VOIP advantages and Disadvantages

Written by: Les Harper - Aug 20, 2008

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology that allows IP (Internet Protocol) networks to be used for voice applications, such as telephony, voice instant messaging, and teleconferencing. The Internet Protocol (IP) was originally designed for data networking. The success of IP in becoming a world standard for data networking has led to its adaptation to voice networking.

VoIP has become popular largely because of the cost advantages to consumers over traditional telephone networks. VoIP calls can be placed across the Internet. Most Internet connections are charged using a flat monthly fee structure. Using the Internet connection for both data traffic and voice calls can allow consumers to get rid of one monthly payment. In addition, VoIP plans do not charge a per-minute fee for long distance. For International calling, the monetary savings to the consumer from switching to VoIP technology can be enormous.

VoIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. If you are calling a regular phone number, the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal before it reaches the destination. VoIP can allow you to make a call directly from a computer, a special VoIP phone, or a traditional phone connected to a special adapter. In addition, wireless "hot spots" in locations such as airports, parks, and cafes allow you to connect to the Internet and may enable you to use VoIP service wirelessly. Some VoIP service providers: Vonage, Sunrocket, Packet8, JoiPhone, Cordia, Netlojix, Verizon, Callcentric, Vonics Digital, Voipgo.

VoIP also has some major drawbacks. One drawback is the difficulty in sending faxes due to software and networking constraints in most of the home systems. Another drawback of VoIP service is its reliance upon another separate service - an Internet connection. The quality and overall reliability of the phone connection is entirely depended upon the quality, reliability, and speed of the Internet connection which it is using. Another drawback of VoIP is the likely inability to make phone calls during a power outage.

Because VoIP uses an Internet connection, it is susceptible to all the hiccups normally associated with home broadband services. All of these factors will affect call quality: ? Latency (a time delay) ? Jitter (abrupt and unwanted variation of signal) ? Packet loss Phone conversations can become distorted, garbled or lost because of transmission errors. Some kind of stability in Internet data transfer needs to be guaranteed before VoIP could truly replace traditional phones. Emergency 911 calls also become a challenge with VoIP. As stated before, VoIP uses IP addresses for phone numbers. There is no way to associate a geographic location with an IP address. So if the caller can't tell the 911 operator where he or she is located, then there is no way to know which call center to route the emergency call to.

The majority of consumer VoIP solutions do not support encryption yet. As a result, it is relatively easy to eavesdrop on VoIP calls and even change their content. VoIP is also susceptible to worms, viruses and hacking, although this is very rare and VoIP developers are working on VoIP encryption to counter this.

VoIP is still in its infancy. While it holds great promise, it has some major technical hurdles to jump, as mentioned. However, as VoIP is set to become more widely available, let's hope there will be reliable solutions in place for the existing problems in the coming years.