Business VoIP A-Z- September Edition

Posted by: Jen Robinson

It's time for the second edition of Business VoIP A-Z! This month I'd like to highlight the next ten widely used Voice over IP (VoIP)-related terms. Whether you're just entering the VoIP world or are an industry veteran, these terms are vital to understanding VoIP systems or explaining VoIP to others.

1. Internet Protocol (IP) - A protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite, also referred to as TCP/IP.
2. Internet Service Provider - A company that provides internet access to consumers. 
3. Internet Telephony - The general term for a family of methodologies, communication protocols and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks.
4. Local Number Portability (LPN) - The ability to take a phone number form provider to provider.
5. Packets - A piece of a message transmitted over a packet switching network.
6. Private Branch Exchange (PBX) - A telephone exchange that serves a particular business or office, as opposed to one that a common carrier or telephone company operates for may businesses or the general public.
7. Protocol - A communications protocol is the set of standard rules for data representation, signaling, authentication and error detection which is required to send information over a communications channel
8. Router - An electronic device that interconnects two or more computer networks, and selectively interchanges packets of data between them.
9. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) - An IETF- defined signally protocol, widely used for controlling voice and video calls over Internet Protocol. 
10. Softphone - A software program for making telephone calls over the Internet using a computer.