Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

In 1973 researcher Danny cohen’s Network voice protocol was first used on ARPANET (Advanced Research projects Agency Network), where it allowed research sites to talk with each other over the computer network. For many years afterword, however, sending your voice over the internet was the preserve of researchers, geeks, and early computer gamers.

But in 1995 a company called vocalTec released a piece of software it called internet phone. Designed for Microsoft Windows, it turned the speaker’s voice into computer data, compressing it enough to send it in real time over a modern connection to another computer on the internet.

“The Advantage is obvious : I can call my mate is Sydney and chat for the price of a local London call. “

Many people suddenly became interested in internet Telephone, for one simple reason-it was cheap. In the united states, for example, the local call to connect to the internet was often free, whereas long-distance calls were costly.

As internet speeds improved and other companies started to offer similar services, making telephone calls across the internet gained a generic name: voice over internet protocol, commonly known as  VOIP. VOIP is extremely popular. Skype, One of the best companies has clocked up more than a hundred billion minutes of calls between its users since 2003 when the service started.