Packet Switching

When cars came on the market, more people began driving to further destinations which meant that there needed to be more roads built. At a certain point, it became useless to keep expanding the roads and there was a need for more efficient transportation. In telephony, this is where packet-switching comes into the picture. With the advent of IP-based networks, Internet adoption grew rapidly; not just because the medium was new and exciting, but also because the cost to route data over these networks was almost nil. This is a very different model from telephony, where the greater the distance between callers, the higher the price you pay. Not only that, but price was also determined by when your calls were made. With all of these barriers, VoIP pioneers realized there was a great opportunity if they could figure out how to route voice calls over these networks. Whereas voice travels over the PSTN as a continuous flow of electrical signals between connection points, data travels over an IP network via a series of discrete packets. Each packet is a payload of sorts, carrying digital information, consisting of both the content being transmitted along with instructions for routing the packets.Packet-switched traffic is highly automated, and routing decisions are based on sophisticated algorithms that determine the most efficient path between two IP addresses. Instead of my PSTN call between New York and Los Angeles taking a direct path from end-to-end, a VoIP call may be routed halfway around the globe and may well traverse six different IP networks to make the same connection.