VOIP connections are the way of the future.  It is a great way to connect to people all over the world.  It is wonderful for business communications and for personal services as well.  However, before shopping for VOIP providers it is important to keep all the VOIP details in mind.  Remember that not every business may be a candidate for VoIP phone service, but a growing number are choosing to use this digital-based phone service option to enjoy reduced rates and improved productivity, as well as scalability for future growth.

Your business may have considered VoIP telephone service, however, hesitated due to reading discussions about garbled speech and lag time that occurred in the earlier days of this digital voice technology. But in recent years, these issues have been largely resolved. The quality will vary, though, based upon the VoIP service provider selected, since the software and backbone quality may differ among providers.

A consumer provider will often send an ATA that plugs into a regular phone.  The adaptor must convert a traditional or analog voice signal, into a digital signal. With a business provider, you receive specialized IP phones. These contain a built-in Ethernet jack that plugs directly into the network. While a low-end residential VoIP service provider may lack a bit in sound quality, this quality rises to a superior level with business-grade hosting service. There is no signal conversion required, and the resulting voice quality is much better. Dropped calls are usually not a problem if business-grade equipment and a good broadband connection exist.

Also, a good business VoIP service provider will provide a consultative approach, sending an engineer onsite to make sure your network is ‘VoIP ready’ before the system is ever put in place, resulting in superior voice quality.  This includes identifying if the current network configuration, such as the routers, switches or other hardware, will be a problem, or whether the company firewall would block voice data transmissions.

Remember that fears are that network security leaks or denial of service attacks could occur if VoIP is implemented. But the reality is that it is often easier to tap in to a physical phone line than a digital one. And listening in on VoIP transmissions is difficult, if the company has network security in place.

Other security measures can also be implemented, such as turning off any VoIP protocols that aren’t being actively used by the company, effectively closing potential doors to intruders.  Installing the phones or adaptors and software required to implement VoIP service is much simpler, and less expensive, when compared to installing a traditional system. Hosting company representatives will come out onsite to assist clients with the initial configuration.  Once the business rules are built into the templates provided by the hosted PBX service, most systems require little ongoing input, unless additional protocols are added at a later time.