If you are considering VOIP for your phone service, first you should familiarize yourself with the basics of VOIP. Here is a look at the VOIP basics and a VOIP basic tutorial to get you started.

The most basic thing of VOIP is to define it. VOIP, also known as voice over IP, is a term for facilities that manage the delivery of voice information using Internet Protocol. Usually, your voice is sent in digitalized discrete packets instead of the traditional circuit-committed protocols used by your traditional telephone network.

When you get down to VOIP fundamentals, there are some differences between VOIP and voice and data convergence. VOIP is using an Internet Protocol network, while voice and data convergence refers to sending voice and data over any data network. VOIP is also different than IP telephony in that IP telephony will send any telephone service over IP, including faxes.

H.323 was approved by the ITU in 1996 to make videoconference transmissions more compatible over IP networks. It is now the standard for interoperability because it deals with call control and management for different types of conferences, media traffic, bandwidth, and user participation. SIP is the IETF’s standard protocol for starting an interactive user session with multimedia elements. SIP can handle Internet telephony calls, and it and H.323 compete with each other for VOIP services.

VOIP often has difficulties with regulations, and is actually illegal in many countries. In some states, VOIP is considered an “information service” instead of a “telecommunications service” meaning that it is not under traditional telephone regulations.

In order to use VOIP, you need to make sure that you have the VOIP basic components. You need to know the types of traffic on your network and decide which is most important. You will then want to look at your current call traffic and predict future statistics such as the cost, how often you will need to make multiple calls at once, and the average length. You also need to be sure that you have enough reliable bandwidth to handle the added applications.

In order to be able to evaluate IP telephony products, you need to know some VOIP basics. Besides asking about hardware and software compatibility, you will want to listen to actual phone calls to see how they sound to you. Make sure that your salesperson explains everything thoroughly to you and that the company offers post-setup support so that you can make sure you operate the system properly.