Reduce costs with business VoIP service

Voice over Internet Protocol, known in the telecommunications industry as VoIP, is a relatively new technology for using a broadband Internet connection instead of conventional landline phone service. Business VoIP service can eliminate up to 50 percent of phone costs. Making a call with a VoIP broadband phone is handled the same as with a landline phone. The user picks up the handset, dials and speaks, regardless of whether the caller uses VoIP or not.

VoIP service providers incorporate the necessary technology to allow calls to be made. The caller, however, must have a high-speed Internet connection, with a minimum bandwidth of 90 Kbps, which is beyond the capabilities of the dial-up service.

There are several main reasons for choosing business VoIP service. Large companies have high call volumes and numerous extensions to cover every single employee. To handle the telephone circuit switching required to route calls, businesses typically have to purchase private branch exchange equipment, also known as a PBX. This is expensive and can take up quite a bit of space.

For businesses using VoIP broadband phone service, the only purchase necessary to route incoming and outgoing calls is a broadband connection and a router to route the information packets. VoIP service providers then transfer the internet calls to the desired party, a solution called a hosted VoIP or IP PBX solution. The service provider usually has a secure website that allows selection of phone features, including call forwarding. Because calls are made by transmitting digital data packets, numerous calls can be made simultaneously over the internal local area network, or LAN, already in place for company computing operations.

Also, phone service over the Internet is unregulated, just like phone service over landlines, which allows VoIP service providers to charge fixed monthly fees that are not calculated into long distance charges. WANs, or Wide Area Networks, are telecommunications facilities used to connect business locations that may be thousands of miles apart, but are part of the same corporation or business entity. When using business VoIP service, long distance calls are not a factor because the Internet is used to transmit each call through packets of digital information. It’s simpler and less expensive, as well as offering a wide selection of calling features.

With VoIP, voicemail and faxes can be accessed via email or by browsing the web. Caller ID, absentee messaging, and conference calling are possible and portable features. Either an IP phone or an analog phone adapter, called ATA, is all you need to travel, with your number assigned to the phone rather than a wired location. The umbrella of the company’s information technology department may include the company’s VoIP broadband telephony needs. However, if the company is small, VoIP service providers may host the service to compensate for a small or no IT department. In general, the use of business VoIP service can simplify accounting and benefit a company’s bottom line.