So how does VOIP work? Before we get to that, let's look at how the history of home phone service has evolved over time. It used to be that everyone used the same company for phone service and consumers did not have a choice. People could call locally or could pay more for long distance telephone calls. Competition created better rates for their home phone service, but for many phone calls were still too expensive.

VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol was developed to eliminate long distance phone charges. In the early days two people would have a microphone and a speaker on their computers and were able to call each other without using a phone. The problem was both people had to be on the computer to talk to one another at the same time.

In recent years, phone companies like Vonage and others have harnessed the power of VOIP so you could use the service with your regular phone. With a regular phone line, your voice is carried by an analog signal. With Voice over IP, the signals are carried digitally which is why you need a high speed internet connection to make VOIP work.

In a nutshell, VOIP lets you transmit calls over your internet connection and can save you a lot of money in the process by providing cheap home phone service. Hopefully you have a better understanding now of how Voice Over IP works.

Other Frequently Asked Questions

What is VOIP?