November 13, 2007

VoIP Terminology Explained For Beginners

Tip! With VoIP service in North America, ?local' is always inclusive of US, Canada, some countries in Western Europe, parts of Asia, and parts of Latin America. For countries which are not already included, there are international plans available which cost a lot less than that offered by the standard long distance services providers.

It could be quite intimidating for the new person to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) with most articles or literature using significant amounts of jargon. This article will provide an overview of the terminology used in the VoIP arena but will not go into the actual detail of how VoIP works. Other articles by this author have been written in relation to basics of VoIP.

The first crucial term is VoIP which is the acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol or Voice Over IP being the ability to make telephone calls over the internet. Other relevant terms are included below along with a layman's explanation:

ATA - Analog Telephone Adaptor - A device which converts analog telephone signal into a digital format for transmission over the Internet.

Codec - A compression/decompression algorithm used in IP telephony.

Ethernet - Used for Local Area Networks (LANs) and is a packet based transmission protocol.

PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network - that is the standard landline based phone system.

Tip! While conversing, you should never allow anyone to put you on silent hold, as the VoIP service may disconnect you when it doesn't hear anything. It assumes that you are no longer on the line, thus disconnecting you after a while.

QoS - Quality of Service - Refers to performance of the transmission system. For example is there any echo or delay.

SIP - Session Initiation Protocol - An application layer protocol that manages multimedia communications sessions.

VoIP Phone - Telephone device that looks like an ordinary telephone that connects to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) however has an Ethernet port to allow connection to a TCP/IP computer network.

So next time you are reading some literature or articles on VoIP where the writers or authors do not define the acronyms, you will know a little more about what exactly they are trying to say. Whilst there are obviously many more acronyms and jargon associated with VoIP, this article provides a starting point. It is suggested that this article should be read in conjunction with previous articles relating to the basics of VoIP.

Tip! With VoIP service, you can activate every phone jack in the house. First, disconnect your house internal phone wiring from the regular telephone service at the phone box outside (most probably on your front wall).

The Author has an Associate Diploma in Electronic Engineering. For further information, books or VoIP items, please visit All About Voice Over Internet Protocol

Filed under Voip by John