While VoIP hasn’t always been as reliable as it is now, IP telephony has been revolutionary for a lot of businesses. When the signals reach the endpoint(s), they are decoded and the call seems like an uninterrupted stream of audio. The signals are encoded using codecs such as the G.711 and G.729. So how does VoIP work? When a phone call commences (thanks to SIP, or other protocols like H.323), the audio signals are digitised and transmitted as IP packets. With IP telephony, calls are instead made over a data connection. Traditionally, calls were delivered using the public switched telephone network, better known as the acronym PSTN. The definition of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). VoIP is an umbrella term for a group of technologies that allow you to make and receive voice communications and multimedia sessions over IP networks, for example, the internet. VoIP, pronounced ‘voyp’, stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and is often referred to as IP telephony. If you’re already using a cloud-based telephone system, chances are it uses SIP. SIP isn’t the only protocol used with VoIP, there are actually several. In the context of a phone call, this means the session initiation protocol initiates the phone call, sends signals between the two devices, and ends the phone call when either endpoint signals that the call is complete. In the context of VoIP, SIP establishes and manages the session and terminates the connection once the session is concluded. The session initiation protocol is used in all types of internet communication sessions. In the circumstance of VoIP, SIP will define how the two endpoints communicate, whether those are IP phones or other internet-enabled devices. The definition of SIP (session initiation protocol).Īn internet protocol is a set of rules that dictate how internet-enabled devices communicate with each other. It is a popular internet telephony protocol that is often used with VoIP. SIP stands for session initiation protocol. To demonstrate how SIP and VoIP work together, I’ll explain what both are and they work. So while SIP and VoIP aren’t the same thing, they often work together. SIP is a protocol that enables calls over a data connection. SIP is often used with VoIP, but it isn’t the same thing. Is SIP the same as VoIP? SIP is not the same as VoIP. SIP and VoIP are just two of the acronyms flying about, but do they mean the same thing? Are they similar at all? The IP telephony world can seem like a sea of acronyms sometimes.

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