Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is the next species in the evolution of telephone service. It continues the slow but inevitable merger of telecommunication services. The phrase will eventually disappear like the phrase Touch Tone did.
Traditional telephone service is provided through a pair of wires that carry an analog signal to your traditional telephone set. The strange thing is that for most of the call's journey, it is in a digital format. In fact, only the wire between your office and your local telephone central office (called "the last mile" in telephone parlance) is analog. Once your call reaches the telephone company, it gets converted to digital because that's a much easier way to transmit signals over long distances. Over the past couple of decades, the telephone company has been trying to digitize that last mile using the digital format that was created for telephony. At the same time, we've all been adding a digital connection to our offices for the purpose of Internet access. VOIP is the result of some clever engineer's Ah Ha moment. "What if we used the Internet Protocol to digitize the voice call instead of the telco protocol?" Lucky for us, this engineer had a connection to the press who helped glamorize the idea enough to make everybody believe that have to have it.
In the end, we'll all have it whether we want it or not. VOIP is the piece of the puzzle that allows cable companies to compete with telephone companies which makes telephone companies feel like they must compete with cable companies which makes clever entrepreneurs see an opportunity to compete with both and leads to the explosion of communications offerings for the rest of us. With VOIP, everyone can attempt the telecommunications triple play: voice, data, and video.
Why should you care? You probably shouldn't, except to know that any phone system you purchase in the future had better have VOIP capability or it will likely become obsolete. You'll hear that the quality of VOIP isn't as good as regular telephone service. You'll also hear that it isn't as reliable and dependable as regular telephone service. On the other side, you'll hear that it provides some really cool new capabilities like telephones that work anywhere you have an Internet connection. All of this is true, but if you're as old as I am you'll remember when the same statements were made about this thing called Long Distance. The truth is that VOIP is still not quite ready for the masses, but it won't be long. Some of you are using VOIP now and don't know it. You just know that McLeod offered you a very cheap deal on telephone and Internet service. Most of you have already been a part of a phone call that included VOIP technology for part of the call. And that's why you probably shouldn't care. It's just going to become the way phone calls are made and we'll stop using the phrase - just like Touch Tone.