From the course: Analyzing VoIP Traffic with Wireshark

Voice over IP (VoIP) - Wireshark Tutorial

From the course: Analyzing VoIP Traffic with Wireshark

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Voice over IP (VoIP)

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- [Instructor] When you pick up the phone to make a call, you'll most likely use Voice over IP or VoIP, which is changing the way we communicate. Voice over IP or IP telephony uses the existing internet and network to transfer and route voice traffic in IP packets. In many cases, it's part of a unified communication system. Voice over IP is a group of technologies used to transmit voice and multimedia over an IP network. VoIP can use both proprietary and open standards. Examples include Skype, Google Hangouts, and others. In addition, there's a number of VoIP apps available for tablets, laptops, or phones. VoIP has been in use for over 20 years, however in the last 10 years, we have seen astonishing growth in Voice over IP. The VoIP market is rapidly expanding all over the world in terms of subscribers, growth, and traffic. Consumers and businesses are cutting the cord as more traffic uses VoIP than the traditional public switched telephone network. VoIP is slowly replacing landlines. Studies show that 60% of households in the US and Europe are replacing traditional landlines from the phone company with Voice over IP, most likely due to the low cost of bundled services with their ISP. In fact, some states are no longer supporting landlines. Many businesses see the benefits of choosing a VoIP solution. Businesses can lower the cost of local and long distance phone calls by up to 40%. Using voice and web conferencing reduces travel costs, and using VoIP as part of a unified communication solution helps improve productivity, which translates to cost savings for a business. Over half the businesses in the US are using VoIP with the other half starting to follow. The internet is constantly being optimized to support voice traffic, and products and services are available to combine data and voice networks. Eventually the internet and the telephone network will be one and the same. Voice over IP offers cost savings, is convenient, and is changing the way we communicate, and that is why we need the tools and knowledge to optimize and improve our networks.

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