Q&A: Is Voice over Internet generally more or less secure than a regular landline?
Question by city8of8angels: Is Voice over Internet generally more or less secure than a regular landline?
I have about had it with AT&T. Ever since their strange merger, things have only gone downhill.
First of all, never in our (I and my husband) lives have we had a $ 60 landline phone bill. We do not like to use that phone for anything. The only reason we have a landline is for professional/business purposes.
Second, somebody who claimed to be from AT&T had made an attempt to tinker with our connection. If we did not live on a military base and all visitors had to be screened and approved, who knows who these people where and what they were trying to do.
So, here I am wondering if VOIP is worse or better with that kind of stuff. I would really appreciate knowledgeable opinions. Thank you!
Best answer:
Answer by Mr. VoIP
No consumer electronic communications is absolutely secure or tamper proof. We all know that telephones can be tapped, legally and illegally. If the Feds and law enforcement want to tap your lines, they can do so legally with a court order (or just claim national security reasons).
But, the same holds true with VoIP. Technically speaking, VoIP is more difficult to tap, but it can be done with the right equipment. And, VoIP companies are required by law, or by agreement, to allow law enforcement to tap lines if required too.
So, when it comes to security, nothing is absolutely secure.
Now, some VoIP services are starting to encrypt their VoIP data while traversing over their own networks. So, in those cases, it is secure from random tapping over the Internet. But, as soon as the connection terminates to a real telephone that connects to the PSTN landline network, it is no longer truely secure from taps.
Skype is well known to encrypt their client data while traversing over the Internet. So, they are about as secure as you can get from a public service.
But, to address your concerns about cost, VoIP will always cost you less (for comparable service features) than any PSTN or cell phone service. Even if a person keeps their “basic” landline service for emergency backup (no extras), VoIP will save them considerable money when it comes to having a 2nd phone line and long distance calling.
Source(s):
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