As costs continue to rise in today’s economy, a number of businesses are looking to alternatives to costly business travel and communications expenses.

 

Enter Voice over IP or “VoIP”. This technology, which sends voice calls as data packets over an Internet connection, has grown in popularity among consumers and especially business users for the advanced functionalities and cost savings it offers.

 

A VendorGuru.com article, “Five Ways VoIP Can Save Business Travelers Money,” highlights the top 5 ways businesses can leverage Voice over IP to “offset the cost of travel.”

 

The first recommendation is to use a VoIP router in hotel rooms or during long trips. Doing so means business travelers don’t have to pay outrageous hotel fees of a dollar or more per minute for long distance calls.

Next, through the use of Bluetooth headsets and softphones, business travelers can easily place calls for much less by simply utilizing a free wireless Internet connection from a café or hotel lobby and syncing their laptops with their headsets.

An advanced feature included in many phone systems, “find-me-follow-me” is also beneficial for business travelers who can have just one contact phone number for calls to be routed to whichever handheld device or nearest workstation they’d like.

Aside from advanced feature sets, the cost savings achieved using Voice over IP when it comes to international and long distance calling can not be overlooked. International business travelers have in the past turned to disposable prepaid cell phones as a way to try and cut communications costs, instead using VoIP technology, it is possible to dial local numbers and enjoy much lower calling rates.

For ultra mobile business travelers, Voice over IP technology has also made its way to the wireless world and many companies are offering handsets that allow customers roam between cell service and VoIP.

For more, check out the Voice over IP channel on TMCnet.