But there has been too much tech-speak surrounding Internet telephony. It has become impossible for the technological laity to understand what really is happening.

If, like most of us, you have only groped through all the jabbering about 'Net telephony' and 'VoIP', read on…

First, what is VoIP?

Short for 'voice over Internet protocol', VoIP is often confused with Internet telephony. But it is not. When computers talk to each other on the Internet they use some rules for communication. These rules are called protocols. Among all the protocols that computers use on the Internet, the most significant is simply called 'Internet protocol' or IP. When you type the address of your favorite site into your browser, the text, image and background sound on that page is sent to you through IP. So basically you are getting, text over IP, images over IP and sometimes voice over IP. So, this technology can enable us to build any software that carries 'voice over Internet protocol'. That in essence is VoIP. It is a technology that can help you build tools to talk over the Internet. It is not the tool itself. Internet telephony is…

What exactly is Internet telephony?

Internet telephony happens when people use voice to communicate over the Internet. A common example of Internet telephony is the use of instant messengers for voice chats. Just like instant messengers let us type out text messages to each other, they can let us send out voice messages, very similar to the way we do it on the phone.

But note that the instant messenger voice chat is happening between one PC and another. This kind of communication is called PC-to-PC Internet telephony.

What is more complex and difficult to do is PC-to-phone Internet telephony. This involves using your PC to make a call to any regular phone number! It is difficult because when you make a call from a PC to a regular telephone, the company that operates the telephone connection has to pick up your voice from the Internet and carry it over the regular phone network. Then it has to carry its subscriber's voice back to the PC caller in such a way that it can travel across the Internet.

Is it illegal?

Despite rumours to the contrary, PC-to-PC Internet telephony was never illegal. You could always use software to voice chat from one PC to another on the Internet.

What the Indian government did not allow was PC-to-phone Internet telephony.

Yes. There are services on the Inernet like dialpad.com, hottelephone.com and mediaring.com that allow you to purchase talk time and then use their software to make calls to phones across the world by using your PC and Net connection. But these are illegal to use in India and the authorities have been trying to block it with some success.

But from April 1, 2002, the Indian government will lift the ban on PC-to-phone Internet telephony allowing private companies to take this dramatic and cheap technology to the people.

This means that you can use a PC at home or in a cyber cafe or any new gadget that allows you to access the Internet and dial to any phone number anywhere in the world!

What will I need to make calls from my PC?

All you need is to ensure that your PC is connected to the Internet, has multimedia capability like speakers and microphone besides having something called a 'duplex' card. Then you will need a subscription from a PC-to-phone service provider.

Who will provide this service?

You will need to buy time from an Internet service provider or a telephone company to make national and international calls.

Indian ISPs are in a flurry to offer the PC-to-phone service along with the regular Internet connection. Companies like Commworks have already signed up Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to offer Internet telephony services. Digiquant, a Danish company and a global provider of service management, billing and customer care solutions, is also eying the market besides a host of Indian big wigs like the Tatas and Reliance Telecom.

What are the advantages of Internet telephony?

Cheaper rates. Currently, while the price for a telephone call to the US is $1 a minute, it could drop to 10 cents a minute or even lower! Even prices of domestic long distance calls within the country will come tumbling down.

For corporate houses too, Internet telephony applications can be used on intranets to reduce phone bills drastically.

What are the disadvantages of Internet telephony?

While the quality of Internet telephony calls has improved over the years, the biggest drawback of these calls will be a perceptible delay during conversation. VoIP needs high bandwidth, something the ISPs are not in a position to supply immediately. Unfortunately, India is rather bandwidth starved and with implementation of VoIP, telephone networks and switches will get severely clogged.

Conversation could also get garbled at times, as the Internet is more prone to losing parts of a message than a regular telephone network.

How soon can I start using PC-to-phone services after April 1?

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is insisting that Internet telephony be considered a service and not an application.

The debate over the issue is in progress. This means the government may introduce a licensing regime to regulate Internet telephony. This would keep out the small operators and ensure that the cost of International calls do not fall too sharply. Which means that even though the ban will be lifted on April 1, it may be a few weeks before it all comes into play.

Can I still make calls even though it is illegal?

Sites like hotfoon.com, a Delaware, USA, company, already offer free software that can be used to make calls within select cities in India for around 12 cents a minute. This is less than half the existing tariff for national long distance.

While Hotfoon claims not to be a service provider and hence, not illegal, there are currently many illegal service providers who use Internet telephony to offer international calls for around 7-8 cents per minute, bypassing VSNL's international circuits.