Disadvantage Of Voip

With all this going for it, it's a wonder that anybody still uses regular phone services. However, there are a few disadvantages to VoIP. Continuous service during a power outage and emergency calls are two of the biggest problems.

During a blackout a regular phone is kept in service by the current supplied through the phone line. This is not possible with Internet phones, so when the power goes out, there is no VoIP phone service. One solution to this problem is to use battery backups or power generators to provide electricity.

Another major concern involves emergency 911 calls. Traditional phone equipment can trace your location. Emergency calls are diverted to the nearest call center where the operator can see your location in case you can't talk. With VoIP, however, their is currently no way to determine where your Internet phone call is originating from, so most VoIP services cannot be used for emergency calls. There is an emerging standard called e911, however, which attempts to address this issue.

VoIP also has problems with sound quality and reliability. Data sent across the Internet usually arrives at its destination in a scrambled order. This is not a problem for e-mail or documents because the data can be reassembled in the correct order once it has all arrived.

Voice data can also arrive in a scrambled order but this is more of a problem because of the real-time nature of VoIP. In order to make voice connections with the least amount of delay, some packets may have to be dropped if they don't arrive in time. This can cause short periods of silence in the audio stream.

The amount of data that is lost depends on the distance and speed of the connection. Some networks receive a lot of traffic and are more likely to cause dropouts in the audio stream. Creating dedicated data paths is one way to provide high quality audio connections.

All these disadvantages will be overcome in time. There is a tremendous amount of work being done to increase the reliability and usefulness of VoIP. By 2007 most of the kinks will be worked out and VoIP will receive widespread consumer acceptance.

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