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VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a technology used to carry voice conversations using IP by digitizing voice into discrete packets that are transferred independently over the IP network. This is in contrast to traditional circuit-switched protocols used in the Public Switched Telephone Network. In simple terms a VoIP handset converts an analogue voice signal into a digital signal (binary data) that can be placed in an IP packet. For example, the telephone user speaks into their handset. The voice vibrates the diaphragm in the handset microphone and converts these vibrations to an analogue electrical signal. The analogue electrical signal is sampled at regular intervals (e.g. 8000 times per second) and each sample is assigned a binary number – typically 8 bits long. The binary data is assembled into small packets and inserted into the data field of the IP packet and sent to the destination.