Residential VOIP

VoIP (voice-over IP) is a technology where voice communications are delivered using the Internet Protocol (IP). Simply put, your land-line telephone calls can be transmitted in real-time using the power of the Internet, and answered just like you would any telephone call — by picking up the phone — at a substantial savings over Telephone Company calling plans. It works for local, long distance, and international calling. While Residential VOIP is helpful to keeping personal costs down, the most dramatic impact can be experienced in the business sector where 50% and more can slash tele- communication costs!

Residential VOIP allows households to combine voice and data communication over the Internet. VOIP service is the ultimate tool for direct communication. You can share data online and hold a discussion with the recipient at the same time.

Let’s see Residential VOIP Options. Residential VOIP can be used as in Internet chat device. You can share pictures or data with a friend and talk about it at the same time. It is a great feature because it will not tie up your personal home telephone line. There are many Residential VOIP service plans to choose from. Most household choose the cheapest plan which allows you to converse with just one person at a time. However, you can choose to converse with up to 50 people at once if you desire. Residential VOIP service plans for residences are commonly associated with online gaming. VOIP for gaming allow you to play video games and converse with teammates or opponents at the same time. It is the ultimate tool in team player online video games and makes the process much more interesting.

Building Residential VoIP Gateways: While voice-over-IP (VoIP) products have been deployed in the market for over seven years, recent announcements by service providers such as Vonage, AT&T, Sprint and others have created a flurry of activity by consumer equipment manufacturers racing to roll out Residential VOIP gateway products. These low-cost devices are usually standalone boxes that provide VoIP functionality for POTS (plain old telephone system) via a broadband modem (usually cable or DSL). They serve as a bridge between the TMD/analog POTS world, and the IP-centric, packet-based world of the Internet.

As with most consumer products, their designers are usually faced with meeting aggressive product cost targets along with tight development schedules. The product feature shopping list often includes features not only specific to the basic VoIP gateway functionality but to other ancillary functions as well. These include data bridging and routings, such as found in common residential router products, emerging voice and signaling security features such as voice encryption and IPSec, and quality of service (QoS) features necessary to troubleshoot and maintain residential VoIP services.

There are many Residential VOIP service providers. PacketCable is an IP-services delivery platform. PacketCable consists of several specifications that define functional components and interfaces needed for delivering IP services over the DOCSIS 1.1 cable access network. Residential VoIP is the first service based on the PacketCable specifications that cable operators are actively testing in their labs and in field trials. PacketCable specifies a complete solution for delivering end-to-end IP-based telephony services. A stepping stone solution, known as line control signaling (LCS), is also specified and includes IP-based components on the access network connecting to a circuit switch in the headend.

The Residential VOIP market is already facing a hail of price cuts, so it is likely that the incumbents (with their bigger bank rolls and large target markets) can win this low-margin business. To tap into higher value business (often associated with small and medium businesses), a one size fits all approach no longer works.