Reprinted from Renfrew-Collingwood News,
November/December 2003 Edition
One of the most common comments that I get from people, colleagues, and friends is that e-mail and Instant Messaging is “great and all but a bit impersonal…e-mailing, chatting [and instant messaging] are just not the same as phoning someone”. But what if you can call someone, anyone, wherever they maybe around the world or across the street using nothing more than your computer and an Internet connection, moreover for an obscenely low price – free. Well, it turns out that you can do just that by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or Internet (Web) telephony.
VoIP is not a new technology or concept but something you most definitely will hear a lot more about over the next couple of years as it becomes more mainstream. The common problems with earlier VoIP programs and services was the horrendous sound quality, difficult software setup and the expensive centralized equipment that providers needed to offer the service. Today, many businesses and consumers use VoIP services to connect with colleagues, clients, friends, and family due mainly to vastly improved software and technology. Many of the people working in and around large organizations do not even realize that their calls are being connected via the Internet. The voice quality is virtually indistinguishable and in many cases is clearer than many mobile phone connections.
Some VoIP services are free, but only works for calls between computers that have the same installed software. There are also VoIP service providers like: Dialpad; Net2Phone; SIPPhone; and, Vonage allows callers to seamlessly converse over their existing telephones. Most of these providers offer flat rate monthly charges for unlimited local calls, plus a plethora of extra (free-of-charge) call features like: Call Waiting, Call Forwarding; Voice Mail, etc. For long distance service, some providers provided unlimited service whereas others provide it, typically, for a few cents less than your traditional long distance carrier.
In a nutshell, when you use VoIP, you typically speak into either a special handset microphone (or headset) connected to a computer (or network) with access to the Internet. The voice information is digitally recorded, disassembled by the computer and transmitted as tiny packages or packets of information for easy transport over the Internet to the receiver. The computer then reassembles the tiny packets and outputs the sound of your voice is outputted on the speakers. Voice information is sent and received when it is needed thereby saving a lot of resources, bandwidth, to be used for other things like surfing on the Internet or sending e-mails. Under more traditional phone systems, there is a closed point to point connection between the caller and the recipient for the entire duration of the call. The connection or circuit is broken when both individuals hang up the phone. The connection is only being used half the time, the rest of the time it is dead air. If you think about two people talking, you will notice that the Person A talks, Person B listens. Person B responds. Person A listens. Information is only traveling in one direction at a time. For a two minute traditional phone call, the actual amount of information that is transmitted may only be one minute, meaning that the other minute is wasted. In short, sending information over the Internet is just more efficient. For those of you who want to know more about how IP telephony works you should check out: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ip-telephony.htm.
Recently, while researching VoIP solutions for a friend, I discovered a small piece of software called Skype (pronounced skippy), that allows users to converse with family and friends through their computers. In fact more the 3.2 million people, to date, have downloaded the free software from the Web (http://www.skype.com/). This promising program offers:
- free unlimited worldwide phone calls.
- works behind firewalls, and routers without user configurations.
- encrypts all incoming and outgoing calls to ensure total privacy.
- no phone numbers to remember. Friends list that tells you who is online and available for chatting or text messaging.
- call logging that records all your miss calls.
Moreover, what is most interesting about the software is that it utilizes the same underpinning peer-to-peer technology that some of today’s most popular music sharing programs use (See Technobytes: February 2003). Under other VoIP services, conversations are routed by a central computer (or server), which has an index of all those that are currently online using the system. The central computer, which works very similarly to the old switchboard operators, then finds the recipient and sends the information to the intended receiver. As more and more users sign up for the service, more central computers are needed to keep track of all the users, which increase the cost to the provider and decrease the quality of the calls on the system. Furthermore, anything catastrophic happens to these central servers (indexes), nobody on the system will be able to talk to anyone. Under a peer-to-peer system, all the computers using the service act as both a telephone and a part-time central index. So, all the computers are responsible for helping route calls to other members on the service. If something happens to the one of the indexes (i.e. your computer), other member computers will simultaneously help route the call to ensure that the recipient can carry on the conversation without interruption. The peer-to-peer technology helps ensure the service is both reliable and stable.
WANT TO KICK THE TIRES ON VoIP
If you want to give this a try, you are going to need the following items:
- Relatively fast notebook or computer, not necessary the latest and greatest. Anything bought within the last two years is probably alright. More specifically any computer with 500 Megahertz processing or “brain” power and 256 Megabytes in RAM (memory).
- Soundcard, speakers and a good microphone or a headset.
- Broadband or High Speed Internet connection either from Shaw Cable or Telus.
- Internet Telephony Software, like Skype.
Unfortunately for all you Apple computer users out there, Skype only works on Windows 2000/XP machines. But I was assured that subsequent iterations of the product will have Mac support. In the mean time, if you really want to try VoIP on your Mac, you can use the Free World Dialup (FWD) program (http://www.fwdnet.net). FWD works in almost exactly the same way as Skype. As of March 2004, Skype now supports Mac OS X, Linux, and Pocket PC operating systems.
So, as an extra special Christmas present this year to all your family, friends, and colleagues, surprise them by talking to them using VoIP. Wishing you and yours a wonderful and safe holiday!
See you soon,
~Geekboy.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at: gb.technobytes@gmail.com.
Posted by Geekboy 
TECHNOBYTES 