Elliot Devine 14:59, 29 Oct 2004 (EST) IP_Telephony
ENTRY 1: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/inet/2000/flyer/flyer.pdf
Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony is rapidly reaching the top of the agenda of the communications industry worldwide. The key issue that has gained attention of policy-makers, regulators, and industry alike is that the Internet, and other IP based networks, is increasingly being used as an alternative to circuit switched telephone networks.
IP telephony provides in many degrees, alternative means of originating, transmitting, and terminating voice and data transmissions that would otherwise be carried by the public switched telephone networks.
In many countries it is now possible, using a standard telephone, to call almost any other telephone in the world by means of IP telephony.
The transmission of voice over IP-based networks, with its challenges and associated opportunities, of voice and data integration constitutes a mile stone in the convergence of the communication sector. Although progressing rapidly, Internet telephony still has some problems with reliability and sound quality, due primarily to limitations both in Internet bandwidth and current compression technology. As a result, most corporations looking to reduce their phone bills today confine their Internet-telephony applications to their intranets. With more predictable bandwidth available than the public Internet, intranets can support, real-time voice communications. The ultimate objective of Internet telephony is, of course, reliable, high-quality voice service, the kind that users expect from the PSTN.
At the moment, however, that level of reliability and sound quality is not available on the Internet, primarily because of bandwidth limitations that lead to packet loss. In voice communications, packet loss shows up in the form of gaps or periods of silence in the conversation, leading to a clipped-speech effect that is unsatisfactory for most users and unacceptable in business communications.
The ultimate destination for IP telephony will depend on the successful transition of old and new media technology. With improved reliability and sound quality IP will in time overcome and supersede the current means of communication.
