VoIP, or also known as Voice over IP calling, can safely be called a revolution in telephony. Telephony over the Internet has many more features than traditional telephony (ISDN) and is also a lot cheaper.
- How does VoIP telephony work?
- What are the benefits?
- Are there any drawbacks to VoIP?
What is VoIP telephony?
Written in full is the Voice-over-Internet-Protocol, or voice sent over an Internet connection. Where previously an analog telephone connection (of copper) was required, calls can now be made over the Internet.
The speech is converted into digital data during transmission and then decoded and converted back into speech at the receiver. Along with speech, additional information can also be sent along with it.
Applications of VoIP
Calls via VoIP can be made via PCs (Skype is popular for this purpose), smartphones (think of WhatsApp's calling function) and special VoIP phones. Thanks to a VoIP gateway, VoIP also allows you to make calls to devices on an analog line.
Through the so-called Session Initiation Protocol, regular telephone numbers can be connected to Voice-over-Internet-Protocol, allowing VoIP to be fully integrated with the old telephone system. From the moment Internet telephony was good enough to make phone calls, all kinds of VoIP equipment entered the market (such as gateways, PBXs and telephones).
For several years now, it has been possible for even the largest organizations to switch from regular telephony to VoIP.
Advantages VoIP
Compared to regular telephony, Voice over IP has several obvious advantages.
First, a lot cheaper. Those who switch no longer pay for the telephone subscription and per minute called. Moreover, with new construction, there is no need to build a telephone network in addition to the Internet network. Because additional data can be sent with the voice (such as about the telephone number from which the data originates), it does not matter where the caller is located: anywhere in the world he can call from the same telephone number.
In addition, the sound quality is many times better than with regular telephony, it is easy to gain insight into call statistics and VoIP telephony can be linked with, for example, Outlook and the CRM system.
Disadvantages VoIP
Internet calling also has some downsides. The Internet caller depends on a working Internet connection and a functioning power network, so if those are out, no calls can be made.
While it is true that the packets of (voice) data can be encrypted, there is still always a risk that the data (or even the system) could be hacked. In addition, for a VoIP system to be reliable, it must be properly configured.
VoIP within the company
Many companies make the switch to Internet telephony because internal communication gets a boost, especially because videoconferencing becomes possible. Moreover, if someone changes location to work, it is no longer necessary to fiddle around in the phone box or change the phone number: the exchange will always recognize the phone, regardless of where the call comes from.
For businesses with multiple locations, VoIP is a huge cost saver: there is never a need to pay for calls to another location.
A central or hosting
Voice over IP can be achieved by building your own PBX or by hosting the service. Building your own VoIP PBX is cheaper in the long run, but it does require some technical know-how for upgrades, maintenance and backups, for example.
Getting started with Voice over IP calling?
Teamtel is the reference in Belgium if you want to make Voice over IP calls with your company. With 15 years of experience and more than 1,200 customers, we make sure you can call without worries.
