It's time for VoIP phony

VoIP is a frequently pronounced and heard term in Bangladesh since January 2007. One may be surprised thinking that Bangladesh progresses in this high technology. But the matter is not like that. The matter is that VoIP business is an illegal business in Bangladesh. Many people were arrested and punished a lot for involving with this business. Their equipments were also destroyed. The scenes were broadcasted and news was published with the high importance in the newspaper. As a result the term emerged here with a negative image. But government and media did not have proper knowledge on VoIP technology. If they have the proper knowledge government could not mix the high tech VoIP activities with the anti corruption drive and media could not broadcast those with the similar leveling them with thieves, corrupts and serious criminals. Good news is that government now conceives a positive image on VoIP. Few months back the activities were illegal one and now it is going to be a legal work. Can't those legal from the beginning? Better late than never, we can hope now that this sector will boost in our country soon and people will get benefits. The development in VoIP is very fast too. VoIP is implemented in mobile phone too. So mobile operators can adopt this technology and can provide the service at the lowest cost.

What is VoIP

The elaboration of VoIP is Voice-over-Internet protocol. Today it is also called as IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband, broadband telephony and broadband phone. This technology is known as zero one (0/1) technology too. VoIP is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet or other packet-switched networks. VoIP is often used abstractly to refer to the actual transmission of voice (rather than the protocol implementing it). VoIP providers may be viewed as commercial realizations of the experimental Network Voice Protocol (1973) invented for the ARPANET providers.

History

Voice-over-Internet Protocol has been a subject of interest almost since the first computer network. By 1973, voice was being transmitted over the early Internet The technology for transmitting voice conversations over the Internet has been available to end-users since at least the early 1980s. In 1996, a shrink-wrapped software product called VocalTec Internet Phone (release 4) provided VoIP along with extra features such as voice mail and caller ID. However, it did not offer a gateway to the PSTN, so it was only possible to speak to other Vocaltec Internet Phone users. In 1997, Level 3 began development of its first softswitch (a term they invented in 1998); softswitches were designed to replace traditional hardware telephone switches by serving as gateways between telephone networks.

VoIP voyage

VoIP is a technology that is popular all over the world for its cost effectiveness. The poor people of our country can talk at a lower price. For example, if one talks to USA through VoIP he or she can do that with BDT 7 per minute only- much lower than any other system. Here is the strength, beauty and opportunity of the technology. People can connect and communicate with little money and technology. A computer with Internet connection one can talk over any distance. Communication is business. Many countries in the world already have adopted the technology. For example revenue in the total VoIP industry in the US is set to grow by 24.3% in 2008 to $3.19 billion. Subscriber growth will drive revenue in the VoIP sector, with numbers expected to rise by 21.2% in 2008 to 16.6 million. The US's largest VoIP provider is Vonage. The technology is fastly growing in Europe.Huawei a leader in providing next generation telecommunication network solutions for operators around the world has successfully completed commercial technology testing for 'VoIP over HSPA' in Shanghai in conjunction with QUALCOMM Incorporated, a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and mobile data solutions. It is the industry's first VoIP service display with an ALL IP end-to-end solution that is based on a commercial chipset and IMS-based system platform High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a mobile data packet technology of Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) that allows mobile phone users to enjoy high-quality, richer voice communications at a low price and is an example of Huawei's end-to-end IP solutions offered over a mobile network. The cost to talk through VoIP technology is much lower than PSTN or traditional phone. Some cost savings are due to utilizing a single network to carry voice and data, especially where users have underused network capacity that can carry VoIP at no additional cost. VoIP-to-VoIP phone calls are sometimes free, while VoIP calls connecting to public switched telephone networks (VoIP-to-PSTN) may have a cost that is borne by the VoIP user.Voice-over-IP systems carry telephony signals as digital audio, typically reduced in data rate using speech data compression techniques, encapsulated in a data-packet stream over IP. There are two types of PSTN-to-VoIP services: Direct inward dialing (DID) and access numbers. DID will connect a caller directly to the VoIP user, while access numbers require the caller to provide an extension number for the called VoIP user.

VoIP as multi tasking

VoIP can facilitate tasks and provide services that may be more difficult to implement or more expensive using the PSTN. Examples include:

Multiple telephone calls

The ability to transmit more than one telephone call over the same broadband connection. This can make VoIP a simple way to add an extra telephone line to a home or office. Conference calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID; zero- or near-zero-cost features that traditional telecommunication companies (telcos) normally charge extra for. Secure calls using standardized protocols (such as Secure Real-time Transport Protocol.) Most of the difficulties of creating a secure phone connection over traditional phone lines, like digitizing and digital transmission, are already in place with VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt and authenticate the existing data stream.

Location independence

Only an Internet connection is needed to get a connection to a VoIP provider. For instance, call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast and stable Internet connection. Integration with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books, and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available to interested parties. Advanced Telephony features such as call routing, screen pops, and IVR implementations are easier and cheaper to implement and integrate. The fact that the phone call is on the same data network as a user's PC opens a new door to possibilities.

VoIP challenges

The challenges that VoIP faces are Available Bandwidth, Network Latency, Packet Loss, Jitter, Echo, Security, Reliability, in rare cases, decoding of pulse dialing Many VoIP providers do not decode pulse dialing from older phones. ReliabilityConventional phones are connected directly to telephone company phone lines, which in the event of a power failure are kept functioning by backup generators or batteries located at the telephone exchange. However, IP Phones and the IP infrastructure they connect to (routers and servers) typically depend on the availability of electricity or another locally generated power source.Voice travels over the internet in almost the same manner as data does in packets. So when you talk over an IP network your conversation is broken up into small packets. The voice and data packets travel over the same network with a fixed bandwidth. To increase the reliability of VoIP phones the VoIP provider needs to increase dedicated and redundant connectivity via T-1 access and backup DSL, with automatic failover at each location. The company can create a reliable network by reducing the number of single points of failure.

Quality of service

Some broadband connections may have less than desirable quality. Where IP packets are lost or delayed at any point in the network between VoIP users, there will be a momentary drop-out of voice. This is more noticeable in highly congested networks and/or where there are long distances and/or interworking between end points. Technology has improved the reliability and voice quality over time and will continue to improve. VoIP performance as time goes on.It has been suggested to rely on the packetized nature of media in VoIP communications and transmit the stream of packets from the source phone to the destination phone simultaneously across different routes (multi-path routing). In such a way, temporary failures have less impact on the communication quality. In capillary routing it has been suggested to use at the packet level Fountain codes or particularly raptor codes for transmitting extra redundant packets making the communication more reliable.

It's time for VoIP

VoIP is getting popularity all over the glove for its cost effectiveness. Using VoIP technology can benefit Bangladeshi people. Few years back when government did not allow VoIP, many people secretly used VoIP technology, operated business and they were benefited. That proved we have many people who can emerge as an enterprise in this business. Government should open this technology for the people and should monitor and provide guideline to ensure and watch whether common people are getting the real benefit. By providing licenses to few people will create syndicate, they will earn money by controlling cost and people will not be able to talk in the real cost. Hundred and thousands of young people can involve with this business all over the country. Thus they will get job and people of the nook and corner of the country will be really benefited. Thus it can shift the life style to the next level from the level that is enhanced by mobile phone revolution in Bangladesh. Day by day the technology is developing as user friendly. Simple and smart equipments have already invented to use VoIP technology. It's time for VoIP … can we lag behind?

-Wrote by Mahbub Manik

Page Editor

Tech Parley, Brand Jatra and Eduloid of Economic Times