Voice over IP: hit or hype?
Remember the good old days? Sitting in your kitchen or study, telephone to your ear, calling for hours, and always in the back of your mind, those enormous phone bills! The ‘telephoning experience’ has come a long way since the days of old-fashioned, dial-up telephones. A more recent development in global, communications technology, VoIP (aka Voice over Internet Protocol) is revolutionising communication for both individuals and organisations. Yet the question surrounding similar new developments is always: ‘Is it a hit or just hype?’
What is VoIP?
In short, VoIP callers can make telephone calls via the internet. Via a microphone or a special VoIP tele-
phone speech is coded into a digital signal which is then sent by means of the internet protocol (IP). In this way a VoIP caller can call with other VoIP telephones or with PCs, equipped with headphones and a micro-
phone, but also with a landline or mobile phone.
VoIP’s main advantage is cost. VoIP to VoIP costs are virtually non-existent, whilst VoIP to landlines or mobiles usually incur a small cost to the caller. Calls can be made from anywhere with broadband connectivity, so when travelling or on business, it’s easy to stay in touch. Consider the convenience factor. Imagine being able to see who’s available to call or meet just by looking at your computer screen. No more wasting time chasing your colleagues with messages.
Sound’s ideal, right?
VoIP has come a long way since its debut approximately ten years ago. The more recent commercialisation of VoIP has made it more accessible to individuals as well as for business use. VoIP does have its drawbacks. Some users complain of voice ‘drop-out’ due to congested networks or long distances, although this depends largely on the reliability of the broadband connection. And security is naturally a concern, although encryption is now available for many VoIP solutions, at least at the consumer level.
What’s in it for me?
As VoIP services continue to become increasingly competitive and cost efficient, many organisations are favouring VoIP over traditional telephone networks “to keep incentives up and costs down”. VoIP was recently enabled for BlackBerry users. And in a bid to cut costs and improve efficiency both Maxis, Malaysia’s leading telecommunications company, and The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) recently made the decision to deploy VoIP for their fixed network operations.
An emphasis on user-friendliness is seeing many leaning towards a more familiar telephoning experience. By taking advantage of the price difference of calling via a computer, yet using a ‘real’ telephone (instead of a headset), the best of both worlds is possible.
While implementing VoIP throughout an entire company may be costly and inconvenient for some, in the right situations, it can mean lower phone bills, centralised management and rapid deployment. Indications such as these lead us to conclude that VoIP’s hype stage has passed and it can already be labelled a hit.
Leave a comment