a further impetus to the take up of this technology.

The basic technology is known as VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol. The best known service is SKYPE, which is part of the Google empire, but other companies, including BT, are getting in on the act. I am sure that other companies will be entering this market in the near future. As a result, there will be a greater choice of packages which include calls made to standard phones and mobile phones, including international calls.

It is in the area of International calls where VOIP technology will enable significant cost savings to be made. Effectively, using the internet enables the telephone service provider to route the call to the point that a local call is all that is need to connect to the “standard” telephone number.

It is my belief that VOIP technology will become widely used in the next year or so, and it is something to look out for – particularly if you make a lot of international calls.

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