Voice over Internet Protocol

An overview of the current and future trends of this communication technology.

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, as it is also known, is a combination of telephonic technology with Internet applications. This paper describes the trends, characteristics, and technology of VoIP and examines its applications in the future. It also looks at regulation issues and global issues relating to VoIP.

Table of Contents
Description of VoIP Trends and Characteristics
VoIP Technology
Future Trends
Companies Involved with VoIP
Regulation Issues
Global Implications of VoIP
References
“According to the VON Coalition, regulation should be appropriate to what is being regulated (Miller, 2004). Traditional telephone regulation is thus highly inappropriate for a diversified field such as VoIP. The VON Coalition uses a comparative approach to demonstrate this point. The most important aspect is that traditional telephone companies have a large amount of market power, since the technology is focused on a single system. VoIP on the other hand consists of various providers with limited and diversified market power. This necessitates alternative regulation practices that best benefit the users of the technology.”