The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
Voice over IP
VoIP
(VoIP) Any technology providing voice
telephony services over IP, including CODECs, streaming
protocols and session control. The major advantage of
VoIP is lower cost, by avoiding dedicated voice circuits.
Currently VoIP is being deployed on internal corporate
networks, and, via the Internet, for low cost (and low
quality) international calls. It is also used for telephony
applications such as voice and fax mail.
The ITU standard is H.323, which is a whole suite of
protocols, while the IETF has developed the much simpler
SIP to solve the session control problem and MGCP/Megaco
to solve the gateway problem.
(2003-11-30)