And as the technology matures, the possibilities for seamless, global communication become more of a reality everyday. Business demands high quality service with the same level of reliability and performance. The exciting news about IP telephony is that as the technology is refined, it will make into a reality many of our communications dreams. While price is the key driver of the IP telephony market today, most observers agree that extending end user feature control and functionality are the real benefits that will drive this market in the longer run. Indeed the very future of IP telephony depends in part on the development of compelling applications that leverage the integration of voice and data on a single network and user interface.
Most people are already familiar with PC to PC Internet calling.
This is IP telephony at its most basic. It's almost like using ham radio. Both parties need to have their systems turned on and know they're expecting a call. You can expect delays of more than half a second between voice transmissions over the public Internet. This type of IP telephony is attractive to hobbyists.