As per a recent study, "Internet telephony can cut small business start-up costs by 90% and save over 30 minutes of daily call time, it’s no wonder the global VoIP market has an estimated compound annual growth rate of 3.1% from 2021-2026".
Source: VoIP Industry Statistics 2020
Are you tired of hefty phone bills or poor call quality of your landline phone? Or looking for more flexibility to work from anywhere? There's nothing to worry as switching to a VoIP phone system is your answer to all problems. Landlines are often tied into old-fashioned contracts and upfront connection costs. That makes it difficult to unlock real value for money. While traditional landlines allows you to make calls from your desk phone, a VoIP phone system is integrated to your mobile and laptop ensuring you flexibility to work from wherever you want.
Let’s take a closer look at 7 reasons why VoIP is a worthy alternative to landlines — and whether or not virtual telephony is the right choice for you.
What is VoIP?
VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol describes the method to place and receive phone calls over the internet. Most people consider VoIP the alternative to the local telephone company. If you’ve heard of an IP address, that’s your Internet Protocol address. An IP address is how computers and devices communicate with each other on the internet.
VoIP technology enables traditional telephony services to operate over computer networks using packet-switched protocols. Packet-switched VoIP puts voice signals into packets, similar to an electronic envelope. VoIP packets can be transmitted over any VoIP-compatible network, such as a local area network (LAN).
Many businesses rely on specialized hardware for phone service. This equipment is known as a Private Branch Exchange. It connects internal phone extensions to the public telephone network. PBXs are generally quite costly to set up and maintain.
Related article: What is VoIP? Get to know a VoIP Phone System better
Why choose VoIP (TOP 10 Benefits of VoIP)
There are many potential benefits to switching to a VoIP telephone system. Let’s look at the TOP 10 benefits of VoIP that can decrease cost and time investments while increasing productivity of your business. We will focusing on specific benefits that make the companies actually switch to a VoIP phone system.
1. Low cost per call
VoIP telephone system utilizes Internet Protocol to make calls. Instead of using telephone lines, all communication data is turned into packets and sent over the IP network. The IP network your business uses could be your Internet connection, a direct IP connection to your telephone service provider or a combination of both.
2. VoIP phone system mean flexibility
If your business is on-the-go, VoIP services can be a tremendous benefit to you because they will follow you wherever you go.
On a traditional phone system, a line that runs to a home or business is assigned its own phone number. Any movement that takes place then becomes a trial of remembering the right codes or keys to dial on your phone. A lot of time can then be wasted by contacting phone companies to transfer services and phone numbers to new locations.
3. VoIP phone system ensures higher call quality
VoIP uses your internet connection, it offers higher call quality when compared to alternatives. A VoIP telephone system offers its users HD voice using internet connectivity, with incredible clarity. Businesses looking for better call quality and to avoid breaking up while talking to an important client, are advised to switch to VoIP phone system.
4. Versatility of Features
Using VoIP phone systems allows businesses to multi-task with the most tech-savvy devices, allowing you to be the most productive you can be. Suppose you are on a call within a queue. While you are waiting, you can strategise your approach to client calls you have missed as you read voicemail-to-text transcriptions that are sent directly to your email inbox.
In another case, you can forward messages and voicemail easily. If you receive an important message in a voicemail, you can forward that voicemail to three other people at the click of a mouse.
5. Secure call conferencing
As a phone system for businesses, the importance of security is very high. To keep your IP secure, VoIP allows your conference calls to be guarded by a unique PIN, set by you, giving you control over who has access to your conference calls.
Read more :Top 10 VoIP benefits: Why companies switch to a VoIP Phone System
What is a traditional landline and how does it work?
PSTN Shutdown and the future of VoIP Phones
National telecoms provider BT has announced they will shut off their ISDN and PSTN services.The move ends the use of analogue phone lines and moves communications technology into an entirely new online space.
BT will no longer offer businesses the ability to acquire ISDN and PSTN after 2020, with the total switch off occurring in 2025. After the switch off, there will be no maintenance or recovery of phone lines, and any data sent will no longer be carried through ISDN and PSTN.
Related article: Save more with VoIP - BT is soon phasing out ISDN and PSTN
7 Reasons why you should choose VoIP over landline
While the high-speed internet that makes VoIP a good choice has become more readily available, there are still many who lack access to fast, reliable internet. For those consumers and businesses, a traditional landline may still be the best route until high-speed internet becomes available to everyone.
1. Affordability
The only cost associated with a VoIP service is your monthly internet bill. Studies show that you could stand to save up to 90% on international calls by switching from a typical landline telephone to VoIP.
2. Conference Calling
A typical landline can only accommodate a two-way call. But modern business requires much more sophisticated options, and VoIP delivers. VoIP makes it simple to conference multiple team members on one line something that a landline phone does not offer.
3. Affordable software and hardware
A traditional landline phone line is expensive to set up, whereas VoIP is scalable and easy to keep within your budget. This is ideal for small or new businesses—rather than diving in with all the expensive accessories of a landline telephone fleet you can scale your VoIP system over time as your company grows.
4. VoIP offers flexibility to work anywhere
A VoIP system is easy to change to your needs. There's ever-growing need for a remote working set up to manage the high number of remote workers. VoIP offers features that allow your workforce to work from possibly anywhere.
Also, your business will grow and evolve, and your telephone system should be able to adapt. There’s no particular layout you’ll be tied into, and the final configuration you choose will be much less complicated than a traditional landline system.
5. Productivity
There’s no time to waste in our fast-paced world, and your phone system shouldn’t hold you up. A VoIP system gives you what is necessary to keep up and stay productive. Whether you’re working from home, handling your family’s busy schedule, or opening a new business – a VoIP system can make it happen.
6. Better sound quality
HD voice increases the audio quality of your phone calls in a VoIP phone system. Cloud phone systems leverage wide-band audio codecs to improve the sound quality in every VoIP call. Compared to landlines, you’ll sound much better and hear every word with higher fidelity.
7. Up-to-date software
With a traditional landline, you’ll have to purchase an entirely new set of hardware to make a change. VoIP, on the other hand, can handle updates fluidly as technology advances. Get that competitive edge with an always relevant VoIP system.
Finally, switching to VoIP might also help you save money on communications services. Long-distance and international calls are generally free with VoIP service. The only charge is for your internet access.
Implementing VoIP doesn’t mean that all your employees have to use IP-enabled phones. The best VoIP providers implement IP telephony in a manner that protects your investment in existing telephone equipment, even if you have analog telephone stations.
Since landlines are often tied into old-fashioned contracts and upfront connection costs.If you're looking for speed, flexibility, and scalability then it is best to switch from a traditional phone to VoIP. Learn more about the communication possibilities that VoIP can open up for your business with a FREE VoIP demo today.