AVM FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7113 Installation, Configuration And Operation page 117

Glossary
VoIP
FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7113
Today the UPnP forum specifies the UPnP standard and
certifies devices that are compliant with the standard.
abbreviation for Voice over IP, also known as Internet
telephony
Voice over IP makes telephone calls possible via the
Internet. The technology has already been in use for years,
but today it allows even private customers the
convenience familiar from conventional telephony, usually
at significantly lower prices. VoIP has also made it
considerably more convenient to use applications like
conference calls and answering machines in networks.
Added to this are global accessibility under a single
telephone number and new VoIP features like the Buddy
List known from chat rooms.
Internet telephony used to be possible only with a
headset connected to the computers of the callers and
their conversation partners. Today voice connections via
the Internet, even to fixed-line and mobile networks, can
be conducted conveniently using VoIP telephone systems
that allow already existing analog telephones to be used
even when the PC is switched off. Various Internet Service
Providers and telephony carriers provide SIP-fixed-line
gateways for this purpose. Such a gateway is used to
produce voice connections between the Internet and
conventional telephone networks. In principle VoIP
conversations are possible via every DSL access point, but
for convenient use with existing terminal equipment, and
for conversations with the fixed-line and mobile networks,
it is important that the DSL provider support what is
known as the SIP standard. SIP is the current standard
defined for VoIP by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task
Force).
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