VoIP

Editor: As you would expect, Cheryl is on the technological leading edge with her article on VoIP. It's here today and it WILL affect your life. We'll be running several stories on VoIP over the next few weeks, and we encourage you to take the time to read and understand them.

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VoIP Has Arrived

You'll be hearing more and more about VoIP or VOIP, which stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Our current telephone systems (called PTSN for Public Switched Telephone Network) and the Internet are merging, faster than anyone could have predicted. VoIP, with its ability to transport voice, data and video over the same network, was introduced 8 years ago. The same rapid growth experienced by cell phones is now hitting VoIP, with sales of Internet-enabled phone systems expected to grow 80% by the end of this year according to Duff McDonald's "Say Hello to the Next Phone War' in TIME magazine's December 8, 2003 issue.

Watch for equipment from companies such as Avaya, Citel, Mitel, NEC, Nortel, and Siemens and networks from companies like Cisco and 3Com. The field is becoming so hot that traditional telephone giants like AT&T, BellSouth, Qwest, Sprint, and Verizon are already offering some sort of VoIP.

How VoIP Works

Duff McDonald describes how VoIP works:
"Instead of using traditional 'circuit-switched' phone networks, which utilize a dedicated connection between callers, companies can digitize sound waves, divide them into packets of data and send them over a data network the same way you would send e-mail. VOIP first gained prominence in 1995 as geekware. The initial draw: avoiding long-distance charges -- a concept known as 'toll bypass' -- by steering clear of the 'public switched-telephone network.'"

The technology has matured to the point where it is not only saving money but also able to increase productivity. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friiss of Sweden have developed Skype software (http://www.skype.com) that works with a $15 headset to make free phone calls anywhere in the world to someone else who has installed the same software. In 2004 they expect to improve the software to allow free calls to even none Skype users.

What About Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons?

VoIP raises some serious issues for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It has been headed in the direction of continuing a long and depressing history of telecommunications innovation that has left us behind -- beginning with Bell's invention of the telephone that gave new freedom to hearing people instead of his goal of helping invent a breakthrough for deaf people. We've been pushing our relay services, equipment manufacturers, and cell phone providers to help us catch up.