Even though carriers are in the midst of moving their backend infrastructures away from analog calling and toward an all-IP infrastructure, many people still have misconceptions and concerns about VoIP calling.
Let’s set the record straight.
First, people get confused by what VoIP actually means. Voice-over-IP is basically digital calling: it is voice carried over IP networks, whether that network is the public Internet or a local area network owned by the company itself. The value of VoIP is that it is dramatically more efficient than analog calling, so costs are lower. It also offers a host of functionality upgrades, since its digital nature makes it easier to include add-on services.
There also is the misconception that VoIP must necessarily be a cloud-based solution. This is not the case, however; VoIP can be either on-premise like traditional business PBX (News - Alert) systems, or it can be a turnkey cloud solution.
The value of the cloud is the ease of use and the lack of maintenance. But businesses that still want full control of their phone systems can choose an on-premise VoIP system, too.
A third misconception is that VoIP necessarily brings worse call quality than analog phones. This misconception comes from over-the-top services such as Skype (News - Alert), where call quality often is sketchy.
Inherently, VoIP has the possibility to deliver superior quality above and beyond what analog offered; just like with video, digital allows for what is called “high-definition calling.”
The reason that VoIP sometimes does not sound as clear, however, is because not all VoIP solutions are created equal. Poor quality stems from a poor network connection, since fluctuating bandwidth can challenge a VoIP call that demands a consistent connection.
Business VoIP solutions get around this issue by using network connections that offer reliability, however; the term to watch for is “quality of service guarantee.” These VoIP solutions ensure that the IP connections have enough bandwidth to reliably deliver high-quality calling.
Overall, VoIP provides better call quality, with more features, and less cost. Now we just need to make sure that everyone realizes this basic fact, not just those of us in the know.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson