December 07, 2005
How To Rid Yourself Of Phone Charges With Internet Phone Service
Session Initiation Protocol and Short Message Service (SIP and SMS
respectively) refer to frameworks that allow devices to communicate
directly with one another without the need for a central routing
computer. It seems rather surprising that a mere framework can so
radically change the face of communication, but in the few years since
their explosion onto the communications world, SIP and SMS have done
just that.
The brilliance of SIP and SMS is that they are able to bypass the
traditional telephony model whereby a line had to be routed through a
telephone hub and maintained for the duration of a call to complete the
conversation. The process of routing and establishing connection as
well as maintaining connectedness throughout the call in increasingly
congested phone lines is quite an expensive venture. And like all good
for profit businesses, telephone companies were happy to pass the costs
of operation on to consumers in the form of high long-distance bills.
That has all changed, however, since the advent of SIP and SMS.
Because the SIP and SMS code is based on computer communication and
not telephone communication, it is able to work much like the internet
itself. That means that when you place a call through SIP or send a
message through SMS you do not have to pay the cost of a router
connecting your calls, but rather the technology automatically finds
the person you are trying to communicate with and rings their line.
What is established is a stable but temporary connection in between you
and the person you are speaking with. When you are done speaking the
connection is severed. That means that unlike traditional telephone
companies, SIP and SMS providers do not have to maintain millions of
lines that are not being used, but rather they simply rely on the very
precise code built in to the phone to create and sever connections as
needed. This creates a perfectly efficient system, which consequently
explains why SIP and SMS providers are able to offer long-distance
communication so cheaply.
SIP and SMS were designed not only with efficiency in mind,
however, but also integrated ease of use in the model. Because the
designers were fully aware that telephone users have become used to
having a handset and phone number, this has been integrated into the
SIP technology. Under the system SIP users can make calls from their
number through a regular handset just like they would ordinarily.
However, because the system is based on internet and not telephone line
communication, the benefits do not stop there. Rather, SIP allows users
to take their phone and plug it in wherever there is internet access.
And when they do, they can make and receive calls on their very same
phone number. So for instance, a business traveler can take his office
phone with him on a trip and receive calls to the same number, on the
very same phone, although physically he may have moved across the
country or even across the world.
The fact that the system is based on internet communication also
means that users get the benefit of paying their bill and adjusting
their services all from a single website. That is not to mention extra
services like conference calling, which is significantly cheaper with
SIP than with traditional telephony.
SIP and SMS allow users to send messages and phone calls from
around the world with the ease of making a local call. Because the
system is internet based it is able to offer a wide array of services
and features that typical providers are simply not able to touch. But
by far the most important benefit of both SIP and SMS is the cost. Due
to the fact that the system is peer-to-peer, users are able to save
tremendously on long-distance charges over their much more costly
land-line competitors.
About the Author: Jim Sherman writes about interesting topics such as Internet phone service. See http://www.mobalex.com for more information.
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