What is VoIP telephony, and how can it optimize business communications?
If you’re looking to learn all about VoIP services, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to cover what VoIP telephony is, which advantages of VoIP can benefit you, what the difference between VoIP systems and traditional telephone systems are, and much more.
Below is a quick overview of the topics we’ll cover:
Voice over internet protocol, also known as voice over IP, or VoIP for short, is a way to facilitate audio calls over an internet connection.
Essentially, the thing that separates VoIP calls from analog phone calls is the routing they implement. Where an analog telephone uses traditional phone lines to connect callers, VoIP calling links two or more endpoints by using the internet.
As for how voice over internet protocol can be used, it’s highly versatile. Anytime you use internet-based voice communications, you’re using VoIP. That includes making voice calls, hosting or joining video meetings, and messaging using voice recordings.
In short, if you’re sending voice signals to one or more people via the internet, you’re using VoIP.
VoIP and IP telephony are very similar, to the point at which they can often be used interchangeably.
We’ve established what VoIP is, so let’s take a look at IP telephony in more detail.
If VoIP is the technology (or protocol) that lets people make calls via the internet, IP telephony is the larger communications system that uses that mechanism. In other words, IP telephony depends on VoIP.
An IP phone system is one that connects to a global IP network or internet service to make calls. It’s a telecommunications system that places calls using VoIP.
That’s why IP telephony and VoIP refer to the same thing: internet telephony.
We already know that VoIP calls are made using the internet. But what does that mean in practical terms?
Let’s start by considering how traditional telephones work.
When you use a traditional phone system to make phone calls, your phone connects to the public switched telephone network or PSTN. That network then transfers your audio input to the person (or people) you’re calling using physical wires so they can hear what you’re saying in real-time.
VoIP phone services work similarly. The major difference is that devices in a VoIP phone system don’t send your data via physical phone lines, but via the internet using VoIP protocol (IP telephony).
In order for audio data to be transmitted in this way, it has to be converted into digital signals first. So, what happens is that you speak into your device the same way you normally would. Your input is then automatically converted into a digital format using VoIP technologies. That data then gets sent to the people on the other end of the line.
To users, VoIP phones work virtually the same as traditional phones.
The biggest difference on the user end is the fact that you can make VoIP calls from many more devices than just your analog phone - but we’ll get into that later.
Essentially, the term “VoIP phone” simply describes any device that can use VoIP to place calls. This includes mobile devices like smartphones, as well as tech-based softphones.
Some phones, particularly softphones, are designed specifically to be used with mobile VoIP. These tend to work best as VoIP phones - and sometimes don’t work as traditional phones at all.
| VoIP phones | Landline phones |
|---|---|
| Connect callers via the internet. Calls can be placed using any kind of internet connection including via ethernet, through a local area network, or a wi-fi router with sufficient bandwidth. | Connect callers using traditional phone networks. These are accessed using physical wires and other pieces of hardware. |
| Often rely on SIP trunking (session initiation protocol trunking), which lets VoIP phones send and receive multimedia data packets across the internet. | Rely on physical hardware. If the phone in question doesn’t have the necessary hardware to send text messages or images, it’s therefore impossible to do so. |
| Easily connect to anyone in the world, making it a simple matter to place international calls. | Can connect with numbers worldwide, but often incur additional charges when doing this. |
| Some models can send and receive SMS or text messages, as well as emails. | Can only be used to place calls, and sometimes to send SMS messages. |
| VoIP softphones are highly portable and can place calls anywhere they can connect to the internet. | Often non-portable; for example, landlines can’t come with you on vacation. |
Broadly speaking, VoIP systems have great hardware compatibility.
If your device can connect to the internet, as well as send and receive audio data, you can use it to place VoIP calls. That means pretty much any cell phone, laptop, and tablet, as well as many kinds of desk phones are good choices for VoIP-compatible hardware.
The same goes for handsets and accessories. If you’ve got a favorite headset to wear while you make calls, you can use it with your VoIP telephone.
If you’ve still got any questions about VoIP telephony after checking this article, we’ll do our best to answer them here.
The list of physical items you need to get started with a VoIP phone system isn’t extensive. All you really need is at least one device to place calls with, an internet (either broadband or data) connection, and a provider.
If you’ve already got a lot of analog devices, it might be a good idea to pick a provider that can give you analog telephone adapters. These allow you to keep using your existing tech while still enjoying all the VoIP benefits possible.
Not at all. VoIP phone systems are very easy to set up and can be installed within minutes. Since VoIP solutions rely on software, as opposed to hardware, there’s no need for a physical installation to take place.
That means that once you’ve chosen your provider and your pricing plan, you can simply install your VoIP system via a download.
The short answer is extremely flexible.
The one thing to keep in mind about VoIP is that there are many different types of business communications systems that rely on it. In other words, you can choose exactly which type of VoIP telephony solution works best for your company, offering a lot of flexibility.
In particular, UCaaS-based VoIP systems tend to come in the form of platforms that can be accessed from all kinds of devices. You’d just need to download an app, and then you could use the service from whichever device has access to that app.
The exact functionalities that come with VoIP solutions also vary hugely depending on the specific provider you’ve chosen. Some are fully-built UCaaS systems with all kinds of bells and whistles attached, while others come as a bare-bones phone system that you can configure yourself if you require further options.
This depends entirely on your provider. Many will offer options to let you keep using the same number you’re used to, though some only offer it as a premium option you’ll have to pay for.
If this is very important to your business, it’s a good idea to double-check the policies each provider has in regards to retaining existing phone numbers.
Yes. But first, let’s define what a PBX is.
A PBX, or private branch exchange, is an internal phone network that connects office phones to each other. It facilitates easy transferring of calls between phones within its network. There are two types of PBX systems.
VoIP works with cloud PBX systems by default as VoIP is a critical component of the technology. On the other hand, on-premise PBX systems might still be working with analog phones and would need adapters before they can be used with VoIP telephony.
Broadly speaking, anyone who’s got access to the internet and needs a phone solution can use VoIP.
VoIP is often the right choice for any company that’s hoping to scale up or expand in the near future. It’s also a good option for anyone looking to move away from a hardware-based solution.
Of course, if you’re not sure whether VoIP telephony would be a good fit for you, the best way to find out is to actually give it a try. Many providers will offer a free demo or trial version of their VoIP telephony solutions, so you can see for yourself whether they suit your business’s needs.