Five Reasons Why VoIP Just Makes Sense

Whether large or small, businesses are switching to voice-over-IP (VoIP) in droves. Traditional analogue telephone service is on its last leg, and even the phone networks know it; plans currently are under foot to make the switch to VoIP industry-wide. So just like it now is hard to take photographs with film, not too many years from now it will be hard or impossible to call with the phone technology that has served the world for most of our lives.

VoIP and unified communications grew 3 percent the first six months of the year, according to industry analysts Infonetics Research. It currently represents a $32.11 billion industry worldwide, and has a projected compound annual growth rate of 7 percent over the next four years.

Here are five reasons why:

1. Efficient call routing. VoIP is digital, which means several things. First, it can leverage compression. This means it only uses as much bandwidth as it needs, not a full line like analogue phones. Second, several calls can simultaneously use the same wire. This efficiency translates into cost savings. How much? VoIP costs up to 80 percent less than similar landline services.

2. Unlimited long distance calling. It is hard to beat a cheap flat rate for national calling, and that’s exactly what VoIP offers due to its foundation as data packets that run over the Internet instead using the traditional telephone network. More than anything else, businesses are switching because it just makes sense from a cost perspective.

3. More features. Along with price, businesses have discovered that VoIP comes with a plethora of features baked into calling plans. These include universal features for free such as voicemail and call waiting, and they also include more VoIP-specific features such as the ability to place and receive calls from anywhere in the world.

4. Cheap international rates. While VoIP usually delivers unlimited national calling for one flat rate, it also offers exceedingly low international rates. That’s because while it is no small feat to connect a call from one point in the world to another, it is substantially easier (and therefore cheaper) to send these calls through the Internet. The lowest international rates are those that come through VoIP solutions.

5. Less hardware. With VoIP, telephony can be a hosted service. This means no closet stuffed with telephone hardware, no maintenance, no upgrades and wasted space. One of the most underrated benefits of VoIP is its ability to make business telephone networks a turnkey service.

Add it all up, and business VoIP wins against analogue phone service every time.

Edited by Alisen Downey