VoIP Service, i.e. Voice over Internet Protocol is a basic term used for the whole family related to the transmission technology, which deals with the voice communication delivery through IP networks. These IP networks can be either Internet or any other Packet switched networks. Session control protocols are often employed to control the set up as well as the calls tear-down or audio codec. This enables the encoding of speech by allowing voice communication and transmission through IP networks. Few examples of various technologies used to implement VoIP are H-323, IP Multimedia Subsystem, Real-Time Transport Protocol and Session Initiation Protocol.
VoIP has been beneficial in terms of reducing cost related to communication as well as infrastructure. The phone calls are routed through the existing data networks, thus avoiding a need for extra or separate data network. Various other facilities like conference calls, call forwarding, automatic redial and even caller ID are made available free of cost as compared to the conventional telecommunication system.
Since VoIP are charged per megabyte, the billing costs are very low as compared to the regular telephone bills. Basically there are many pros and cons of using VoIP service. If you perform a VoIP review you will find a lot of advantages. As mentioned earlier, the reduction in cost is the biggest advantage of VoIP. Even international calls are charged very less as compared to the conventional telecommunication system. This service is indeed really portable, as one can use it anywhere by simply logging into the unique VoIP account. Even the phone -to- phone VoIP service is portable. This makes VoIP service really unique and advantageous.
But it also has cons or disadvantages. Two biggest hurdles of VoIP service are lack in provision of a round the clock service and emergency calling. Traditional phone services continue to provide unobstructed service, even when there is no power supply. But with internet phones, one needs to have power supply. If there is a black out, it may be impossible to avail this service, provided one has some battery backup or a power generator hooked up to your VoIP adapter. VoIP service is not really useful in case of emergencies, like calling 911. Locations can be easily traced in conventional phone calls, but it is just not possible to locate areas in internet phones. The data sent via email often arrives in a scrambled manner in VoIP service. Hence it loses in terms of quality. Two more hurdles that come in the way of VoIP service are distance as well as speed.