Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) enables voice and fax communication using the Internet. Over the past few years, VoIP technology has made waves in the residential and business communications space to the point that over one-third of all calls today use VoIP, according to an August 2013 study of Internet users by the Pew (News - Alert) Research Center. Once begun as a relatively unassuming technology with basic calling functionalities, VoIP today, continues to realize its rapid growth and even greater potential as business models emerge to not only capitalize on rate and regulatory arbitrage opportunities, but also incorporate social networking, advertising and complementary (or bundled) service offerings in the terrestrial wired and fiber spaces as well as the emerging 4G LTE (News - Alert) wireless space. Products and services which incorporate VoIP technology as a core component or subtle adjunct service element continue to grow exponentially.
Today, with VoIP, consumers can make and receive calls from across the street or around the world more seamlessly than ever. And with the right service provider and on-premise device in the form of a phone adapter, gateway, IP phone or smart phone app, they can even do so for such a low cost, the calls might as well be free. By using service provider cloud-managed hosted VoIP devices, such as VoIP telephone adapters, VoIP gateways and IP phones, users can enjoy convenient and cost-efficient communications by combining their broadband Internet connection with VoIP.
On the services side – whether they are focused on residential or business users, hosted VoIP devices work to offer those in the Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) space increased control and flexibility when offering services to their subscribers. Managed hosted VoIP devices such as those offered by Obihai enable service providers to best provision their devices securely, and to control all aspects of any given device’s operation – from configuring parameters, to remotely rebooting the device if necessary, taking the work out of their customers’ hands. The small business market for telecommunications and collaborative services is considered to be greatly underserved by solutions that leverage VoIP – especially in way that can drastically lower the costs to operate a service yet raise the bar on the collaborative, productivity-enhancing features required to fully-justify the investment. Every small business that is looking to lower their telecommunications costs will immediately see great value in moving to a VoIP solution. With the help of cloud-managed hosted VoIP devices and a highly reliable yet ultra-affordable VoIP service, they can do just that – enjoy low initial start-up costs and much lower on-going expenditures while taking advantage of useful business collaboration applications allowing them to place more of a focus on growing their business. Even better, small businesses can support their remote branch office workers and telecommuters using cloud-managed hosted VoIP devices and associated services, which enable remote management and configuration from anywhere there is an Internet connection.
Cloud-Managed Hosted VoIP Devices:
- Allow for Mass-Deployment to Residential and Business Customers with Little or No Pre-Provisioning
- Provide a Very Secure Method for Managing Sensitive Service-Related Configuration Information
- Offer Flexible Means By-Which to Troubleshoot and Re-Configure Devices Already Out in the Field
- Have the Ability to Run Multiple Services Tailored to a Specific Target (News - Alert) Customer or Market
- Leverage the Cloud for Device Related Service Creation, Delivery and Management
Considering the above, it now seems more-clear than ever how cloud-managed hosted VoIP devices need to work, and more importantly, how they help multiple and diverse end-user customers achieve clear, robust and feature-rich communications at a fraction of the cost they would’ve had to pay in the past.
Edited by Blaise McNamee