BIOS: Technology Means Business

Internet Voice, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analogue) phone line.

Some services using VoIP may only allow you to call other people using the same service, but others may allow you to call anyone who has a telephone number - including local, long distance, mobile, and international numbers. Also, while some services only work over your computer or a VoIP phone, others allow you to use a traditional phone through an adapter.

Because VoIP is digital, it may offer features and services that are not available with a traditional phone. If you have a broadband Internet connection, you need not maintain and pay the additional cost for a line just to make telephone calls. With many VoIP plans you can talk for as long as you want with any person in the world (the requirement is that the other person has an Internet connection). You can also talk with many people at the same time without any additional cost.

If you’re considering replacing your traditional telephone service with VoIP, you should consider that some VoIP services don’t work during power outages and the service provider may not offer backup power. In addition, not all VoIP services connect directly to emergency services through 999 and VoIP providers may or may not offer directory assistance/white page listings.

If you simply want to use the Internet to talk to someone and you want the minimum of complication on a Windows or Mac system, the simplest option is use one a proprietary messaging system such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, or Skype. All these services offer free software and connectivity and use their own proprietary systems to allow you to make voice calls to other people using the same service.

The software is designed for naïve users, so they’re a doddle to set up and voice quality is acceptable. But the big downside is that you can only speak to users of the same service. And finding a service of this kind that supports Linux, Unix or RiscOS can be tricky (some don’t even support the Mac).

True VoIP services such as Free World Dialup from Pulver take the idea of phone calls over the Internet forward another step. Because you use an Internet standard protocol, SIP, to make the call, the system is a lot more flexible. You can use a Windows/Mac software phone (a piece of software that pulls together a microphone, soundcard and Internet connection to simulate a telephone). Xten lite is another popular freeware system, but other clients are available for many operating systems. If the service suits you, you can add a telephone adapter that will let you connect an ordinary telephone directly to your network, or an IP phone.

Free VoIP services offering SIP connections are still completely tied to the Internet. They’re fine if you are calling someone else with a VoIP telephone or softphone, but no good at all for calling your uncle. With an Internet-only SIP service, you won’t be getting rid of your landline any time soon, although using your SIP phone to call other VoIP users could cut your call costs. VoIP in the UK is now becoming a viable option for home users and small businesses, not just organisations have teams of engineers on call. Until recently there was no way a small business or home user could consider completely replacing their telephone with a VoIP phone.

But VoIP services that interface with the PSTN phone network to allow you to make and receive phone calls from anyone with a telephone have started to make that a real alternative. If ITSPA gets it way, we will even be able to use ‘real’ geographical phone numbers for the calls. Some services offer this in a limited way now - Gradwell.com is one. Perhaps the most heavily marketed service for UK home and small business users at the moment is BT Broadband Voice, which comes complete with a phone adapter. But there are similar services available, including Sipcall (SIP is the protocol most commonly used for VoIP calls).

To get rocking with VoIP you need an Internet connection, software phone program (or messaging software), microphone and headphones (preferable to speakers, which produce feedback and echoes). Alternatively you can use an IP phone that connects to an Ethernet port on your hub or router or a VoIP adapter that allows you to connect an ordinary phone to an Ethernet port on your hub or router. You can of course use a software phone as well as your IP phone or phone and adapter.

To make or receive a VoIP phonecall, your phone or softphone must be connected to the Internet. If you are offline, no-one can call you. You can dial an ordinary phone number, or use a shorter number to dial someone using the same VoIP service provider direct. As you do so, software running on your computer, phone, or phone converter box sends a message that says first that a call is beginning, then the number is dialled.

Once the user at the other end picks up, you need to speak into a microphone (either on your PC or in a phone). Your voice is then converted to a digital signal, and an algorithm called a codec is used to compress the data so less bandwidth is needed for the call. The data is separated into packets, and sent instantly over your Internet connection. If the person you are calling is also using Internet telephony the packets are sent over the Net to them, or to their PBX if they have a local phone network with a VoIP exchange. As the packets arrive, similar software reassembles the packets, decompresses them into sound, and plays it.

If the person you are calling is using an ordinary phone, the data packets will be sent to a gateway run by your VoIP provider. At the gateway the data joins the PSTN (ordinary phone network) and is sent to the person you are calling exactly like a normal phonecall. Depending on how your VoIP provider is set up, it may monitor the length of your call to the PSTN and debit your chargecard for the time you’ve used up, or you may be paying a flat monthly fee for access to the PSTN gateway. If your call was IP-only (not to an ordinary phone number) you won’t normally be charged for it at all.