Voice over IP, or VoIP, is the technology for state-of-the-art telephony. During a phone call, the voice is transported via the internet. But how exactly is this done and what benefits does VoIP bring?
The long path to internet telephony
By the end of the '90s, when surfing with a 56k modem was the peak of technological progress for the public, parallel surfing and calling over a fixed line was impossible – it had to be either or.
This is ancient history: Modern broadband connections allow telephony, surfing and video streaming – all at the same time. Even the classic phone connection is generally realized digitally over the internet connection – that's the Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.
What are the advantages of VoIP?
- Telephony in HD quality: Since voice transmission via the internet works much better and faster, you'll benefit from a greatly improved acoustic quality with VoIP. This is called high-definition telephony.
- Parallel calls: If you have registered more than one phone with your FRITZ!Box (for example, up to six FRITZ!Fons via DECT), up to five calls can be conducted at the same time. Consult your provider whether this is included in your telephony package.
- Multiple phone numbers: This is another feature that was long available only to ISDN users. With VoIP you can use more than one phone number on your connection. Your contract information states how many numbers are available to you. The FRITZ!Box supports up to 20 phone numbers for VoIP.
- Smartphone use via landline: If you integrate your smartphones into the home network via Wi-Fi, they can be used to conduct landline calls as well (using the FRITZ!App Fon, for example).
- Less cabling: Since there's only one line to use, less cabling is needed. You won't need the grey splitter anymore; instead you can connect the cable directly from the socket on the wall to the FRITZ!Box.
How does internet telephony work?
Simply speaking: the speech in a phone call is digitalized by transforming the acoustic signals into data packages, and then forwarding these packages to the internet. At the receiver's premises these data packets are transformed back into an analogue signal for playback through the phone, so the person on the receiving end can understand the spoken words.
In every other aspect, phone calls follow the same procedure as before when a separate line was used for an analogue call: voice transmission, connection and disconnection.
To avoid delays between these phases, IP telephony usually uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) – as does the FRITZ!Box.
This protocol serves as the framework for communication to take place: When a call is placed, SIP establishes the connection between the two parties. The actual data transmission is handled either by other independent protocols or by those implemented within SIP (such as SDP). Each of them performs a different task and works with the others to provide for a successful call.
On the safe side with FRITZ!Box
The FRITZ!Box is the right choice for VoIP. All current models with a phone system support internet telephony. You can use the phone services offered by your provider as well as those from extra VoIP providers.
This way you benefit from convenience features like an integrated answering machine, call diversion and blocks, fax function with email forwarding and more. Also, you'll receive regular free updates with new functions and security improvements, plus you can manage various phone books on the web-based interface and configure your own ringtones.
While the FRITZ!Box takes care of the connection using VoIP, you enjoy convenient calling in the highest quality with your FRITZ!Fon.
