Health & Fitness
How Do Conventional Phone Lines Compare To Business VoIP?
Have you ever heard of Vonage? This well-respected company is unlike a traditional landline telephone business. Its business model is based on making calls over the Internet.
The technique is called Voice over IP or VoIP. First unleashed in 1995, it took around 9-years to catch-on. In 2004, the introduction of mass-market VoIP services came to the marketplace. And there are plusses when a small business owner considers abandoning the old wired system to one that relies on the Internet to receive and place calls.
Advantages
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As long as you have a high speed or broadband Internet connection, the quality of the calls are practically unnoticeable from a landline.
The maintenance of service is practically non-existent.
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There is more functionality using VoIP.
VoIP costs less. Much less.
Other considerations which might encourage you to make the change are:
What are the initial costs for the monthly subscription and the one-time investment in the equipment?
Generally speaking, a business owner won't experience additional maintenance costs or any additional hardware charges.
You'll pay around $20-to-$30 a month for one line.
The features usually include free local and long distance calling, the capability to transfer and queue calls, the calls can ring simultaneously on multiple lines and you'll be offered an auto-attendant phone directory.
International calls typically ring-in at 3-to-4 cents a minute.
Low budget handsets will set you back about $50. For those wishing to have other features (like a monitor for video calls), you'll pay a little more.
Installation, again based on desk-to-desk Internet connections, make a VoIP system, in most cases, easy to install.
Conventional Vs. VoIP Systems
Think for a moment all that's involved with a traditional business phone system:
Classically it runs through a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system. That alone can be quite cost-ineffective.
You're shelling-out between $35-to-$45 per month per line.
Feature-rich landlines can skyrocket your costs by thousands of dollars.
Installation usually requires a dedicated pro.
The takeaway is if your company has a broadband Internet connection (and a back-up power arrangement in place), you will save money by taking the VoIP route. Those companies with a lower-speed DSL connection will still be able to use such a service. Just remember, DSL will limit the quantity of concurrent phone calls with high-quality audio to about a half-dozen.
A word to the wise: Contact your Internet service provider. If they force a cap on your bandwidth use, there may be an issue. So it's a good idea to check with them first to see if they will cramp your line for excessive use.
This article used Small Business Phone System: VoIP or Traditional Landline as a primary source.
About The Author - This article is contributed by Fit Small Business, a website dedicated to helping businesses grow their bottom and top lines. David Waring serves as the editor-in-chief of Fit Small Business. David is a successful serial entrepreneur having started a video education company, a forex trading firm and most recently a niche online media company.
