But, perhaps VoIP is not for the average person, anyway. VoIP may not seem like much to the average person – after all, most people these days have cell phones with plans that do not incur high surcharges and fees for long-distance or international calls. Less than two decades old, VoIP has revolutionized communication all around the world. Developed around 1995, originally it served as a work-around for long-distance and international telephone charges. To put it simply, VoIP is the transmission of voice “data packets” from one IP address to another over the Internet. But, others wanted a more personal connection – they wanted to hear another person’s voice over the Internet in real time, which brings us to VoIP. This brought about instant messaging, which put AOL in the spotlight as the most popular provider. Of course, there was email in the beginning, but then people started wondering whether they could communicate in real-time. The advent of the Internet brought with it an abundance of innovation regarding communication. It goes by many names, including Voice Over Broadband (VoBB), Internet Telephony, IP Telephony, and broadband phone. Voice over Internet Protocol, abbreviated VoIP, is a fairly recent technology.

When did skype come out