Can Network Infrastructure Cope VOIP Adoption?
VoIP technology is more efficient by combining data and voice transmissions into one system that is connected to the Internet. VoIP service is currently free from most, if not all, state and federal taxes and tariffs that are typically imposed on POTS (plain old telephone service) providers.
This means that VoIP service is anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent less expensive than traditional POTS service.
But the underline fact is that the VoIP infrastructure must be strong enough to support the seamless movement of data packets.
With the POTS, data transmission via facsimile is unidirectional rather than bidirectional or multidirectional. This means that, while someone is sending, the other side is locked up and cannot transmit, resulting in slower data transmission or no transmission, since data re-routing is not automatically available as in the Internet context. Voice transmissions through POTS are bidirectional, but the routing of the traditional telephone call is static or fixed, preventing automatic rerouting if a particular pathway is blocked. Moreover, POTS does not allow for simultaneous transfer of data with voice transmission.
As with any new telecommunications technology, government regulation always becomes a question, especially when the telecommunications technology involves the Internet. Indeed, the courts, Congress, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are still hashing out jurisdictional issues in the regulation of VoIP.
As a practical matter, VoIP technology continues to develop rapidly. For instance, the development of the Internet has long contained a promise of video phones being available. With the implementation of VoIP technology, video telephone calls are now a reality within the grasp of businesses and consumers alike. Video phone units that require broadband access and constitute a form of VoIP are available from $ 269 per unit to as much as $ 599 a unit, depending on the features and specifications of the particular user. The only drawback with these systems, at the moment, is that the units work only with each other and one brand’s phones are not yet designed to integrate with another brand of video phone. So at least in the short-term, businesses are required to buy multiple units for branch offices, or individual consumers are required to buy sufficient units for family members, who are spread out among vast distances.
Another recent development concerns the adapter technology for linking or connecting a telephone device to a computer device for sending and receiving VoIP. Two leaders in home networking equipment, Netgear and Linksys (a division of Cisco Systems), recently announced plans to build phone jacks into wired and wireless equipment. The jacks are designed to provide an instant link to the commercial VoIP network developed by Vonage. Furthermore, there are additional products from these companies that allow home system broadband routers to work with the VoIP phone jacks so that multiple computers within the home can participate and enjoy VoIP phone calls with a wireless configuration. Thus, one broadband connection can be shared by all PCs within a household for VoIP usage.
On the negative side, the advent of VoIP technology also means introducing new risks to the user. These risks include the interception of VoIP communications through industrial espionage or the theft of trade secrets transmitted over VoIP. Indeed, as companies seek to implement VoIP as part of wireless networks, the threat to interception by third parties other than law enforcement is very real. Developing proper network security protocols and a strong infrastructure network is a constant problem given the plethora of circumvention efforts by programming experts.
Audible spam over VoIP presents another problem. Because VoIP systems are grounded in the TCP/IP protocol of the Internet, the ability to design software programs that make multiple phone calls with pre-programmed announcements and unsolicited sales offers already looms on the horizon and threatens to be as ubiquitous and pervasive as visual SPAM on a computer screen. The development of VoIP SPAM filters and other related software protection products will no doubt follow. VoIP also creates an opportunity for designers of viruses to infect computer systems. Therefore, antivirus software will have to address this threat.