What is Internet Telephony?

Internet Telephony, in simplest terms is the joining of a telephone with computer systems.  Internet Telephony is capable through hundreds of different services that offer special program applications to run their service.  It enables you to call from your computer to other computers or even to a regular analog telephone, simply by connecting through your ISP (internet service provider). 

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Telephony

There are two ways a telephony application reacts with your computer, these are known as "first-party" and "third-party".  A first-party application is a connection through a telephone line where the computer is the recipient.  For example, if a person were calling to your computer from a phone, and you were off somewhere else, the computer automatically senses the ring, answers the call, and imitates the system's voicemail application to have the caller leave a message.  All this is done automatically from a person to a computer.  The third-party application is where two people are conversing without the computer running automatic tasks. Third-party applications are basically like a telephone conversation, only over a computer to telephone connection.

Then, there are two types of conversating through internet telephony, PC to Telephone, and PC to PC.  PC to telephone is the type of connection where one of the talking persons is conversating through a telephone, while the other is conversating from a computer.  PC to telephone is the type of connection where a person conversates with another person, and both are talking through their ISP, from one computer to another.  This type of conversating requires both recipients to have the same type of internet telephony program.

There are thousands of different programs offered on the internet for telephony capabilities.  Delta Three offers the PC to Phone connection with 30 free minutes, and  Microsoft's NetMeeting offers the PC to PC connection.  There are many out there, all with different rates and applications.  

What Are the Benefits of Telephony?

Internet telephony saves money over any ordinary telephone plan.  For a PC to Phone connection, rates can be up to 70% less than a regulare phone company's, and up to 90% less for a PC to PC connection.  Internet telephony can save money also by enabling you to make calls and be on the internet simultaneously, rather than having to buy a second phone line for the expensive rates charged.  Internet telephony also provides a much more secure connection with the person you are talking to, with special encryption capabilities.  Then there are several other applications that you can add on to an Internet Telephony application, to offer more features than that of a regular telephone.  For example, let's say you were running late for an important meeting, and you need to pick up some important documents on the computer in your office.  Special Internet Telephony hardware and software can enable you to use a laptop and call into your office computer to pull the documents off the computer from your current location.  And the capabilities extend way beyond what is typed on this page.  

What is the Bad Side of Telephony?

Unfortunately, at this point in time, telephony has only been capable of giving cellular phone sound quality and depending on the internet traffic that is on during your conversation, the quality may be even worse.  However, there is special hardware offered to enhance the quality greatly,  Internet PhoneJACK is one of the most popular of Telephony hardware offered, enhancing the quality of a conversation up to 40%.

Internet Telephony, though still in the beginning stages of development, will soon be the wave of the future.

References:
PhoneZone.com
Cat-Hop.com
ComputerTelephony.com
Dialogic.com

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