3:47 p.m. - 2010-04-22
An Overview of the Benefits of VoIP
Can You Beneift from Voice over IP?

If you've spent any time looking at hot tech trends, you have probably heard about "VOIP" before. Voice over IP is of special interest to those who work in offices that rely a great deal on the phone for their business, such as law offices and financial service centres. This overview is meant to be an introduction to VOIP.

What is VOIP?

In a nutshell, VOIP is a recent development in technology that has gained acceptance by companies - from large to small - and individuals - from geeks to novices. A VOIP system utilizes features of the Internet to receive and send your calls without attaching to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network.

Why use VOIP?

The are many benefits to switching from analogue phones to Voice over Internet Protocol, such as:

*Cost Advantages

*Call Quality

*Reliability

*Mobility

*Functionality

1. Cost Advantages and Disadvantages

Pros: The cost savings from switching to VOIP are immediate and significant. This is because VOIP providers don't route their calls via big telecommunication companies and so can pass those savings directly onto their customers. Line rental is one of the most offending causes of overpriced phone bills from landline companies - the cost of renting a line itself often outweighs the actual costs of calls made on the line. Line rental costs for Voice over IP are universally significantly lower and the bills seen by users who convert to Voice over IP reflect those savings immediately.

Cons: For commercial enterprises, conversion of hardware ot use Voice over IP does require an intiial outlay of money for things such as IP phones and switches. Even if a company wishes to keep its current hardware and convert over to a VOIP system, hardware such as a VOIP Analogue Gateway is needed in order to convert phone signals over to a digital format. These considerations should not be overlooked, and must be factored into a decision to convert to Voice over Internet Protocl, but equally important is to factor in the potential savings over time.

2. Call Quality

Pros: In the early days of Voice over Internet Protocol technology, Quality of Service (QoS) could vary depending on how the traffic was routed; however, modern improvements in QoS provide for better prioritization and routing of voice traffic prior to the digital handoff of a Voice over IP calll. Also most experienced providers ensure their setups provide clients with sufficient bandwidth to prevent any call degradation and often have dedicated Internet channels devoted strictly to voice communication separate from other data sources. In other words, non-voice Internet data traffic will not directly interfere with the transmission of your voice signals, allowing you to continue Internet usage with no degradation of call quality at all times.

Cons: If your VOIP system off is running on a single connection whose bandwidth is shared for traffic with networking or Internet data, your call quality will inevitably suffer. Likewise if you choose cheaper hardware that does not have advanced QoS features, prioritizing traffic over the connection may be either difficult or impossible. Some enterprise operations have ended up over-taxing and therefoe weakening their Voice over IP systems by running too many concurrent connections without adequate bandwidth and corresponding technology to manage the available bandwidth.

3. Mobility

Pros: One core feature that Voice over IP possesses over analogue is mobility. Unlike analogue phones, if you are using Voice over IP and move (temporarily or permanently), there are no hardware requirements such as patching wires or lines. The ease of moving Voice over IP hardware is tremendous - as simple as finding a hot data jack and plugging into it.power outlet). This portability is a huge plus, allowing anyone to travel anywhere - domestically or globally - and keeping them connected as long as they can get a live internet data pot.

Cons: Locally, Voice over IP mobility is dependent on your distribution of ethernet cable. Ethernet cable is very cheap, but it can look unsightly when strewn for long distances around an office or home. You also need to make sure that each handset has access to an ethernet port in order to function; the use of hubs, splitters and other hardware can help to alleviate this issue.

4. Functionality

Pros: VOIP provides all of the functions of analogue systems as well as several integrated extras. Many systems include options for voicemail with multiple inboxes and greetings, customizable extensions, detailed reporting of call usage, and other options. Being digital, Voice over IP also offers seamless integration with your computer programmessuch as e-mail, fax, web conferencing and video phone conferencing - all from a single workstation.

Cons: When usedon a larger-scale, technical capability and time to learn can be a fairly significant start-up investment.

5. Reliability

Pros: Often raised as a significant issue for VOIP systems, reliabilty is one of the noted concerns for businesses. The level of reliability will depend on several factors, including bandwidth, the servers or client being run off, and packet management. One or another flavour of Linux is generally regarded as the gold standard for any serve, including a Voice over IP backbone, due to its reliability and adherence to standards. Voice over IP systems can be configured to automatically forward failed calls via alternate routes. In the event of a VOIP provider going down or if your Internet connection goes offline, all calls can even be routed via analogue lines.

Cons:A VOIP system is very dependent on the quality and consistency of your upstream internet providers. Backup and redundant systems are recommended, particularly for mission-critical systems and enterprises.

The decision to migrate to a Voice over IP system depends on your financial goals and current level of technical competence (or willingness to acquire said competence). If you are already in an environment that is equipped with high-speed data communications, Voice over IP is a flexible and very cost-effective alternative you should look into. However, if your configuration does not have the money to make the necessary initial investment, or is unable to access a strong and reliable Internet connection, the benefits may not be as immediate or obvious.

previous - next