WHEN AIR LINE check-in agents arrive for their morning shift at Halifax International Airport, they may be positioned at any one of a number of counters. Where previously they were tied to one station by the location of individual airlines’ phone and computers systems, a recent decision by the airport authority to install of a voice-over-Internet protocol, or VoIP, system, means the agents can work at any of the counters.
Michael Healy, the airport’s vice-president of infrastructure and technology, says agents can punch a password into any one of the phones and bring up a preprogrammed list of all their contacts. They also have new ways of sending information, like a passenger description, to numerous phones at one time.
VoIP, the delivery of traditional telephone service using the Internet, is changing the way people conduct business. Even charitable groups are finding the new technology useful. Foster Parents Plan of Canada recently announced recently a new VoIP call centre was allowing it to reduce costs and improve reliability.
VoIP services can be divided into two categories: "full services" provided by commercial providers with a single flat monthly fee such as Vonage Canada; or "free services" like those provided by Skype Technologies SA from Luxembourg.
To use full VoIP services, you need an Internet connection, a VoIP adapter and a telephone. The VoIP adapter contains a device called a codec that converts voice signals from the telephone into voice packets that then traverse the Internet to reach either a personal computer or a telephone at the other end. Commercial VoIP systems connect to the traditional switched telephone network through a media gateway, allowing anyone anywhere to receive a call. Vonage ( www.vonage.ca) charges residential subscribers a monthly fee of $19.99-$39.99 and business subscribers $55.99-$69.99 for calls throughout Canada and the U.S.
On the other hand, free VoIP services (such as Skype) enable voice communication through personal computers once again using the Internet to transfer voice packets between the two PCs. With Skype, both VoIP users (the caller and the contact) need to install free software from Skype’s website ( http://www.skype.net) on their PCs. In addition, each user needs a USB headset to talk into, that has a built-in codec to convert the voice signal into voice packets. The caller runs the Skype application and adds the other user (the person you wish to talk to) as a "contact." For free service from Skype to work, both the caller and the "contact" must be connected to the Internet and running the Skype application at the same time; they can now talk for free. A Skype user may also talk to a person with only traditional phone service, but in this case, a small fee is charged to the caller as the voice signals now use the traditional telephone network. Similarly, calls from traditional phones made to a "SkypeIn" number (subscribers to Skype service can purchase these numbers for a fee) are charged as a traditional phone call would be...
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