The Foundation of VoIP - Packet Switching
Traditional phone service utilizes "circuit switching" vs. "packet switching", the basis on which VoIP was designed. What is the difference? Let's look back in time for a moment...
Circuit Switching
For the past 100 years or so, telephone have been carried on circuits. This means that a call between two people would require a connection be maintained in both directions for the entire length of the call. This connection would be continuous.For example, a 30 minute call between you and your friend Bob, would require an open, continuous connection for the entire 30 minutes.
Before fiber optics lines, the old copper wires required a dedicated wire connection was use in both directions. The costs were high. Fiber Optics now coverts analog calls to digital, allowing multiple calls to share a single fiber optic line. Sounds great right?
Although better than copper, fiber optic has a major drawback. It doesn't know the difference between talk and silence. Going back to your call with Bob, one of you talks while the other is listening (unless you are like my sister and I who both talk at once and hear it :) The current analog systems uses one half alloted space on silence, waiting for the other person to talk. This silences takes up bandwidth, and cost more in circuits to handle all that deafening silence!
Enter the Packet...
Along comes Packet Switching, which only send and receives informatiaon when necessary. Think of accessing a website. You internet connection doesn't maintain a constant connection to that website. Once you access the website, your computer will simply wait for you to do something, like click a link. Of course, this is done so quickly that we don't usually know what is happening behind the scenes.
So it is with VoIP, where circuit switching uses a constant open connection, packet switching opens a connection just long enough to send "packets" of data from one computer to another, or one phone to another. These pieces of information or signals packets are sent along the least congested and cheapest route available, leaving you free to send and receive email, talk on an IP Phone or surf the Internet.
Using 3-4 times less bandwidth space that circuit switching - converts to significant savings with packet switching. Have you made the switch?
Call or Contact us and we'll walk you through it!