VOIP

My first experience with VOIP calls were during those days when I used the CISCO voip routers and MPLS protocols. The VOIP equipment was very expensive and only corporations were able to afford it. After 5 years, I had a chance to look at the latest broadband phone at a friend’s place last week. She got the phone for free after purchasing a broadband service from Vonage. She bought it for her folks back home in a different country (India). Even though the technology is dodgy and the equipment setup is finicky, I am very much impressed with the advances in VOIP. The main reason for use of this service by my friend is that it costs less than to make an International phone call. The MAC address of the telephone equipment was mapped to a unique US phone number. One needs a broadband connection to connect the equipment and start using. It is more practical than the computer-to-computer voice/video connection. People are used to talk over phones, not with microphones on their head in front of a computer.