Digital Phone Service

VoIP service is generally referred to as digital phone service. VoIP that stands for Voice over Internet Protocol is a type of routing of conversation (voice) over the Internet or by any other IP-based network. Digital phone providers offer plans which include unlimited local as well as long distance calls along with trendy calling features against a single low monthly charge. Such services are revolutionizing the way in which people and businesses are communicating and keeping in touch. And in most cases, digital phone services are cheaper too.

What exactly is the VoIP Service?

First of all one must get thoroughly acquainted with VoIP before proceeding further on the topic.

VoIP or ‘Voice over Internet Protocol’ is a technology which allows one to make phone calls by taking the help of Broadband Internet connections instead of the normal phone lines. And that’s precisely why it is often called Broadband phone, Internet phone service or just Digital Voice.

Though there are several service providers working on the same line, yet they all use the same basic technology. Incidentally, one need not get edgy, appraising so many unfamiliar jargons put together before an unsuspecting greenhorn since most of these are taken care of by the VoIP service provider. All one has to do is to pick up the regular phone, dial the desired number and get on talking. And it matters less whether the called parson has VoIP or not because that issue too forms a part of the service provider’s headache. The calling party should only have a very high speed Broadband connection and a PC. It can also be done obviously using the laptop.

But one may wonder at this juncture why there is so much fuss about VoIP? To be honest about it, there are reasons galore.

Firstly, Internet-based phone calls do not come under any taxation whatsoever or the Digital Service Providers would not have been happy with offering such a low cost tariff. Secondly, the Internet could not care less whether one is having a tête-à-tête with his newly found girl friend lounging in the next block or is having an argument with his irate wife looking after a sick child in a hospital in Australia. As a matter of fact, international and overseas calls are so cheap through VoIP that the service providers always encourage their customers to indulge in such calls most of the time. And imagine how the Broadband technology has almost revolutionized telephony all over the world – one low monthly fee covering calls made from one end of the universe to another. In fact, using this has become so popular that the traditional way of making long distance calls is on its way out as more and more people are using the digital phone service.

But let us get to know now about some of the intricacies or features that are available with broadband phone services. Technically speaking, the voice, which is an analog signal is converted into petite packets of digital data and transmitted over the Broadband Internet connection to the VoIP service provider. The service provider, on his part can do several things with it like…

Store incoming calls to voice mail if the client is busy with something else.
Send a voice mail to the client as an e-mail attachment so that he/she can attend to it through a computer
Provide 3-way calling, i.e., allowing three persons in one conference call which may mean that the client can talk to the family at once.
Provide caller ID and call waiting.

Despite such a vast array of features and facilities made available through VoIP, the only additional piece of equipment or gear that one may need for the set up is an Analog Telephone Adaptor or an ATA which is usually supplied by the VoIP service provider. When one makes a phone call, the ATA does the job of conversion of the analog voice to a digital signal which the Internet can follow. It then sends the signal to the Broadband Modem which simply passes it over the internet.

Some of the digital service providers go one step ahead, allowing their clients to see face-to-face with the called party even though the two are separated by seven seas. Known as Videophones, these amazing devices include 7” high-resolution video screen that self-adjusts to light in order to produce better pictures. What’s more, the images can be transformed to life-size when transferred to bigger screen. Fancy someone sitting smug in a New Jersey home and talking to a long-lost friend in South Africa who appears with his wife in full color over the videophone screen, gesticulating, joking and laughing like the old days. It is indeed true that digital phones can change our way of looking at the brave new world.