A telecom consulting firm, Software Advice, recently published survey results that questioned what people really knew about VoIP. The survey identified three main concerns about VoIP. I’d like to discuss each of those from a business phone system perspective.
Concern #1: Maintaining Dial Tone in a Power Outage
Survey: The largest group of consumers (11%) had concerns regarding whether or not they would lose VoIP service during a power outage.
If a power outage happens, it does not truly matter whether you are using a landline or VoIP; either one requires electricity to function. Most companies have a batter backup in place in the event of an outage. However, Internet outages will effect VoIP in a way that they would not effect landlines. This worry is easily remedied with multiple Internet connections.
Concern #2: Call Quality
Survey: The single largest cause of dissatisfaction with VoIP services is poor or inconsistent voice quality.
This can be an even bigger problem for business buyers. Voice is real time; if an email or a webpage takes a few seconds to load no one notices. However, delayed voice transmissions are quite distracting. Nearly one hundred percent of this particular VoIP issue stems from a poor Internet connection. Fortunately, prices for quality Internet bandwidth connections are dropping. If you are experiencing troubles with your VoIP connection, try having a dedicated Internet connection for only VoIP.
Concern #3: The Need for Specialized Hardware
Survey: Some consumers remain concerned that VoIP telephony requires highly specialized analog equipment.
Author Daniel Harris, Ph. D. accurately squashes the notion that high-tech equipment is required. Harris states, “VoIP allows you to set up a fully featured office phone system with little more than a laptop and a few IP or SIP phones; the rest of your PBX can be hosted in the cloud.” This is one hundred percent accurate. There is no PBX purchase required.
For more information please contact Jay Faulconer with ACS today!