VoIP

VoIP (voice over IP) is the technique that carries voice as data packets over IP networks — the internet or a LAN — instead of using a dedicated switched circuit. The phone stops being a wire tied to a wall socket and becomes software: it runs on an IP handset, a computer, a mobile, anywhere there's connectivity. SIP is the protocol that manages the sessions; the SIP trunk, the channel linking the business to its carrier.

The practical consequences are massive: call cost becomes marginal, the number follows the device instead of the address, and features once reserved for large switchboards — transfer, queues, menus, recording, automated texting — become configurable software. In France, the scheduled PSTN shutdown turned VoIP from a choice into the default foundation of every business line. Its quality condition remains physical: voice travels with the rest of the traffic, and a saturated or unstable connection is audible — lag, choppy voice. A business line deserves a connection that prioritizes it.