By Van Theodorou

The History of Voice over Internet Protocol By the end of 2006,

Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) may account for as much as

25 - 40% of international voice traffic. This prediction is

impressive, but it is even more amazing when you consider the

relatively short history of voice over internet protocol. It

began as a hobby for some people in Israel who were only able to

communicate by computer.

Later that year, in 1995, the first company in the history of

voice over internet protocol to put a product on the market was

Vocaltec. They released Internet Phone Software, which in

combination with a home computer, sound card, speakers,

microphone and modem allowed users to make a phone call over the

internet. However, the people on both ends had to have the same

setup, and sound quality was much less than on a normal phone.

In 1998, there were more milestones in the history of voice over

internet protocol. Entrepreneurs began to recognize the

potential of the technology and soon computer-to-phone and

phone-to-phone connections (still using a computer for the

transmission) were possible for making voice calls over the

internet. The service was available using a phone at a

provider's location in North America only.

It required the users to listen to an advertisement at the

beginning and end of each phone call, but in exchange their long

distance calls were free. In 1998, less than 1% of voice calls

were made using voice over internet protocol.

Businesses began to use VOIP over their intranets to help

communicate within their company. But with the introduction of

switching equipment in 1998 by 3 manufacturing companies, the

history of voice over internet protocol took a turn towards the

future.

Now VOIP could become more readily available to users at home

instead of at a specific facility belonging to the provider. By

the year 2000, more than 3% of voice calls were made over the

internet using VOIP.

Today, there are both hardware and software options for those

interested in business VOIP and for their personal use. You can

purchase hardware that will allow you to use your normal phone

handset when making a phone call.

You can buy phones that are VOIP ready and need only an internet

broadband connection. Or, you can purchase or download software

that will let you use your computer instead of a phone, provided

that you have speakers, a microphone, and an appropriate sound

card.

Many phone companies have begun to offer packages that include

local and long distance VOIP calls for a flat monthly fee. With

the advent of broadband services, sound quality has become

parallel to regular land line phones for the first time in the

history of voice over internet protocol. And the number of

people using VOIP is only expected to grow.

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