Is VoIP Right For you?
It is very likely that you have heard someone talk about Voice over IP or 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 is the first in a series of articles intended to give an unbiased overview of Voice over IP technology.
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.VOIP systems utilise the web and the internet to handle telephone communications inependently of 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: Some businesses and individuals see an immediate drop in their phone bill - sometimes by as much as 60% or more - after switching to Voice over Internet Protocol. The reason for these cost savings are simply - Voice over Internet Protocl providers do not have t use the big telephone companies for their call routing and they pass these savings onto their customers. Suchtelecom fees - especially line rental - are very expensive and the cost of renting a line form a landline company frequently exceeds the total costs of the calls made on that 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: VOIP systems may require an initial investment for purchase of IP phones, each handset of which can cost a hefty sum. 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. In any scenario, while VOIP does require soe initial investments, the savings over time will recoup that investment reasonably quickly.
2. Call Quality
Pros: Some providers in the advent of Voice over Internet Protocol usage were still experimenting with routing and voice traffic; today most providers have modernized their proritization and shaping technologies and Qos (Quality of Service) has imprved dramatically. 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. This means that your non-voice Internet traffic will not interfere with the transmission of your Voice over IP signal, allowing you to continue Internet usage with no degradation of QoS.
Cons: If youre operating a Voice over Internet Protocol system off a single connection that shares traffic with networking or other data and is not large enough to cope with the influx of information, your call quality will likey suffer. Similarly, if you opt for lower-priced hardwre that lacks advanced features such as QoS management, trafic shaping or prioritization, you may see degradation in call quality and management capability. Another factor to keep in mind is that the number of concurrent connections can weaken or even degrade the quality and performance of each connection.
3. Mobility
Pros: A sginificant strength of Voice over Internet Protocol is its unqiue level of mobility when compared to analogue telephony. 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. They can simply plug the IP phone into a data port and the phone and extension will work as normal. Most modern VOIP handsets operate on PoE (Power over Ethernet - the phone is powered by the network cable rather than requiring an additional 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: VOIP portability is tied to the availabiltiy of ethernet jacks and cabling. Ethernet cable is very cheap, but it can look unsightly when strewn for long distances around an office or home. Access to hot data ports is a requirement in any case, and can be achieved with the use of hubs and routers as needed.
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. Voice over IP also is easily integrated with other enterprise computer applications (because it like them is digital).
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. As with any internet data technology, the level of reliabiltiy is dependent on many factors, including the hardware running the system, the software used to manage it, and the bandwidth available. The Linux client is an industry standard for servers, as it's renowned for its stability. 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. As discussed earlier, there are fail-over options and backup plans, but this is an important and too-often overlooked consideration with Voice over IP.
The choice to convert over to a VOIP system will depend on the company's budgetary goals and current technological infrastructure. 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. On the other hand, a configuration lacking either the needed up-front investment or the technological infrastructure may not be ready at this time for Voice over IP.
It is very likely that you have heard someone talk about Voice over IP or 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 is the first in a series of articles intended to give an unbiased overview of Voice over IP technology.
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.VOIP systems utilise the web and the internet to handle telephone communications inependently of 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: Some businesses and individuals see an immediate drop in their phone bill - sometimes by as much as 60% or more - after switching to Voice over Internet Protocol. The reason for these cost savings are simply - Voice over Internet Protocl providers do not have t use the big telephone companies for their call routing and they pass these savings onto their customers. Suchtelecom fees - especially line rental - are very expensive and the cost of renting a line form a landline company frequently exceeds the total costs of the calls made on that 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: VOIP systems may require an initial investment for purchase of IP phones, each handset of which can cost a hefty sum. 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. In any scenario, while VOIP does require soe initial investments, the savings over time will recoup that investment reasonably quickly.
2. Call Quality
Pros: Some providers in the advent of Voice over Internet Protocol usage were still experimenting with routing and voice traffic; today most providers have modernized their proritization and shaping technologies and Qos (Quality of Service) has imprved dramatically. 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. This means that your non-voice Internet traffic will not interfere with the transmission of your Voice over IP signal, allowing you to continue Internet usage with no degradation of QoS.
Cons: If youre operating a Voice over Internet Protocol system off a single connection that shares traffic with networking or other data and is not large enough to cope with the influx of information, your call quality will likey suffer. Similarly, if you opt for lower-priced hardwre that lacks advanced features such as QoS management, trafic shaping or prioritization, you may see degradation in call quality and management capability. Another factor to keep in mind is that the number of concurrent connections can weaken or even degrade the quality and performance of each connection.
3. Mobility
Pros: A sginificant strength of Voice over Internet Protocol is its unqiue level of mobility when compared to analogue telephony. 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. They can simply plug the IP phone into a data port and the phone and extension will work as normal. Most modern VOIP handsets operate on PoE (Power over Ethernet - the phone is powered by the network cable rather than requiring an additional 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: VOIP portability is tied to the availabiltiy of ethernet jacks and cabling. Ethernet cable is very cheap, but it can look unsightly when strewn for long distances around an office or home. Access to hot data ports is a requirement in any case, and can be achieved with the use of hubs and routers as needed.
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. Voice over IP also is easily integrated with other enterprise computer applications (because it like them is digital).
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. As with any internet data technology, the level of reliabiltiy is dependent on many factors, including the hardware running the system, the software used to manage it, and the bandwidth available. The Linux client is an industry standard for servers, as it's renowned for its stability. 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. As discussed earlier, there are fail-over options and backup plans, but this is an important and too-often overlooked consideration with Voice over IP.
The choice to convert over to a VOIP system will depend on the company's budgetary goals and current technological infrastructure. 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. On the other hand, a configuration lacking either the needed up-front investment or the technological infrastructure may not be ready at this time for Voice over IP.
