A Smaller World through the Internet

00_28_33_956_fileBefore the internet was born, the major forms of communication were by postal service and by telegraph. Back then, if you wanted to send a message to a friend and were not in a hurry to send it, you could write your friend a letter and send it by regular mail. However, if you wanted to send an urgent message, you could send it by speed mail. And if the message was really urgent, as in during an emergency, you could send it by telegraph. Depending on where you were, the telegraph service could be expensive. In many cases, the payment was based on the number of words used in the message, which is why telegrams were generally very short messages; longer messages cost much more.

Of course, telephones were also being used during those times, but long distance calls were very expensive in certain countries. Thus, the telephone was not exactly the mode of communication that people used for simple chats and exchange of stories. Furthermore, there were still many places that did not have phone lines, places that could be accessed only by the feet of a mailman. Thus, during those times, if friends or loved ones moved to other sides of the world, your only chance of communicating with them and updating them about your life was through snail mail. And if either you or they had no time to write, you would probably not hear from each other in a very long time, if at all.

Thank goodness we do not live in those decades anymore. Now, we can send and receive electronic mail in a fraction of a second, send a fax message over the internet, and even send short text messages to anyone across the globe at very cheap rates. And most importantly, we can keep in touch with loved ones and friends through chats, video calls, and internet calls. It is now possible to communicate with someone hundreds of miles away and actually hear their voice or see their faces while you communicate. Internet technology has made the world seem a lot smaller than it was years ago.

One offshoot of internet technology that has revolutionized telephone communication is voice over Internet protocol or VoIP. If you are unfamiliar with VoIP, it is the technology that converts analog audio signals into digital format and transmits it over the internet. VoIP has made it very easy to communicate with other people through voice calls no matter where they are in the world as long as they have an internet connection. VoIP has also made voice calls cheaper, which is why it may not come as a surprise if this technology has somehow taken the place of traditional telephone systems. At present, there are a lot of companies providing VoIP services, offering it with various calling plans, and many more telecom companies are realizing its potential.

VoIP works in three different ways. The first is through a device called analog telephone adaptor or ATA. The device connects a phone to your computer and makes calls through the internet. The second is through an IP phone, which looks just like an ordinary phone. The only difference is that it has an ethernet connector instead of the usual RJ-11 connectors. The IP phone must be connected directly to the router. The third is through computers. VoIP calls can be made from one computer to another.

By using VoIP services, people are able to call their loved ones without having to spend a lot. VoIP has certainly changed the way we communicate today.

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