Today, we will talk about VoIP. And what is VoIP ? You probably don’t know what is VoIP, but we are sure you know what is Skype.

If you haven’t read our website (http://www.rmvalues.com/misc/voip.html), you might be interested in reading it and we are listing and comparing many voip providers (currently has 29) over there.

VoIP is abbreviation of Voice over Internet Protocol. It’s a general term for a family of transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications over IP networks such as the Internet or other packet-switched networks. Or we called it as the voice transmitted through the internet protocol.

Therefore, you cannot make VoIP calls without connecting to the internet.

How actually VoIP works ?

When a call is dialed, the system takes the phone number, connects over the local network to whatever system is providing service. That system figures out if the call needs to go into the regular phone network and if so switches it to a gateway that connects the call over the regular phone network. If the call can be completed without going over the regular phone network (the number dialed is also a VoIP system) then the provider system will route the call directly, performing protocol translation (to a different kind of VoIP) if needed.

Complicated ? Don’t understand ?

Never mind, let’s us look at the picture below

As you can see, the PSTN (Public switched telephone network) which showed in lightblue colour  is our normal phone to phone or phone to mobile calling pathway. And the green color indicate how the VoIP system works. First the call connect to internet, then go to phone.

Here you can see the differences, the PSTN doesn’t need internet, just dial and call. But VoIP required internet connectivity.

Why we use VoIP ?

If you have unlimited internet connectivity like streamyx package, you can save huge money by using VoIP to call your friends who are not only in Malaysia, but anywhere in the world.

VoIP calls are very cheap, as low as RM 0.03 per minute to several thousand km far away like to US, Canada, UK and so on.

Why it’s so cheap? Is it cheap = bad ?

Not really. VoIP calls are cheap because now internet is cheap too. Another reason is because they are not monopolies or government entities, and due to the large competition in the internet world as well as the cost of facilities are reducing, that’s why the price is so cheap, or even Free.

Why sometimes the calls quality is not good, or they can’t really hear me ?

When traveling on the network, VoIP calls are treated like any other network data – they are broken down into little pieces of digital information (packets) and sent by whatever route the network determines to be fastest. That means different pieces arrive at different times and out of order and then are reassembled back into the proper sequence at the destination.

Also many VoIP companies’ servers are located outside Malaysia, so the calls make from our computer or VoIP phone (e.g. KL) will have to travel to VoIP server (e.g. located in UK), then from UK travel to your friends (e.g. Penang) and vice versa. For this long distance travelling and due to now very common acute overselling bandwidth of the internet provider, many packets are lost during this transmission, so the quality becomes not so good.

What’s the PC and internet requirement to make the VoIP calls ?

Based on our experiences, current any PC which is not older than 5 years old and able to connect to internet, should be able to make VoIP calls.

And for the internet connectivity, we recommend minimum 384kbps speed with no any download or browsing activities during VoIP calls. Although 128kbps is sufficient for making VoIP calls, but from our experiences, those low speed will experience some difficulty in conversation, like bad hear, sound delay or even line drop.

Tomorrow we will continue to show you some VoIP providers.