What Is VoIP?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Sometimes it’s referred to as Voice over Networks or (VoN), Voice over Broadband (VoB) and sometimes Internet Telephony. VoIP allows you to make free, or very low cost, telephone calls over the Internet. You can call any telephone in the world and any telephone can call you – regardless of what equipment or network the person you are calling uses.
Also, because VoIP uses, digital, internet technologies (sip) many new features and services that were previously impossible, or very expensive using traditional telephone technology, become available. With Pen Telecom this means we can give you many features such as voicemail, voicemails sent to you email, music on hold, call diverts etc.
But you don’t need to know anything about the technologies used if you don’t want to, after all, you probably don’t know that ordinary telephony uses TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) but your telephone still works.
How Does it work?
Your voice is converted into digital information which can be sent like any other data over the internet. People are often confused by this but the way to think about it is that your internet connection uses the same wires as your normal landline telephone and can be uses to transmit all kinds of things such as faxes, telephone calls, emails, instant messages, web pages and Google searches – what makes the difference is simply what is plugged into the wires.
How Can I Make a VoIP Call?
Normally you just pick up your phone and dial the number! The most primitive form of VoIP uses your PC as a telephone and we 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 dialled in or click on the phone’s directory to dial the number.
You can either use your PCs speakers and microphone of use a simple headset to talk.
For business use though, most people use purpose built VoIP telephones or telephone adapters with ordinary telephones plugged in. Apart from the obvious benefits of convenience to use and quality of call this method means that your telephones work even when your PC is switched off.
What Kind Of Equipment Do I Need?
A broadband (high speed Internet) connection is required for most of our services.
To make phone calls you then either use a softphone on your PC or laptop (see above) or a purpose built VoIP telephone or telephone adapter.
If I Use A VoIP Service Who Can I Call?
You can call anyone, anywhere on any type of telephone or network. The receiver of the call needs to have no special equipment and won’t know what kind of call he is receiving.
Does It Sound As Good As An Ordinary Telephone Call?
Normally the call will sound identical to an ordinary telephone call – you won’t be able to tell the difference.
Can I take my telephone or phone adapter with me when I travel?
You can use your VoIP telephone service wherever you travel as long as you have access to a high speed Internet connection. In that case it would work exactly the same as from your home or business.