Guest Author - Cathy Spearmon

I know that being able to communicate via voice over the Internet might seem like some type of technological breakthrough. However, IP Telephony or Internet Protocol Telephony is nothing more than modern technology. Right now, we speak on the phone with our voice using PSTN or public switched telephone switches. This is also called plain old telphone service or POTS. But, with the Internet, a language all its own, Internet Protocol, which is used to transmit images and text.

However, a language, or what we know as a protocol, has been developed in order to allow voice to travel with text and images on the Internet. This language or protocol is VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol. Using VoIP in conjunction with the same Internet line, we can send faxes, images, texts and voice. This technology has been incredibly beneficial because it allows us to make long distance telephone calls over the Internet without having to pay the telephone company for the long distance phone calls that we make. Why? Well, we're simply using the Internet service that we use monthly.

Great applications have spawned from VoIP because it allows us to communicate using multimedia and teleconferencing all in one.