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COMMUNICATIONS

 

The Major Players of voip

Not many developers were experimenting with voice transmitting in the internet’s early days.  However, there was one group, the Network Voice Protocol in 1973, which started the technology.  These visionaries were able to see the impact the internet would have and benefits of using it to communicate.  Before the PC was dreamed up, they understood VoIP’s ability to simplify voice communication.
               

It was only about a decade later that others began realizing that VoIP could be made into a viable and profitable business.  By the 1990s the internet was taking off and more and more companies began developing software systems that allowed internet users to not only communicate but also had added features like voice mail.  One of the first of such systems was the Vocaltec Internet Phone.  Fast forward to 2005 and a company called Skype put VoIP in the forefront of communication.  Skype allowed users to globally communicate using nothing but a broadband connection, navigating through firewall systems that others couldn’t, and had increased the sound quality at the same time.

Now that VoIP can connect into the public switched telephone networks as well as online, VoIP has virtually wiped out the need for long distance calling that traditional phone service providers charge heftily for.  This has translated into VoIP becoming a hot commodity.  Skype is still a major player, adding to its arsenal SkypeOut which allows user to connect not only on-line but also to landlines as well.  Vonage is another company that has seen the value in VoIP.  It has seen success by using VoIP to reroute signals from their network directly to home phones for a low monthly cost. Cisco Systems and Avaya were both early to develop VoIP systems for corporations that could be used on a larger scale through a single network.  More companies, such as VoIP Your Life, Lingo, and VoIP.com, are ever increasing in the market offering users more avenues for utilizing VoIP technology.