Xbox VoIP- Make Phone Calls With Your Xbox

VoIP has finally hit the gaming world! For more than twenty years, computer giant, Microsoft Corporation, has been coming out with operating systems for PCs and consoles for video games. They have been world leaders in innovation and pioneers of technology. They have most recently unleashed VoIP to the world that is easily accessible through video game consoles such as Xbox.

With amazing new technology, Microsoft has come out with the Xbox Live service which utilizes VoIP technology to allow gamers to have unique online gaming opportunities while enabling them to communicate with other game players through a microphone and headset, as they play games on the Internet. It is a whole, new live experience.

The Xbox VoIP works by encrypting the voice data input through the microphone and transferring it through an IP network in exactly the same fashion that a VoIP phone works. Microsoft seems to be working toward improving the arena of online teleconferencing and collaboration by testing their technology through video games. It seems to be working well.

The whole VoIP protocol was introduced into the gaming industry as a necessary means to provide gamers with fast, effective ways to interact and communicate with one another in real time. This has proven to enhance the gaming experience many times over and was an overnight success.

A peer-to-peer version of VoIP is employed with video game consoles. This means that instead of packets being transmitted over a network, game consoles such as the Xbox connect, one to the other, as they run identical software programs. This results in expanded capabilities in terms of interactions among players.

Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is noted for referring to the use of VoIP technology in the Xbox Live system as an unregulated VoIP’s early success story. It is undetermined, at this time, as to how VoIP will be regulated in the future. However, there are currently few, if any, restrictions beyond the norm.

There are currently more than 750,000 customers on the Xbox Live VoIP system who pay an average rate of $50 per month to access the service. On average, they log around 500,000 hours of game playing online each day. At this time, the Xbox VoIP system is not a practical replacement for a home telephone, as there is no adaptor for a sub-phone to be plugged into the unit for home usage. There is some speculation, however, that this will happen in the near future.

The most recent addition to the Xbox Live VoIP system is the addition of Windows Live Messenger. This allows Xbox 360 users to chat with instant messenger to as many as 20 contacts in one VoIP connection, and applies to gamers all over the world, not just the local calling area. This has far-reaching implications for further development.

Return to Article Summary Page