What is VOIP?

As previously mentioned in the article entitled "What is Skype?" an increasing popular way to make long distance telephone calls, especially out of country, is using a VOIP service like Skype. VOIP stands for "voice over IP," which means that yes, it's an acronym that holds another acronym. "IP" means "Internet Protocol," so to break down "Voice Over Internet Protocol" it simply means that you can talk over the Internet like it's a phone.

To understand why this is impressive, one must first understand the difference between "analog" and "digital." If something is analog, it travels along a continuum. Think of this as the way someone can count between 1 and 2, using a seemingly infinite number of decimals between them. If something is digital, it's more like counting between 1 and 2 (well, 0 and 1 actually), but there are no decimals. It's either one or two. Sound is something that is analog, we can make a wide range of sounds, but computers and other electronic devices only understand digital (click here if you don't know why) so the trick is getting something to sound analog when in fact it's digital. I'll spare you the long explanation as to how that happens.

Once the sound is converted into a digital signal, it can then be sent over the Internet to anywhere you want it to go. When you use a service like Skype, you can "call" people to direct where your digitized voice will be sent to. The nice thing about the Internet is that whether your voice is going across town or across the world hardly changes the delay in conversation so it can simulate a phone very well, and since most countries have a decent connection to the Internet, it can usually also save you money versus using an actual telephone.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you're travelling abroad, using a VOIP service can save you money versus calling long-distance, but be careful if you're using an "Internet anywhere" card or a smartphone to access the Internet for that purpose as roaming fees for data are often much heftier than roaming fees for voice, and a conversation over VOIP can use a significant amount of data. When travelling abroad, I usually recommend turning off data roaming and using Wifi only if possible to save you from surprise several hundred dollar phone bills when you return.