You can download this week’s podcast for FREE at these fine locations:

• Voip Tech Chat (download mp3)
• iTunes
• And, thanks to popular request, you can also stream the chat by pressing the play button below:
   Download audio file (080611_01.mp3)

Looking for links from our podcast? Well look no further friends. Simply point, click, and read:

• That great IM Security article at CNET.com
• Asterisk
• Wikipedia’s list of Female Super-heroes
• Skype
• Las Vegas Airport
• George Michael

Sometimes, to discuss VoIP, we must discuss what VoIP is not — in this case, VoIP is not POTS.

POTS is the common nickname and acronym for Plain Old Telephone Service – you know, the “traditional” phone jack in your wall. The POTS system uses technology that is basically unchanged since the early 1900’s. The wires may be upgraded, sure there’s more features, but the telephone technology in use via POTS is essentially the same technology introduced before there were airplanes, highways, or even household refrigerators.

Background, aka Trivial Knowledge that Patrick would call Interesting

The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, who along with Thomas Edison, created a method of transferring voice over long distance through the use of connecting wires. Basically, one telephone would be physically connected to another.

Operators manually connected the two-parties together allowing the transfer of voice to occur. Human operators have since been replaced with automatic exchangers; where a computer determines the party you are wishing to talk to and making the connection. This device for automatic transfer is sometimes referred to as a telephone switch and the POTS engineers like to call their telephone network a Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN.

VoIP vs POTS

At VoIP Tech Chat, we are huge (no fat jokes please) proponents of Voice over Internet. Go Know. Of course, if we didn’t believe so strongly in Internet Telephone, then having a VoIP Tech Chat website would be a pretty stupid idea.

VoIP differs from POTS in many ways. Fundamentally, the end result is the same. In both systems you pick up a phone, dial a number, and talk to the other party. Other than that, the systems are extremely different. VoIP is digital and does not use wires to physically connect devices. VoIP works by digitzing your voice, sending it over the Internet to the destination, and then having it return to audio on the other side. (If you haven’t done so, you should really read “What is a VoIP?” by Patrick and Fred. It’s a great read and even mentions George Michael)

Like anything, both VoIP and POTS have their own Pros and Cons. Despite POTS technology remaining virtually unchanged since the early 1900’s, the reliability of POTS is unmatched. In fact the level of reliability achieved by POTS is the quintessential “five nines” reliability standard. This means, that with POTS, you can expect to have an outage for less than 6 minutes a year. (That’s why at&t and Verizon engineers make big change)

Now, let’s contrast five nines reliability to VoIP reliability. First, remember that VoIP requires a synergy of several service providers to get a dial tone. (Editor note: first quintessential and now synergy? Wow. Today must be vocab day at Voip Tech Chat) The two main players in VoIP are your Internet Service Provider and your VoIP Service Provider.

Let’s say for example that you were using Vonage as your VoIP provider and Comcast as your ISP. Comcast home Internet service has a 99.9% uptime average; which is very high for the industry. In fact, it would be hard pressed to find an ISP that provides you better than 99.9% uptime. Of course, even though 99.9% uptime is amazing, this translates to 44 minutes of downtime per month. Vonage doesn’t list their uptime average (in their defense, most VoIP companies do not list their uptime. We couldn’t find any for Vonage, VoIP.com, or Packet 8.). So, let’s assume Vonage has a 99% uptime (which is being generous according to the posts we read from users). This translates to an additional 7 hours of outage per month.

For reliability, there is no better choice than POTS. (Which is why many people keep a landline active for 911 service) But if you’re an average phone user willing to weigh Cost against Reliability, VoIP starts to look amazing. Of course, we’ll cover VoIP advantages in another article.

VoIP is natural – VoIP is good
Not everybody does it
But everybody should

Why would we paraphrase George Michael? Why not is the better question. You see, at VoipTechChat, we strive to be different. We don’t want to just talk about a 1979 Chevy Malibu… we want to talk about cooking with a 1979 Chevy Malibu. We’re not going to talk about a Buick LeSabre… we’re going to talk about jumping a Buick LeSabre that you could call it the General Lee. 

What was the question again? Oh yeah…. so what’s VoIP?

First of all, ask your self this question… Do you know what is Http?

Now, this is going to be like one of those Choose Your Adventure books, where you get a different answer based on your selection. But at VoipTechChat, we’re kind of lazy, so we’re just going to go ahead and post both answers here in the same post… but you’re on the honor system to only read your choice.

So… the question was, do you know what is http?

NO, I do not know what is http:

Ok… don’t worry. Most people don’t. It’s ok. We don’t think any less of you — we promise. For the record, if you’re reading this, you’re using a web browser… and http is the computer technology that allows this page to display. No biggie… the bottom line is even though you don’t know what http is, you still used it. Wow… pretty deep isn’t it? Alas, VoIP is the technology that allows your phone to use the Internet. But, since you don’t know what http is and you still visit websites, you can relax… “Forget about it.” Voip is internet phone. It works like a regular phone, but uses the Internet instead of the house wires. And that’s all you need to know.

YES, I know http. I am a Dungeon Master and I own 3 pocket protectors:

Sweet! Well, my 20 sided friend, VoIP is an acronym standing for…. wait for it… Voice Over Internet Protocol. Wow… pretty amazing, huh?

Voip works by digitzing your voice, sending it over the Internet to the destination, and then having it return to audio on the other side. You know star trek? (of course you do) Well, VoIP is like a transporter — for voice. The transporter on your end is a special phone (or adapter) that takes your voice, turns it into digital “packets” and then sends it on it’s way… and it also turns other digital packets into voice… allowing you to have an actual conversation. It’s pretty cool.

So, Voip is digital, internet phone service. To use Voip, you need 4 basic things:

1. Electricity
2. Internet (Generally high speed internet)
3. A VoIP phone or adapter
4. A VoIP service provider

That’s it? Yes, that’s it. Pretty sad really.

We will now open the forum for discussion…

First question comes from Mike in the hills of Oregon: Fred and Patrick. Love the show… long time listener… first time caller. Anyway, I don’t have electricity, can I still use VoIP?
  

No. You need electricity. Sorry. Please don’t mail us any more special packages by the way.

Mary from Utah asks: Patrick… I love your stories… huge fan… if I don’t have Internet, can I still use the Internet Phone?  

Hi Mary… um… well… Internet is pretty important for VoIP. Without the Internet, it would just be VoP. And nobody wants to use VoP. So, no, you cannot use an Internet Phone without the Internet.

Have a question for Fred and  Patrick? Ask it now… watch… we’ll really respond.