Posted By: technopediasite
SIP is the Session Initiation Protocol. In IP and traditional telephony, network engineers have always made a clear distinction between two different phases of a voice call. The first phase is "call setup," and includes all of the details needed to get two telephones talking. Once the call has been setup, the phones enter a "data transfer" phase of the call using an entirely different family of protocols to actually move the voice packets between the two phones. In the world of VoIP, SIP is a call setup protocol that operates at the application layer.
SIP is a very flexible protocol that has great depth. It was designed to be a general-purpose way to set up real-time multimedia sessions between groups of participants. SIP allows people around the world to communicate using their computers and mobile devices over the Internet. It is an important part of Internet Telephony and allows you to harness the benefits of VoIP (voice over IP) and have a rich communication experience. But the most interesting benefit we derive from SIP is the cutting down of communication costs. Calls (voice or video) between SIP users are free, worldwide.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, modifying and terminating real-time sessions that involve video, voice, messaging and other communications applications and services between two or more endpoints on IP networks.
The SIP communications protocol determines five attributes when establishing and terminating multimedia sessions:
➤User location
➤User availability
➤User capabilities
➤Session setup
➤Session management
What is Required?
- What is a SIP Address?
- Providers of Free SIP Addresses
- Registering for a SIP Address
➤An Internet connection. With sufficient bandwidth for voice and video communication. Not much is required for voice communication, especially if you are using enhanced codecs for low bandwidth consumption, but you need solid bandwidth for voice communication. You will prefer a DSL connection.
➤Hearing and talking devices. You need what it takes to get your voice through and to hear what is being said, and what is being presented in images. A headset, earpieces, a microphone and a web cam for video communication.
SIP is the Session Initiation Protocol. In IP and traditional telephony, network engineers have always made a clear distinction between two different phases of a voice call. The first phase is "call setup," and includes all of the details needed to get two telephones talking. Once the call has been setup, the phones enter a "data transfer" phase of the call using an entirely different family of protocols to actually move the voice packets between the two phones. In the world of VoIP, SIP is a call setup protocol that operates at the application layer.
SIP is a very flexible protocol that has great depth. It was designed to be a general-purpose way to set up real-time multimedia sessions between groups of participants. SIP allows people around the world to communicate using their computers and mobile devices over the Internet. It is an important part of Internet Telephony and allows you to harness the benefits of VoIP (voice over IP) and have a rich communication experience. But the most interesting benefit we derive from SIP is the cutting down of communication costs. Calls (voice or video) between SIP users are free, worldwide.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, modifying and terminating real-time sessions that involve video, voice, messaging and other communications applications and services between two or more endpoints on IP networks.
SIP features
➤User location
➤User availability
➤User capabilities
➤Session setup
➤Session management
SIP itself does not provide communication services.Instead, the protocol's specification defines interoperable implementations of SIP features, called primitives, that can be used to facilitate different services.Primitives allow additional information to be embedded in a SIP message, such as linking a user's photo to directory information to enable media-rich caller ID.Users and endpoints are detected with a single identifier, known as a uniform resource identifier (URI), which is independent of their network location. URIs are alphanumeric, using a syntax that looks more like an email address than a phone number or IP address.
How does SIP work?
Practically, here it goes. You get a SIP address, you get a SIP client on your computer of mobile device, plus whatever else is necessary. Then you need to configure your SIP client. There are a number of technical stuff to set, but the configuration wizards nowadays make things really easy. Just have your SIP credentials ready and fill the fields whenever required and you will be set in a minute.
SIP is a request-response protocol, receiving requests from clients and responses from servers. Requests can be sent through any transport protocol, such as UDP, SCTP or TCP.
SIP determines the end system to be used for the session, the communication media and media parameters, and whether the called party agrees to engage in communication. Once these are assured, SIP establishes call parameters at either end of the communication, also handling call transfer and termination.
What is Required?
If you want to communicate through SIP, you need the following:
➤A SIP address/account. This is obtained free from many providers. Just register online; you can have yours now for free. Here are links to help you get a free SIP account.
- What is a SIP Address?
- Providers of Free SIP Addresses
- Registering for a SIP Address
➤A SIP client. This is a program that you install on your computer or mobile device. It contains softphone functionality and some other features and provides an interface for you to communicate.
➤Hearing and talking devices. You need what it takes to get your voice through and to hear what is being said, and what is being presented in images. A headset, earpieces, a microphone and a web cam for video communication.
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