VoIP (voice over internet protocol)
VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is technology that carries phone calls as data over the internet or another IP network instead of over traditional copper phone lines.
How VoIP works
During a VoIP call, the caller's voice is turned into small packets of data by a codec and sent over the network. The other side turns the packets back into sound. A signalling protocol, usually SIP, sets up and ends the call. When a VoIP call has to reach a regular phone number, a carrier connects it to the public phone network (PSTN).
What a business needs for VoIP
- A stable internet connection. Each call uses roughly 30–100 kbit/s depending on the codec.
- A VoIP phone system, such as a cloud PBX.
- Phone numbers from a carrier (DID numbers) and a connection to that carrier (SIP trunk).
- Devices: a softphone app, an IP phone or both.
VoIP in phone.systems™
phone.systems™ is a VoIP phone system. Calls use SIP and can be encrypted. Because DIDWW, the company behind phone.systems™, is itself a carrier, the numbers and the connection to the public phone network come from the same provider as the phone system. See the business phone system.