More than voice
VoIP is based on the Internet Protocol (IP), which is in fact, along with TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), the basic underlying protocol for the Internet. By virtue of this, VoIP also handles media types other than voice: you can transfer images, video and text along with the voice. For instance, you can speak to someone while sending her files or even showing yourself using a web cam.More efficient use of bandwidth
It is known that about 50 % of a voice conversation is silence. VoIP fills the ‘empty’ silence spaces with data so that bandwidth in data communication channels is not wasted. In other words, a user is not given bandwidth when he is not talking, and this bandwidth is used efficiently for other bandwidth consumers. Moreover, compression and the ability to remove redundancy in some speech patterns add up to the efficiency.Flexible network layout
The underlying network for VoIP does not need to be of a particular layout or topology. This makes it possible for an organization to make use of the power of proven technologies like ATM, SONET, Ethernet etc. VoIP can alwso be used over wireless networks like Wi-Fi.When using VoIP, the network complexity inherent in PSTN connections is eliminated, yielding an integrated and flexible infrastructure which can actually support many types of communication. The system being more standardized, it requires less equipment management and is therefore more fault tolerant.
