If you’re wondering how a VoIP business phone service works, you’ve come to the right place. VoIP phones for business can be powerful tools in your communications arsenal, thanks to their flexibility, scalability, and potential cost savings. Here’s a breakdown of what business VoIP is, how it works, its benefits, and the hardware you need to get a system up and running.
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, meaning business VoIP is a communications system that transmits voice through the internet. Traditionally, phone systems rely on landlines that transmit voice signals from one connected phone to another. With VoIP, the communication is sent through the internet, which means that as long as the phone is connected online, it can send and receive users’ voices.
A VoIP business phone system uses different technology than a landline phone, resulting in unique infrastructure, costs, features, and scalability.
The tech that drives landline phones involves copper wiring or fiber cables that send voice signals from one point to another.
VoIP is different because all voice data gets sent through the internet. In addition, the devices that send and receive VoIP calls get their data through the internet. This enables greater flexibility.
For example, with a landline phone, either the phone itself or its docking station (in the case of cordless phones) has to be physically connected to the wiring the phone company brings into your business. With VoIP, your phone simply connects to the internet, using the same infrastructure as your computer or other internet-connected device.
The additional features you get with business VoIP solutions enable a range of benefits, many of which provide either cost savings or greater efficiency to your business.
A VoIP system gives users unique flexibility because they can use it as long as they have an internet connection. So even if they’re thousands of miles off campus, they can still make and receive calls “in the office.”
For instance, suppose you have a salesperson who has to travel to Canada to meet with a client. At the same time, they’re waiting for an important call from another customer and don’t want to reveal their personal phone number to take the call.
With an internet business phone system, your employee can provide the regular office number and can accept the call in Canada — or at any point along the way — as long as they have an internet connection.
In many cases, a VoIP call costs less than a traditional landline call. This is especially true when it comes to long-distance calls between different countries. For example, international calls can cost several dollars a minute on some plans. A VoIP call to the same location can cost pennies — or less — depending on your provider.
With VoIP, you can do things that are either impossible with traditional landline connections. Some of these features include:
VoIP works by representing the sound waves of your voice in the form of data and then transmitting that information over the internet. Here’s how it works, step by step:
Of course, this all happens in a second or two — or even less, depending on the network and the path the data has to travel.
While you do need hardware to make a VoIP system work, you may already have it on hand. As outlined above, VoIP calls travel through the internet, so a computer is a perfectly capable VoIP device. The same goes for a smartphone or tablet.
You may also need to get a desk phone that’s designed for use with a VoIP system.
You may also need a VoIP gateway if you want to connect your traditional landline to your VoIP system. The VoIP gateway converts the analog audio signal coming through a landline connection to a digital signal that your business VoIP system can transmit over the internet.
You have several options when it comes to phone systems for business. Depending on your needs, each may have benefits that tip the scale in their favor.
A landline transmits a speaker’s voice using electrical signals that get turned back into audio on the other end. With this option, both speakers have to have access to a physical line installed by a phone company, such as AT&T.
Voice is one of the most flexible phone solutions because you aren’t tethered to a landline. Your calls are transmitted using a cloud-based system that enables you to connect with anyone anywhere, as long as they have an internet connection.
Mobile phones offer some of the same flexibility you get from a VoIP service provider because callers can be separated by several miles or continents.
With unified communications (UC), you have a single software solution that handles voice calls, messaging, video conferencing, meetings, sharing content, and voicemail. In this way, a UC system is a communications catchall.
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