Mobile VoIP and WiMAX - Research Paper Example

By definition a protocol is a set of rules that is used to allow orderly communication (Kelly, 2005). Actually, even if another type of network is used, the same set of internet protocols are used to transmit voice over that particular network. In the present era, mobile phones have revolutionized the world in many ways. It is mainly because of the portability and comfort it offers. People pay huge sum of money to buy those classy and slim mobiles. It has actually become a status symbol. Mobile phone is more than just a call and texting device.

With all the latest apps and android processors, mobile serve many multimedia purposes, therefore, further increasing its worth and demand. Keeping these factors in mind many VoIP service providers looked into new ways of integrating their technology with mobile phones. This will enable the user to use their mobile phones to route calls over the internet. This is known as Mobile VoIP. This term can be defined as a procedure of applying VoIP technology to your mobile handsets (Tracey, 2008). But it requires the mobile user to have access to mobile internet via 3G networks or Wi-Fi.

To understand why many VoIP service providers turned towards mobile VoIP, it is important to dig up few years of VoIP market history. It is interesting to know that most of the giants in the mobile VoIP today did not started as mobile VoIP service providers. For example, Skype is one of the largest mobile VoIP providers today and it evolved in this particular market over the years of struggle and experimentation. Skype started to provide its services as Skype-to-Skype free calls that would require both users to use a computer and internet connection.

By the beginning of 2008 Skype had 276 million registered users around the world who had talked over 100 billion minutes using this service. There is little