What is VoIP?
VoIP or put correctly "Voice over Internet Protocol" is quite simply making telephone calls over the internet instead of traditional phone lines. Calls are free or very low cost.
You can call anybody in the world and they can call you regardless of the equipment they use.
The network used will run IP which is the same network that you use to browse websites and collect your email. And by using IP many new features that were either unavailable or cost prohibitive are now a reality.
By eliminating the need for separate networks you can both reduce costs and also increase the flexibility of your systems.
Imagine wanting an extension at home from your traditional office telephone system.
You run a rather long piece of wire to your home or
Rent a private circuit from your existing provider (generally very expensive) or
Simply have another phone line and then re-route the calls out and you pay the phone call.
Now with VoIP
Simply connect both your home and office to the Internet and your 2 sites are then linked to each other. You can now use your phone home and your calls will route over the Internet connection.
And of course your home can be next door, down the road or in another country. The procedure is exactly the same as the Internet is worldwide.
VoIP is low quality cheap calls right?
WRONG! In the early days people had slow connections to the Internet. This forced the providers to find ways to compress your voice down so they could get more simultaneous calls across the same line. The result was very bad call quality with a constant hiss in the background and you got 'jitter' that's wh-n y-u st-rt l--sing sp--ech (when you start loosing speech). This, to most peple, is still what they expect from VoIP -namely inferior quality but cheap.Welcome to Enhanced Voice and High Definition Sound. Now we can do something unheard of and actually increase the quality of calls with the limiting factor now being the legacy network. Once we remove this and send a call end to end in VoIP and you can actually select the calls to be in a higher quality (you can control it) and hear things like bass for a more natural sound.
And with the costs of high capacity connections constantly falling then yes, you can save money and have improved call quality in the process.
What Kind of Equipment Do I Need?
A broadband connection
A VoIP enabled phone or soft phone.A VoIP enabled phone system ( for businesses )
A VoIP call provider
How Can I Make a VoIP Call?
Normally you just pick up your phone and dial the number!
The simplest form of VoIP uses a PC as a telephone and we can provide you with a software telephone –a softphone– to do this. This displays a model of a telephone on your screen and you simply type the number to be called and use your PCs speakers/headset and microphone to talk.
For business use though, most people use purpose built VoIP handsets. In addition, many of the new mobile phones also have the technology to make calls over the internet and to be your business extension on your company network (SIP).
What is SIP?...
SIP or "Session Initiation Protocol" is a means of making your calls work and is a common standard being used all around the world to make VoIP calls.
Any next generation telephony system should have this standard in order to work.
Brief Overview of it's function
Open standards based system for greater interoperability between systems and suppliers
Set up calls and sessions for Voice, Video, Messaging Services including Instant Messaging and conferencing all using just one single identity (SIP URI or otherwise known as your email address)
It's an extendable architecture designed to support the rapid deployment of new services across a multitude of infrastructures including wired and wireless.
It is designed to connect phones to the system and also the system to other systems or telecommunications operators (SIP trunks).
What is Open Source ?
Open Source refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge. Open source code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within a community. Open source sprouted in the technological community as a response to proprietary software owned by corporations.
Open source software has matured and can now challenge the leading proprietary solutions on the market.
In some cases open source solutions are the leading solutions on the market !
OCM always considers open source solutions for our clients requirements.
Open solutions can benefit your business in many ways :-
Cost. Usually there are significant savings to be exploited.
ROI The return on investment is significantly higher.
Freedom. No proprietary licensing model and freedom to change the code to meet your exact requirements.
Our Voice over IP solutions are based on the Open Source " Asterisk Platform " used by millions of people worldwide.