In every field of life, people need to interact and communicate. The most easiest and attractive mean of communication is verbal communication. For interchanging opinions through voice, many devices, based on different technologies, are available. One of the striking devices is an IP-phone. The synonyms for IP phones are VoIP telephones, SIP telephones and soft phones.
An IP-phone is the communication device based on VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) technology instead of public switched telephone network. This technology permits the telephone calls to be made over the internet, using a general purpose computer. It works by converting the voice to digital signal and vice versa. It appears like an ordinary telephone or a cordless phone with buttons, display screen and a handset. The handset is connected to the sound card of the personal computer.
The hardware components of the IP telephone include speaker, ear phone or microphone for receiving and delivering voice messages. It possesses ADC and DAC converter for the exchange of voice and digital messages. The other essentials include general purpose processor, Ethernet network hardware and voice engines. The most commonly used power sources are batteries and direct current sources. It requires no separate wiring.
IP-phone is directly connected with the router. After connecting to router, you get connected with the entire information sharing network. All that is needed is a voice over internet protocol software. This software can be bought at cheap rate or can be downloaded free of cost. This adapter takes the simple analogue signal and converts it into the digital signal for its provision to the other end, over the internet.
It provides many alluring features, including many business tools, call management services and other tools, as per the communication needs. It provides call forwarding, call waiting, local number portability, call blocking, FAX, three way calling, Last number re-dial and many other services. It keeps the complete record of caller ID, contact list and the voice mails.
IP-phones have a lot of benefits over any other means of communication. Home and business voice communication has become trouble-free by the use of IP-phones. By using it, one can have easy access to anybody across the globe. It is the cheapest mean of access. You can make local and international calls free of cost. The only expense you have to pay is the internet service provider charges.
On a simple telephonic conversation, only two persons can chat. With an IP phone, on the other hand, you can set a conference call. Thus, you can make extensions, and more than one call can be handled on one access line. It utilizes the compressed bandwidth that makes the transmission continuous and fool proof.
The portable nature of IP-phone greatly increases its popularity. Staying at home, you can access your office or organization through your IP-phone. You can also customise an auto-attendant. All local and international calls can easily be diverted using IP technology. Moreover, a simple telephone can also be converted into an Cisco IP Phones , using an ATA adapter.
So, IP phone technology is a revolutionary technology that has all the qualities of a sophisticated phone system. It makes your small business impressive and your life easier than ever before.