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INTERNET TELEPHONY AS ALTERNATIVE

Internet telephony means talking facility through internet connection
between a computer and a computer or a computer and a telephone.
The conversation can be done by using high speed cable connections,
broadband and data services. Internet telephony is also called VOIP
,broadband telephony.
Internet telephony refers to communication through voice, fax, sms ,
voice and video messaging over public internet. Because of low cost,
businesses are replacing the telephone systems to VOIP(voice over
internet protocol). All communications-phone calls, faxes, web
conferences and more can all be delivered to any handset , including
cellphones. This allows both voice and data communications to be run
over a single network, which can automatically reduce infrastructure
costs.
Dual-mode phones enable users to continue their conversations
between an outside cellular service and an internal Wi-Fi network, so its
no longer required to carry both laptop and phone .maintenance
becomes simpler. A big difference is established between traditional
telephony and internet telephony through video calling service providers
like skype and google duo which are free of charge connections between
any same application users.
When it comes to the quality of the service , the VOIP is considered
as less reliable because it does not provide a network based mechanism
to ensure that data packets are not lost. In this networking system we
have to wait for complete transfer of previous data before sending a new
one. But alike the conference call system in general telephony skype
also provides also provides a group attendance at a time.
Voice over Internet Protocol, abbreviated VoIP, is a fairly recent
technology. It goes by many names, including Voice Over Broadband
Internet Telephony, IP Telephony, and broadband phone.
The advent of the Internet brought with it an abundance of innovation
regarding communication. Of course, there was email in the beginning,
but then people started wondering whether they could communicate in
real-time. This brought about instant messaging, which put AOL in the
spotlight as the most popular provider. But, others wanted a more
personal connection they wanted to hear another persons voice over
the Internet in real time, which brings us to VoIP.

VOIP
To put it simply, VoIP is the transmission of voice data packets from
one IP address to another over the Internet. Developed around 1995,
originally it served as a work-around for long-distance and international
telephone charges. Less than two decades old, VoIP has revolutionized
communication all around the world.
VoIP may not seem like much to the average person after all, most
people these days have cell phones with plans that do not incur high
surcharges and fees for long-distance or international calls. But, perhaps
VoIP is not for the average person, anyway. When thinking about the
usefulness of VoIP, it is important to consider its origins, and what it was
intended for to begin with.

VoIP operates by transferring voice signals between IP addresses, which

means that these signals have to transform into pieces of data small
enough to transmit. Vocal samples from the sender are broken down into
voice packets, which are given routing information and sent to the
receiving end. The packets transmit one-by-one, then re-form as close to
the original state as possible, creating one whole voice. This process
compresses the voice signal, and then decompresses the signal for the
receiver.
SETTING THE STAGE
VoIP would not exist today if it were not for three major inventions: the
telephone, the Internet and perhaps most crucially, Internet Protocol (IP).
Invented in the 1870s by the independent duo Alexander Graham Bell
and Elisha Grey, the first widely used telephones required an operator at
a switchboard to relay calls between the caller and the receiver.
In the mid-1900s, AT&T used new technology to create the touch-tone
buttons that home phones still have today. This allowed for the digital
switching of calls, eliminating the position of the human operator. The US
government soon broke the phone company giant apart, and as a result,
people were able to buy their own phones rather than lease them. The
deregulation of ownership also allowed for more creativity, which led to
new phone designs.

The Internet first made its appearance in the mid-1960s, though it was
not the Internet we know today. Originally, it was developed by the
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), and was a
rudimentary computer network founded by the US Department of
Defence. It was used primarily to provide communications among the
Department and the US Military.

Digital transmission of data can be done through internet.

Different ways of internet telephony : internet telephony can be
utilised in a variety of ways. The hard ware and software requirements
vary(an internet connection is always required).
Pc-pc
Users can communicate with their computers in variety of ways. The
goal of internet telephony is to be seen ,heard, or both, so one needs a
camera and a microphone to interface with the computer . using
connecting applications users can connect to anyone else using the
same program for real time video chatting over an internet connection
which are typically free.
pc-phone
some programs such as skype allow a computer user to dial an actual
phone number, so one user is using their pc microphone and other is
using the telephone. These kind of services are not free.
pc-fax
internet telephony can be used to send fax transmissions to a
physical fax machine , however since faxes are different kind of data
than voice there are some technical difficulties involved. Most companies
now offer full compatibility to send faxes over internet. In here some
information cannot be legally faxed via internet telephony.

phone-phone
few companies offer phone to phone services for a monthly fee. User
needs to buy an IP address which fits into a internet router for this
services. But now few free calling applications are featured in the market
like viber to make free calls from phone to phone.
phone-pc
many smart phones are able to use a Wi-Fi network when
available ,offering faster speeds than its own cellular network. Skype
provides a free application for smart phones which utilises the phones
built in camera and microphone and allows users to call other skype
users for free or for small fee.
Transmitting voice and video over the internet works much in
same way that all transfers work over the internet-in packets.
Speech and video are sampled by the computer and are
compressed to save space. The compressed samples are then
broken into small packets. These small packets are sent via
internet to their destination, where they must be reassembled.
This induces some delay to perfectly carry a conversation.

Internet telephony security issues

As VoIP has grown over the years, so have the security issues ass8ociated
with the service. Just like any other form of software, both the issues and
the steps to prevent them are constantly changing. For the most part,
many of the security issues are simply an annoyance and can easily be
dealt with. However, unlike regular land lines, the most severe security
issues involve important data that has to be stored and therefore gives
the person with the proper set of skills the ability to continue hacking until
the data is accessed. Sensitive information ranging from incriminating
secrets to bank account information is all accessible through VoIP.
With these issues in mind, the biggest concerns may not be the software
to protect oneself, but instead the lack of legal precedent to protect VoIP
users. VoIP service has been around since 1995 but only managed to
attract 10 million users in its first nine years. Since then VoIP service has
grown ten times as much and only now are we beginning to see legal

action to protect VoIP users. For now VoIP is mostly governed by the
providers and users, which is a major concern for obvious reasons.
Spamming over internet technology(SPIT):
SPIT is defined as the transmission of bulk unsolicited messages and
calls. The inability to stop SPIT has providers fearing it may turn
costumers away from VOIP.
To annoy one with SPIT, the harasser must first gather victims by
following:

Get a valid SIP URI

Acquire first three numbers of VOIP service provider

Find out which numbers are associated to costumers

Gain the IP address of victims.

Hacking:
There are many different ways to hack a VOIP call. Mainly are two types

Flooding

Interception.

Flooding:
One common form of hacking is known as flooding. Flooding is the
action taken by a hacker which overwhelm the VOIP user with calls and
makes it virtually impossible for a user to access the service . though
flooding rarely ends with a user releasing valuable information or
harming their computer.
Interception:
Following are the steps a hacker does to intercept Hackers must first corrupt a users ARP cache

They then use a sniffer to access VOIP data stream

Hacker then sniff UDP traffic.

INTERNET TELEPHONY LEGAL ISSUES

Taxation
Wiretapping
911
Taxation:Many countries are asking VOIP
owners to pay
telecommunication tax. If the company refuses to pay then it is
imposed on the people using these services in baltimore.
911:Routers designed to direct 911 calls rely on area codes, and thus
are in applicable to VOIP services since the subscribers area
code may be different from his calling location. 911 ordered them
to create a new domain to direct emergency calls from VOIP calls
to this in 3 months time.
Wiretapping:It would be difficult for VOIP providers to argue that their services
are not intended to be replacement for local tele phone service .
while there may be an information service component to their
product .like this the court cleared the issue.

Benefits of internet telephony-

Internet telephony holds a few advantages over traditional phone

service:
low cost
the main benefit of internet telephony is low cost. Pc to pc calls
are generally free and pc to phone calls are a fraction of the cost
of a traditional phone line.
video
the ability to transmit and watch video is huge plus for
internet telephony, a technology that mankind established
successfully.
portability
one only needs a laptop and an internet connection to use
internet telephony .
features
many of the features available for a fee with the traditional phone
line ,such as caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding , are free with
internet telephony.

Disadvantages of internet telephony

Internet telephony may sound too good to be true, but there are some
downsides:

electricity
traditional phones work with or without electricity. Not so with
internet telephony. If power goes out the phone service may not
be available.
sound quality

sound quality is not a huge disadvantage as advancements are

continually made in technology, but an analog phone line offers
better quality and consistency. Internet telephony is prone to lose
packets during transmission , resulting in dropouts.

Compatibility
VOIP connections have been known to have issues with devices
such as satellite television receivers and conventional modems
that need to dial an outgoing number.
The VOIP line is set for voice not for data. This problem was not
as widespread as before as companies are increasingly making
devices that are compatible with the lines.
So ,Internet telephony can be boon to human culture if it is put to
use in a right way.

[N JEEVAN KUMAR REDDY]