The World Is Small With VoIP Telephony

The world is literally small - thanks to the telephone and more recently, the internet. No more endless waiting for your business associate in the USA to receive a letter which you have mailed from Hong Kong - it can be received in a matter of seconds through email or electronic mail. No more spending a fortune trying to call him on phone - it can be done at a cost which is equal to a local call, if not free, thanks to a new technology called VoIP telephony. It has already changed the way people in some countries talk to each other across the seas and continents and very soon, it will change the way the world communicates.

Known by various terminologies - VoIP telephony, broadband telephony, internet phones and VoIP phones, Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP is the name of a technology that allows verbal communication be transmitted via the internet. VoIP allows you to talk endless, across the globe, at the cost of a local call. The three basic necessities to use VoIP telephony is a computer, a high-speed internet connection and a VoIP service provider.

So what is it that the VoIP telephony can provide which a landline or a mobile phone can not provide? The first thing which differentiates VoIP telephony from other modern communication tools is that it is not dependent on the location where it is. It simply requires internet connectivity with the provider. These days VoIP telephony service providers offer a router along with the connection. The router can be taken anywhere in the world, plugged on to a computer which has internet connection. You will always remain in touch with your family and business, wherever you are in the world. Then there are features which are being added to VoIP telephony, which can compete with those, available with land lines and mobile phones. Caller ID and blocking caller information are two such features. VoIP telephony also allows call forwarding facilities to landlines, mobiles and other VoIP numbers. Service providers are even offering toll free numbers, vanity numbers, virtual phone numbers for enhancing the portability benefits. You could even have fax lines and as a recent advance, even text messaging service is being added to VoIP telephony. It is with truly amazing speed, with which all this is occurring.

Since VoIP telephony completely depends on power inputs and relies on bandwidth for support, a slow dial-up system will not work with this system. A high-speed internet connection is imperative. And when there is a power shortfall, there will be no internet, which means no VoIP also.

There was a time, not long ago, calling any emergency number like 911 was not possible using VoIP telephony. That problem has also been overcome. Today it is necessary to provide a physical address to the provider where the VoIP phone will be used. So when the caller calls 911, the address shows up, making it easy for the dispatcher to transfer the call to the local emergency set-up. This number is called E911 or Enhanced 911.