If you've never heard of VoIP, get ready to change the way you think about long-distance phone calls. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals, like the kind you hear when you talk on the phone, and turning them into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet.How is this useful? VoIP can turn a standard Internet connection into a way to place free phone calls. The practical upshot of this is that by using some of the free VoIP software that is available to make Internet phone calls, you're bypassing the phone company (and its charges) entirely.How does VOIP work?A way is required to turn analog phone signals into digital signals that can be sent over the Internet.This function can either be included into the phone itself in a separate box like an ATA.VOIP Using an ATA
Ordinary Phone ---- ATA---- Ethernet ---- Router ---- Internet ----VOIP SERVICE PROVIDER

VOIP using an IP PHONE

IP Phone ----- Ethernet ----- Router ---- Internet ---- VOIP SERVICE PROVIDER

VOIP connecting directly