VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP or Broadband phone service as it is often referred to, is changing the telephony world. As the definition of the acronym it is understood that this is a Voice service over the Internet. This is why it is sometimes called Broadband phone. It assumes that a person has a Broadband connection, in South Africa known as ADSL line .

Once an ADSL line, exists which may come with an ADSL modem , today consumers can find even ADSL phones such as the Vox ADSL Phone . The ADSL line is easily acquired these days, then one can use various cheap telephony services that reduce the telephone bill and this is why when it came out it was said to change the world – and it did, but lets look at little at the history.

VoIP technology was enabled, first and foremost, by the availability of the Internet and Broadband.

Traditional phone lines in many countries and specifically in the western world, are slowly being phased out as businesses and households around the world embrace the benefits and features that VoIP technology has to offer.

This evolution is now accelerating because the Internet has become pervasive in many countries. Even though not everyone has Internet and Broadband, enough people have this service for the use VoIP to take off massively.

The history of VoIP shows that this technology started as far back as 1995 when a small company called Vocaltec released, what was believed to be at that time, the first internet phone software. This software was designed to run on a home PC (personal computers) and much like the PC phones used today, it utilized sound cards, microphones and speakers. The software was called "Internet Phone", we won’t get into too many of the technical details, but for those interested it used the H.323 protocol instead of the SIP protocol that is more prevalent today.

Vocaltec, as you might imagine, was very innovative and therefore had initial success with Internet Phone. Vocaltec listed as a public company in 1996 with a successful IPO (Initial Public Offering), in the US. Vocaltec was the Skype of the mid 90s.

But all this didn’t come without problems. As with every company that is very early in the market, there was a major drawback in 1995 and that was the lack of broadband availability. As such, this software used modems which resulted in poor voice quality when compared to a normal telephone call.

However, this was still a major milestone as it represented the first ever IP Phone.

By 1998, VoIP traffic had grown to represent approximately 1% of all voice traffic in the US. Entrepreneurs were jumping on the bandwagon and were creating devices which enabled PC-to-Phone and Phone-to-Phone communication. Networking manufacturers such as Cisco and Lucent introduced equipment that could route and switch the VoIP traffic and as a result by the year 2000, VoIP traffic accounted for more than 3% of all voice traffic.

Since 2005 major voice quality issues have long since been addressed and today VoIP Traffic can be prioritized over data traffic to ensure reliable, clear sounding and  unbroken telephone calls.

Revenue from VoIP equipment sales in 2005 were projected to reach around $3 billion and are being forecast to be over $8.5 billion by the end of 2008. This is primarily being driven by low cost, unlimited calling plans and the abundance of enhanced and useful telephony features associated with VoIP technology.

In South Africa today consumers that have an ADSL line can get the Vox ADSL Phone and cut their telephone bill by up to 50%. With high competition in the telecommunications industry this could be even more by the time you read this article so check out the PhoNet Vox ADSL Phone estimated Vox cost savings calculator .

InWords has been involved in documenting Telecommunications and Telephony Products and Services since 1994. Sean Wheller the founder of InWords is one of the few highly experienced service providers to fully understand technical documentation in the Telco industry in South Africa. Sean has been been involved in R&D (research and development) and technical documentation of VoIP solutions since 1995.