VOIP from then and now | VOIP history

What is voip?

VOIP is the real time transmission of voice over internet protocol. The fundamental of voip is the telephone and the internet. Telephone is used to send our real time voice via local exchange. Exchange is the place where the routing and switching is done of large subscribers. Now after internet was invented, our voice now can be sent via an internet instead of exchange. Voice now will be converted into packets. Packets are the small group of information. Such way of sending our voice/videos is the VOIP.

The invention of PSTN and  internet lead the foundation of VOIP. The telephone was invented by Alexander Gram Bell in 1870's. After the first invention, in 1878, first exchange was established in new Haven, USA. In 1889, hte "strowger switch" was invented which connects one line to any of 100 lines using relays and sliders. Thus was used for almost next 50 years.

On the other side, during mid 1900's, the transistor was invented. Dr Shannon published ,"A mathematical theory of communication" which promoted the concept of communicating in binary code. This lead the foundation for the modern digital communication.

In 1963, US company AT&T created"Touch Tone Dialing". This replaced the human operators because of its automated menus and functionality. This allowed the calls to be switched digitally. 

Mean while, in the year 1968 , Internet was first developed by ARPANET(Advanced Research Project Agency Network ) in USA. In 1989, HTTP was developed in Geneva Switzerland. This formed the basic invention in world wide web(WWW).

Although the telephone and internet were vital to existence of voip, there was another technology that is closely related. In 1972, Vint Cerf and Robert Elliot Kahn invented transmission control protocol/internet protocol(TCP/IP).

VOIP started in February of 1995 by a small company in Israel called Vocaltec. Their product internet phone, allowed one user to call another user via their computers, a microphone and a set of speakers. This would worked for both PC having same software.

In the year 1996, voice mail applications came to life. users can send voice mail over the internet to the phone. However, poor sound quality, loss of connections, etc were major drawbacks.

In 1998, vocaltec went to create computer to telephone and telephone to telephone calling capacity for voip. voip calls accounted for less than 1% in 1998 because of the advertisement that they need to listen before and after the voice call. However, this accounts for 3% of all voice calls in 2000.

Growth and Popularity: 

Different companies pioneered in voip switching. By 2003, VOIP calls account for 25% of all voice calls. The availability of broadband internet services leads to this major leapfrog.

In around 2000, different instant messaging software like MSN messenger, yahoo chat was released. In 2003, skype launch its beta software that it allowed people to make computer voice calls, instant messaging with making voip a full utilization. Soon skype was used to make calls on landline and phones but at a cheaper rate then other VOIP companies. In 2005, Skype introduced video chat into their software, which makes them no one company in the market.

In 2006, yahoo also started providing voice calls between computers. In the same year, microsoft also releases beta of windows live messenger that offer PC to PC, PC to Phone calling service called windows live. In the year, 2012 VIber provide free HD voice calls between applications. Facebook messenger , whatsapp , Line are other application that widely use voip for calls.

The rising market of voip in the year 2014 have been seen in the telecom operators after they provide VoLTE service. It is voice over LTE. Now the smartphones supporting VoLTE can easily send their voice by breaking into packets through the network. As of January 2017, 55 countries have over 102 operators providing VoLTE service. 

VOIP: Voice over Internet Protocol

LTE: Long Term Evolution

PC: Personal COmpyter

HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol