Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is the technology that enables voice communications over the Internet. Voice over IP quality is now crystal clear and rivals that of a traditional phone. Leading provider Vonage’s VoIP services are subscribed to by more than one million users as of 2006. It all started in 1995 when some hobbyists developed software to send voice data packets over the Internet instead of communicating over the phone service. standard, so they could save a lot of time. free distance calls. The first VoIPs were characterized by poor sound quality and connectivity. Furthermore, it required both people to have a computer equipped with the same software, the same sound card and the same microphone. In 1996, Vocaltec was the first company to release a commercial VoIP product found on the shelves of Compusa and other retail outlets.

By 1998, a caller could make calls to any standard telephone from a PC with the appropriate hardware and software. Phone-to-phone service soon followed, but phones were required to connect to PCs to establish the Internet connection. The same year, the VoIP landscape changed dramatically when both Internet hardware giant Cisco and major communication hardware manufacturer Nortel entered the VoIP market with hardware equipment that allowed easy switching between standard telephones and packet voice data. In Internet. The new hardware made VoIP hardware less dependent on the computer. Eventually, connecting to VoIP with a router is as easy as connecting to a standard phone jack.

VoIP finally took off in 2000. Since then, it has become a leading alternative to standard phone service. The growing acceptance of VoIP in business and residential phone use is evident in the phenomenal success of Vonage, a major player in the VoIP market today. Vonage offered VoIP service to business communities in 2001 and signed its first residential customer in 2002. 2003 was marked by the first platform for 911 calling on VoIP software. Between 2004 and 2005, Vonage launched VoIP service in Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. Vonage phone service charges a monthly service fee, and calls (local, long distance, or international) are technically free or unlimited. With more than one million subscribers this year, Vonage continues to offer new services and plans to meet the needs of the business and residential markets. Some small businesses have started to take advantage of flat rate VoIP plans. Now they have an alternative to 1-800 numbers to interact with their customers.