VoIP:

Voice over Internet Protocol is the technology that allows digitized audio to be transmitted over Intranets and the Internet. Using this technology, you can make and receive phone calls using your broadband or high speed Internet connection instead of your standard phone line.

VoIP/ Internet Telephony is also known as IP telephony, Voice over Broadband (VoBB), Broadband Telephony, and Broadband Phone.

The basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call are conversion of the analog voice signal to digital format and compression/translation of the signal into Internet protocol (IP) packets for transmission over the Internet; the process is reversed at the receiving end.

Analog voice is translated into SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) packets that transverse the public Internet. Your calling experience will be identical to what you have always had.

Benefits of VoIP:

* Cost Effective

* Simple Infrastructure

* Low Operating Costs

* Portability

* Extra Features: Comprises of Call forwarding, Call waiting, Voicemail, Caller ID and Three-way calling, sending data such as pictures and documents at the same time you are talking on the phone.

Technologies used to implement VoIP include:

* H.323

* IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

* Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP)

* Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

* Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP)

The Session Initiation Protocol has gained wide-spread VoIP market penetration, while H.323 deployments are increasingly limited to carrying existing long-haul network traffic.

A notable proprietary implementation is the Skype (www.skype.com) network.

Some of the VoIP listed sites are available here www.voipsites.net.