Internet telephony is often referred to as VoIP and is a method to pass telephone calls across the internet as opposed to utilising a proprietary service provider that transport calls across a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone System).

The origins of internet telephony date back to the early/mid 1990’s when researchers investigated the potentials that lay in transmitting voice data across the internet. Things progressed rapidly and soon it was possible to conduct a voice call via the internet without ever having to use a PSTN, although progress was made the calls were still a poor quality and nowhere near a useable platform that would be required by the consumer.

By 1998 technology had been developed to include gateways which allowed a PC to telephone connection, the following year telephone to telephone connections that used the internet for transmissions were developed and deployed although a computer was still required to initiate the call.
The last decade has been an important one for internet telephony, with the emergence of faster internet connections, improved 3G coverage in the UK and publicly accessible Wi-Fi now in abundance it has opened up smart phones and mobile devices to the potential of VoIP technology. Many VosTel users enjoy the benefits of free worldwide mobile calls from their iPads and smart phones, we even have clients who make calls from the Far East to any UK landline for ONE PENNY a minute!

In summary, the principles of internet telephony are still the same and it is a process of breaking up voice/audio into small packets, compressing the packets, transmitting those chunks over an IP network and reassembling those packets at the receiving end so that two people can communicate using voice or audio.

The difference from the mid 1990’s to now is that a huge amount of resource has been committed to internet telephony, this has led to a platform that is not only cost-efficient and feature-rich but is also a very viable alternative to a PSTN platform.

VoIP technology is now at a stage that in early 2011 the Australian government publically urged businesses to utilise internet telephony as an alternative to combat the rising prices of Australia’s proprietary service provider, many companies have already seen the benefits of VosTel’s solutions...are you one of them?

Now you have some background information about internet telephony and VoIP why not take a closer look at How VoIP Works