VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) - Challenges Associated with Voice over IP

You are not required to have broadband Internet access in order to have Voice over IP, but you will have a higher quality of service if you do. Many people have DSL internet which usually requires you to have a traditional phone line. So if you were to get Voice over IP you would have to pay for that phone service, while still paying for the traditional phone service in order to have DSL service. Now some DSL companies are offering what is called naked DSL or dry loop DSL, which no longer requires you to have a traditional phone line. With this technology you would now only have to pay for one phone service, the Voice over IP. Of course you can get Voice over IP with cable internet also, which does do away with the traditional phone line completely, leaving only one phone service to pay for.

Voice over IP is still a relatively new form of technology, so the quality of service is not as good as it could be yet. The quality of service will most likely be noticed when you are making long distance or are interworking between end points with Voice over IP. You will also notice a drop in quality when congested networks are involved. Voice over IP technology is becoming more reliable and voice quality is getting better, but there are still many improvements that still need to be made.

There are many challenges when it comes to Voice over IP and emergency calls to 911. The major problem is that many Voice over IP companies have not clearly defined the geographical regions and locations of their network users. For this reason when someone using Voice over IP calls 911 their call is unable to be routed to the correct 911 call center. So if you have an emergency and are not able to give your name or address then the call center that your call is forwarded to will never be able to find you. Many Voice over IP companies are realizing this problem and are fixing their networks so that they are more like mobile phone operators, using a technical work-around. For the most part this is turning out to be easier than expected. Mainly because Voice over IP companies just require any new users to give a physical address to correspond with their phone number, so that any 911 calls can be routed to the correct call center. Many Voice over IP companies are running their own emergency call centers for calls that are not properly routed, so that they can make sure all 911 calls are routed to the right call centers. It is good to know that the United States government has set a deadline for when all Voice over IP companies have to everything fixed with routing 911 calls to the appropriate call centers. The bad part is that many major Voice over IP companies are appealing the deadline saying there is no way they can have everything fixed.

If you have software based Voice over IP then you will be required to use a computer in order to make and receive phone calls, which is considered single point of calling. Handsets are now becoming available which can be used without a computer. If you are using a hardware Voice over IP solution you are able to use a router and an existing central phone box in your house, so that you can have Voice over IP with every phone in the house already connected.

Another challenge for Voice over IP that have many people skeptical is security. The problem is that for the most part Voice over IP solutions are not capable of supporting encryption yet. Because of this it is rather easy for other people to eavesdrop on any Voice over IP users phone conversations, and in some cases even change their content. Some Voice over IP companies are starting to use compression in order to make eavesdropping as difficult as possible. For the most part there are not any ways to secure Voice over IP phone calls at the consumer level yet. There is technology that is currently being worked on that may help fix the security problems, but there is no timeline on when the technology will be available to the public.

Caller ID is still a minor problem with Voice over IP. In most cases caller ID is not supported so the person you are calling will never know who is calling them. Some Voice over IP companies are making it possible for the user to “spoof” the caller ID information, making it possible for another number to show up on caller ID every time you call someone.