< communications > (VoIP) Any technology providing voice telephony services over IP , including CODECs , streaming protocols and session control . The major advantage of VoIP is lower cost, by avoiding dedicated voice circuits.
Currently VoIP is being deployed on internal corporate networks, and, via the Internet , for low cost (and low quality) international calls. It is also used for telephony applications such as voice and fax mail.
The ITU standard is H.323 , which is a whole suite of protocols, while the IETF has developed the much simpler SIP to solve the session control problem and MGCP / Megaco to solve the gateway problem.
(2003-11-30)