Internet developers came up with the Voice over Internet Protocol back in 1982, and were onto something good from the start. The goal was to reduce the cost of telephone calls, especially long distance calls, by using the Internet to carry the signal rather than expensive land lines. Today, combining VoIP with the new high-speed lines like Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) has created a new breeding ground for state of the art communications at a fraction of what it has cost in the past, including a dedicated VoIP ADSL phone.

VOIP was born when Internet connections were mostly made via modem at a peak rate of 57 Kilobits per second, and early VoIP calls were plagued by dropped words or, in the case of video conferencing, still or jerky frames.

The high data speeds and higher bandwidth available with today’s ADSL technology have significantly reduced these lag and quality problems and made the VoIP calling experience as good as using standard telephone lines.

Using the Internet to send voice and video is a complex process. The human voice takes up a lot of bandwidth and must be packed up for transmission, then unpacked at the other end of the link. Back in the 80s, VoIP was like pushing syrup through a soda straw. With today’s high-speed technologies like ADSL, VoIP is more like water at high pressure through a big hose.

A lot of work has been done to fine tune the experience of calls and video over VoIP. The communication industry works together and uses standards like SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to control data exchanges and other standards to improve sound quality.

To make high-speed service available to a wide range of users, various levels of service are offered with prices that match. The advantage here is that different types of users, from a student at a home computer to a business with many users can choose a service they can afford. There is also a wide range of speed options, but typically start at 128 Kilobits per second for a low-end DSL package to 8 Megabits per second for ADSL.

Communication service providers are always looking at innovative ways to use the ADSL and VoIP technologies. Because ADSL uses only part of a telephone line, most configurations make it possible to have both VoIP and standard land lines on one device. If the Internet goes down, a call can still be completed on the land line. A common configuration is an ADSL integrated modem with security firewalls offering ports for phone connections. New on the market are wireless and dedicated VoIP ADSL phones that provide cost-effective, land-line quality calls. Stay tuned for more. It is only going to get better.

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Broadband & Satellite