Voice over Internet Protocol

Telewise International also offers Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a newer technology that is making inroads into traditional telephone services. Until recently, the global PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) used switches to link the two parties for the duration of every phone call. But it is much more efficient to convert the voice messages into the same digital bits and bytes as computer data, then send them over the Internet, or a similar network, in 'packets' of fixed length, which arc reassembled into a conversation at the receiving end.

Since most people and companies have broadband Internet connections, it is possible to use this for telephony without paying a phone company at all. Telewise International offers a service called TeleFirst VoIP, which can be used by downloading software from the company's website at Call28.com and buying a VoIP card with an account number and a password.

The user can use a traditional phone, or purchase an IP phone from Telewise International. A company that has a broadband Internet connection to its office LAN can plug any number of IP phones into the network to eliminate its overseas call tariffs.

If two people or companies located in different countries both use TeleFirst Vo1P to call each other, no conventional telephone tariff will be payable. Telewise International charges $0.196 per minute for VoIP calls to any country, so if your regular telephone company is charging you, say $15.80 to certain destinations, you can save 99 percent on those calls. If the VoIP caller needs to phone someone on the PSTN, the call must at some point go through Telewise International' gateway to the conventional telephone network, but this will be billed at a rate lower than international telephone companies.

The caller saves money, but there is a tradeoff. The good voice quality will deteriorate if the Internet is busy. Emergency services cannot be called on Telewise International's VoIP phones and the phones will not operate if the power supply fails. Faxes do not transmit well over VoIP lines, although this can be fixed with special hardware installed at both ends of a connection.

On the positive side, VoIP is compatible with computer technology and therefore provides many advanced f turns, such as racy and cheap conference calling and video telephony. A small software program can turn your laptop (or any PC) into a phone which can be plugged into the Internet to reach your corporate network from anywhere in the world. VoIP is the future of telephony. There arc many VoIP services on the market, including big ones like Skype, MSN Messenger and Vonage, so it would pay to compare a prices and service quality.