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The history of VoIP can be traced back to the early days of telephone technology. In 1966, a new service called long distance calling was introduced and it would later revolutionize telecommunications as we know it today. Beginning with this innovation, digital technologies have been created rapidly in order to stay up-to-date with advances in telecommunication industry ever since then
The “voip history timeline” is a great resource for anyone looking to learn more about the history of VoIP. It starts with 1966 and goes all the way up to 2021.
In both corporate and consumer communications, voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone services are already ubiquitous. They provide cost-effective, feature-rich systems that include sophisticated calling, SMS capabilities, video conferencing, and third-party interfaces. VoIP technology, on the other hand, did not exist only a few decades ago. We’ll go through the relatively brief history of VoIP phone systems and how they evolved into today’s standard communication option.
Prior to VoIP, telephone technology was used from 1667 to 1965.
In 1667, English philosopher Robert Hooke created a crude audio transmitting system. The string telephone device used mechanical vibrations to send sound waves across an extended wire. The world, on the other hand, would have to wait another 200 years for the next big advancement in transmitted communications.
In the late 1800s, Alexander Graham Bell appeared on the scene, producing a telephony apparatus that made phone services accessible to ordinary people. Over 100,000 Americans possessed a telephone by 1886, making it the first time in human history that individuals separated by thousands of miles could converse instantly.
Phone systems started to develop at a fast rate as a result of improved communication capabilities. Landline systems would soon link corporations, customers, friends, and families across continents. These copper-wire towers seemed to be the most dependable solution at the time, but they had drawbacks:
- Making calls outside of your local area code cost a lot of money every minute.
- Landlines could only be used in one area (house, office, public center, etc. ); in other words, you couldn’t carry your phone with you while you were out and about.
- Call quality was still poor, and it wasn’t unusual for phone conversations to drop from time to time.
Humble Beginnings of VoIP (1966 to 1990)
VoIP was never a realistic option from the start. Before it could become a popular alternative, it took decades of study, experimenting, and technical innovation.
In 1966, Nagoya University’s Fumitada Itakura and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company’s Shuzo Saito partnered to create linear predictive coding (LPC), a technique for converting voice into digital data. Culler-Harrison Incorporated in Goleta, California, and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, conducted the first VoIP connection via ARPANET eight years later, in 1974. (one of the earliest internet-capable phone networks).
The call was completed, however the audio was clumsy and static-filled. It wasn’t quite as clear as today’s HD voice calls, which run at 2.4kbps. Nonetheless, this incident was a watershed moment in the evolution of VoIP communications. Commercial VoIP solutions, on the other hand, would take more than a decade to grow into a viable communications choice.
Consumer-friendly Business VoIP Apps Gain Popularity (1991 to 1999)
The early 1900s saw a surge in commercial usage of the internet. To meet company demands, a variety of internet-based business phone systems have developed on the market. Speak Freely was the first consumer-ready commercial VoIP program, debuting in 1991. VocalChat and VocalTec’s Internet Phone application appeared shortly after.
Despite their cutting-edge technology, internet bandwidth was insufficient to provide high-quality audio and quick load times. When compared to today’s small business VoIP services, these issues rendered VoIP solutions sluggish and call quality barely adequate. These systems were not widely adopted, but they provided the framework for VoIP acceptance when broadband internet revolutionized the globe in the early twenty-first century.
VoIP Becomes a Business Option With Broadband Internet (2000 to 2010)
By the early 2000s, broadband internet has become widely accessible and inexpensive in most inhabited parts of the developed world. This, together with the development of the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) codec (which made it simpler for software to transport audio as data over the internet), paved the way for VoIP to take off.
VoIP companies offered a single monthly flat pricing for their services, which was more appealing than paying for separate internet and telephone bundles. Vonage was founded in 2001 and quickly became a great hit with both consumers and companies. In 2003, Skype appeared on the scene, demonstrating a new level of internet-based voice communications possibilities.
VoIP Is Becoming the Standard Business Phone System (2011 to Present Day)
VoIP technology has evolved over time, making it more cheap and feature-rich than traditional landline services. VoIP smartphone applications may now be used by whole workplaces to conduct business conversations on the move.
VoIP communication technologies continue to evolve, with new and sophisticated VoIP phone functions being available. Video calling, texting, file sharing, automated attendants, and call records are among features that most VoIP services provide. Others provide more complex features such as CRM connectors, interactive voice response (IVR) tools, real-time analytics, and hotdesking.
Take, for example, RingCentral. RingCentral is a low-cost VoIP phone system that offers calling, texting, messaging, video conferencing, faxing, and other communication services to small and big organizations. It provides auto-attendants, mobile applications, call management services, and APIs to businesses of all sizes, allowing them to address almost every communication requirement.
If you’re searching for a sophisticated, dependable VoIP solution, RingCentral is a great place to start.
Go to RingCentral.com.
The consumer sector has benefited from the development and advancement of VoIP technology just as much as businesses have. Most cell phone plans now include unlimited domestic calling, texting, and data, prompting millions of consumers to abandon their landlines in favor of their smartphones.
VoIP in the Future
Year after year, the history of VoIP continues to change. Business phone systems have gotten more sophisticated, and developers are harnessing this technology to create new and innovative solutions.
VoIP is now making inroads into the internet of things, moving beyond smartphones and PCs (IoT). In the near future, electric scooters, refrigerators, smart speakers, and even televisions will almost certainly be outfitted with VoIP communication capabilities.
Most Commonly Asked Questions
Who is the inventor of VoIP?
VoIP was not created by a single individual. Over the past several centuries, VoIP history has included the joint efforts and ingenuity of exceptional innovators. Robert Hooke, Alexander Graham Bell, Fumitada Itakura, Shuzo Saito, and others have contributed to the development and history of VoIP.
What was the very first VoIP app?
Speak Freely was the first commercially accessible VoIP program, debuting in 1991.
What makes VoIP so popular?
High call quality, dependability, affordability, accessibility, and usefulness are all advantages of VoIP. It ticks practically every box as a better choice than conventional landline services.
Conclusion
VoIP is a relatively new technology that is quickly gaining traction in many aspects of contemporary communications. However, there are still companies and customers throughout the globe that use conventional landline phones, as well as enterprises that use rudimentary landline solutions. We can anticipate significant adoption of VoIP as the internet becomes more widely accessible and inexpensive across the globe.
RingCentral is the place to go if you want to witness VoIP at its best. It’s a cost-effective, dependable, and powerful corporate phone system that includes features like video chat, team messaging, and file sharing. To get started with RingCentral right now, click the link below.
Go to RingCentral.com.
