Comparisons Of Different VOIP Options
VoIP is an IP telephony system that uses the public Internet to transmit voice traffic. Although terms VoIP and IP Phone Systems are interchangeably used they are not exactly similar. The IP Phone Systems also called IP PBX technology also carries voice traffic over the internet however may not necessarily use the public network. VoIP however does use public Internet to carry voice signals. Over a private Internet network like that used by IP PBX systems have a better Quality of Service than the Public Internet System. If the VoIP is designed properly with the latest technologies then it will also be capable of delivering a good Quality of Service. Traditional means of making calls are more expensive than the IP Telephony systems. Long distance calls between locations become very costly in traditional systems. With the help of IP Telephony all the offices of a company located at different places can be connected with each other. Offices situated at different locations can be connected with IP Telephony so hat the voice traffic does not have to travel over the public network at all. The same service provider can connect all the voice trunks of each of the offices. This will not only ensure Quality of Service but will also reduce the call charges for long distance calls. A worker who works from home can also get connected to the office connections. Either he can take a phone from the office and connect it to his high speed internet connection like DSL or cable internet or he can work with a soft phone which is actually software in the home computer that acts like a telephone. All the different settings that are available at office phones are also available at the IP physical phones or soft phones at home. So the workers at the office and at home can still be connected and the caller will not know where the person actually is. Workers who are traveling and are residing at a hotel that has Internet connection can also remain connected to the office with the help of IP Telephony. They may also have a soft phone in their laptop that they can use to stay connected. Such workers only need a headphone that is connected to the laptop computer or port of the computer. This connection is made with VoIP using the internet and it also reduces the cost of calls for such travel. The lower call costs due to VoIP enables the use of multi call centers so that all time zones can be covered and also branches overseas for medium and small size businesses. This also reduces the costs incurred in the labor market. Moreover now call centers can be called contact centers as they are now not able to make or receive calls but also web text chat, e-mail, voice calls through the web, and also web video calls. This provides an affordable and easy means for the customer to contact the employees of a call center. Maintenance costs are reduced to great extent as the system administration uses Graphic User Interface which helps the user himself to make any changes in the phone systems. Even upgrading software can be done by the user instead of taking help from the vendor. When shifting to another location the phone programming need not be altered. The phone may be taken along and the user just needs to plug it into the Ethernet connection and the computer to the jack in the phone. This way VoIP system is a good replacement for traditional phone systems and provides all the functions of those systems at cheaper costs. |
