A VoIP phone system is similar to a traditional phone system, except all calls and data are stored in cloud. This means your calls could be forwarded to your staff’s mobile or laptop, ensuring cost saving.
The average VoIP phone system isn’t that much different from the traditional phone you currently have at your desk. VoIP phones look the same, and often have the same features, as the landline phones you’re probably familiar with. VoIP is the technology that converts your voice into a digital signal, allowing you to make a call directly from a computer, a VoIP phone, or other data-driven devices. Simply, it’s phone service delivered over the internet. You may also hear it referred to as IP telephony, internet telephony, broadband telephony, or broadband phone service.
There are, however, some key differences that distinguish VoIP phones from other desk phones. This blog will give you a quick overview of how a VoIP phone system works and how to use one.
VoIP is a more cost-effective way to get a business phone number for your website when compared to a traditional phone line. However, before making any decision, you need to fully understand what the technology is all about.
What is VoIP?
VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. This is a business communications technology that allows for making and receiving calls over the internet.
VoIP phones do not use traditional twisted pair copper wire. The phone are connected using the same broadband internet connection that plugs into a computer or router. VoIP phones convert calls into digital signals within the phone itself. They don’t rely on the physical exchanges that landlines do.
Before switching to VoIP, businesses will want to ensure their internet connection meets the requirements for VoIP service.
Watch this short video to understand how VoIP or Hosted Telephony works for a business:
Related article: Top 20 VoIP features you need to know before switching to a VoIP phone
How does VoIP work?
VoIP technology enables traditional telephony services to operate over computer networks using packet-switched protocols. It works by breaking up your voice into digital packets, like electronic envelopes, and sending those packets as data to the recipient over the internet. Voice over internet phone is available in a variety of systems, making it accessible to anyone with a reliable internet connection. You can make VoIP calls via these methods:
1. Phone and a VoIP adapter
With an adapter, you can use a regular landline phone to make calls over the internet. The adapters plug into a phone outlet in the wall or directly into your router.
With your smartphone, you can download apps, such as Google Voice or Skype, that allows you to make internet calls.
2. Computer
There are many programs or applications available that will let you make voice calls over the internet, including Skype, Google Voice and FaceTime.
3. Smartphone
VoIP works with a smartphone’s 3G, 4G, 5G to send voice calls as digital signals over the Internet using voice over IP technology. Mobile VoIP phones can also take advantage of WiFi networks to eliminate the calling costs of a cellular voice or data plan.
4. Dedicated VoIP phone
These look like traditional landline phones but connect directly to a computer network rather than a phone line.
TOP 10 benefits of VoIP
1. Low cost per call
VoIP telephone system utilizes Internet Protocol to make calls. Instead of using telephone lines, all communication data is turned into packets and sent over the IP network. The IP network your business uses could be your Internet connection, a direct IP connection to your telephone service provider or a combination of both.
2. VoIP phone system mean flexibility
If your business is on-the-go, VoIP services can be a tremendous benefit to you because they will follow you wherever you go.
3. VoIP phone system ensures higher call quality
VoIP uses your internet connection, it offers higher call quality when compared to alternatives. A VoIP telephone system offers its users HD voice using internet connectivity, with incredible clarity.
5. Secure call conferencing
As a phone system for businesses, the importance of security is very high. To keep your IP secure, VoIP allows your conference calls to be guarded by a unique PIN, set by you, giving you control over who has access to your conference calls.
6.Easily scalable
Highly efficient business systems scale with the needs of the business, but traditional phones systems are far more difficult to scale. Scalability is one of the benefits of VoIP that supports your efficiency and productivity while remaining highly cost effective at the same time.
VoIP systems allow you to add a line as you hire a new employee and eliminate lines in the case of downsizing. You’re only ever paying for what you need.
7. Flexibility
VoIP allows you to receive and make calls from virtually anywhere in the world. the sole requirement is a good and reliable internet connection.
8. Live Monitoring and Reporting
With VoIP, you can instantly track and report on your call usage at any time through our online portal. This helps businesses in planning their spends better.
9. Time Management
With insight into the installation, service configuration, trouble tickets, training, billing and call analytics, this full access to a customer’s system and account allows them to spend fewer resources on project management and focus more on work
10. Business Continuity
By moving phone connections offsite, redundancy and fail-over ensure essential operations are full throttle.
Related article: Top 10 VoIP benefits: Why companies switch to a VoIP Phone System
Essential advantages and disadvantages of VoIP
Advantages of VoIP
1. Cost savings
With VoIP, you pay only for your internet connection. Calls between individuals with VoIP equipment – even international calls – are free. Cost savings is one of the benefits of VoIP that virtually any business can confirm. You just need to keep adding the number of lines. The cost depends on the number of lines you add.
Also, Traditional phone lines typically charge for each minute of call time, where with VoIP your only costs are your monthly charges from your ISP.
One of the additional cost benefits of VoIP is the limited costs associated with hardware and software required to operate the system.
2. Great additional features
VoIP offers a wide range of features: from call forwarding, blocking, caller ID and voicemail, to remote management, automatic call distribution and interactive voice recognition.
3. Collaboration
VoIP integrates easily with other systems and helps staff collaborate through voice, video, web conferencing or instant messaging, usually from a single user interface. Without the need for dedicated phone lines, conferencing is simplified considerably.
4. Improved productivity
Staff can use your communication system remotely and flexibly, with access to your data and network whenever and wherever they need it.
5. Flexibility
Additionally, one of the major advantages of VoIP phone system is the ability to make calls anytime, anywhere as long as you have a good internet connection. Such flexibility and accessibility are valuable when you’re on the go, at a client site or travelling for business. Downloading your VoIP app lets you take your business line anywhere you go.
6. Clear audio quality
VoIP calls are crisp and clear with a stable internet connection and good bandwidth
VoIP phone systems come with a lot of advantages as discussed above, but then every technology has a few drawbacks too. Though, the number of advantages widely outnumber disadvantages, yet it is important to look at the disadvantages that come with switching to VoIP communications..
Disadvantages of VoIP
1.Relies totally on the type of internet connection
Unlike landline phones, VoIP requires a constant power source and Internet connection. If either of these key services fails then so will your communication network. But, this might make VoIP unsuitable in areas where critical services are constantly disrupted due to poor infrastructure or poor weather conditions.
Without a high-speed Internet connection, VoIP calls can often suffer from latency issues. This can result in lagging, poor call quality and constant dropped calls. Moreover, as network infrastructure improves across the globe this issue has become far less prevalent.
2.Voice latency
Voice latency is one of the primary disadvantages of VoIP phone systems. There are many reasons that cause latency, the primary ones being:
a.Fluctuations in the throughout capacity
b.Reliability of your internet connection
c.The load on your internet connection
Related article: Essential VoIP advantages and disadvantages business need to know
VoIP vs Traditional Phones
VoIP allows you to make phone calls using an internet connection rather than a traditional analog phone line that uses wires or optical fibres to make a connection. Let us see the difference between the two:
1.VoIP is cheaper than landline to install
2.Running costs for VoIP are lower than for landline
3.VoIP is a more reliable service than traditional landline phones
4.In times of flexible and remote working, VoIP is the easier solution.
Related article: 4 reasons why it is time to say goodbye to traditional phone system
To conclude
Switching to VoIP might also help you save money on communications services. Long-distance and international calls are generally free with VoIP service. The only charge is for your internet access.
Implementing VoIP doesn’t mean that all your employees have to use IP-enabled phones. Also, the best VoIP providers implement IP telephony in a manner that protects your investment in existing telephone equipment, even if you have analog telephone stations.