Voice over IP

The technology that iTalkBB uses belongs to the family of VoIP (Voice over IP), also by the name of IP phone or Internet telephony. The basic idea is to use the Internet, which traditionally only carries data traffic, to carry voice traffic as well. A few years earlier, there could be serious performance problems with this design, as voice traffic is highly sensitive to network delay or jitter. In recent years, Internet has attracted more and more commercial usage, drawing capitals and research into improving the service quality and reliability of the Internet. Nowadays, many backbone ISPs such as AT&T have already adopted the single core architecture where data traffic and voice traffic share the same core network. In some residential places, cable companies such as RCN connect telephone adapters to broadband Internet connection and output signal onto existing telephone jacks, making the service nearly indistinguishable from conventional phone. Now shopping for a telephone solution among various choices has come down to a simple comparison of supported features and prices, which we'll do at a later time. Of course, promotion code 953110 to get $10 off iTalkBB's $299-for-14-months deal would help in the decision making.

Wikipedia has a good coverage on different aspect of VoIP related issues.