Conceptually, Internet telephone gateways work as follows:

On one side, the gateway connects to the conventional circuit-switched world. It can communicate with any phone in the world.

A phone line plugs into the gateway on this end. On the other side, the gateway connects to the Internet world. It can communicate with any computer in the world.

A computer network plugs into the gateway on this end.

The gateway takes the standard telephone signal, digitizes it (if it is not already digital), significantly compresses it, packetizes it for the Internet using Internet Protocol (IP), and routes it to a destination over the Internet. The gateway reverses the operation for packets coming in from the network andgoing out the phone.

Both operations (coming from and going to the phone network) take place at the same time, allowing a full-duplex (two-way) conversation.
A number of configurations can be built from this basic operation. Phone-to-PC or PC-to-phone operations can take place with one gateway. Phone-to-phone or phone-to-fax operation can occur with two or more gateways.

The efficiency gains realized by packetizing the audio allow the gateway operators to offer service at a rate that is less expensive than that offered by traditional carriers.

Internet telephone is the first commercial implementation of packetized technologies.

In the not-too-distant future, IP technologies will allow for the introduction of a whole host of communications services which were simply not supportable using circuit-switched networks. United American Corp, Inc. will continue to be at the forefront of implementing these new technologies, and looks forward to introducing them to our valued customers over the coming months and years.