Voice over Public IP: Simple and Ubiquitous

One of the questions currently being debated within the industry is whether voice traffic should be carried over the public Internet or via private IP networks. This entry and the next will highlight some of the advantages of each approach.

Voice over the public Internet is a proven model. It’s been in use in the industry for over a decade, and many suppliers and customers interconnect with carriers via public IP. The Internet has a level of redundancy and dynamic route changing that allows for high availability.

The cost and reach of IP has been evolving quickly recently. Just a few years ago many parts of the world had only satellite IP connections. Now, fiber transmission and undersea cable networks are continually growing, with the result that many more regions are gaining access to Tier-1 IP backbones, which in turn opens their options for interconnect.

For voice providers, the trickle-down effect has been both higher quality and a more favorable cost structure, which together increase the attractiveness of the Internet model.

However, the challenge of the public Internet is still in finding the right ISP who is peering with the right providers. The ISP choice will affect latency, jitter and packet loss, all of which will in turn affect voice quality.

Many carriers, particularly those with a global IP backbone, are looking instead at private IP networks at their voice transport of choice – my next entry will look at some of the advantages that private IP offers.

About the author:

Michael Corso
Product Manager - VoIPLink TM -- Tata Communications
Michael Corso is the Product Manager Product Manager – VoIPLinkTM for Tata Communications. With over a decade of experience in the VoIP industry, Mr. Corso is responsible for overseeing the capabilities, features and strategy for VoIP based interconnects over the Tata Communications voice network. In this capacity he is driving the NGN network integration and facilitates the migration from TDM to VoIP. Mike is also active within industry forums and events and has been the chair of the operations workstream for the i3 Forum over the last two years.