Our Guide to VoIP Service
Not many businesses can operate without a phone. Whether that's customer services or any other operations within the industry, companies always need a way to communicate with their current and potential clients.
Today, the classic landline phone is being replaced by VoIP (voice over internet protocol), which is basically phone calls over the internet. They’ve proven to be reliable and of high-quality, allowing precise and crisp audio to travel online and reach both parties. The reason they were thought to be unreliable is that, a long time ago, infrastructure that utilized the internet wasn’t reliable. This meant many problems for anyone wanting to use the internet for different functions, including VoIP.
With that said, if you want to use VoIP, it’ll help to know how it works, how reliable it is, and how much better it is compared to landline services.
How VoIP Services Works
The full VoIP service works by sending voice packets to a VoIP service provider, who then routes these packets to the right destination. It is as simple as that.
The Reliability of VoIP Services
While that whole operation might sound simple, you might be worried still whether this kind of service is reliable. In short, yes, they’re incredibly reliable.
Companies like these do whatever it takes to achieve an uptime of near 99.99 percent. That means that the only downtime you’ll ever face is when something severe happens that causes the whole system to stop working.
With that said, though, VoIP companies usually have plans in place to ensure that whatever problems that occur, that the service continues to be online. For example, these companies have servers around the world containing their software. This is not only to ensure that different companies can connect to one that’s nearest to them, but that they can switch to another server the moment the one they’re currently using goes offline.
Carrier Coverage
Another reliability issue you might think of is coverage of such a service. When a phone with a phone number uses a VoIP service to call, these packets are usually converted into landline signals by a carrier. Unfortunately, it is known that not every place is covered by a carrier, meaning that in some areas, these calls won’t be possible. Even so, some VoIP services offer phone systems that allow automatic carrier-switching to ensure that its use is always covered.
VoIP Service Vs. Landline Service
If you want to squeeze out every drop of reliability from your communication services, stick to a landline. They are, by a hair, more reliable, as there aren’t many things implemented into a landline service, meaning that there are far fewer ways things can go wrong. You don’t have to worry about the internet, quality of service, packet losses, or other issues that are internet-related either.
However, if a landline does go down, it will more than likely stay that way for a few hours or days. Adding a new line and new numbers will also require professionals familiar with the tech to carry out the job. Because of this, scaling a landline service is a lot of headaches and hard work, not to mention that maintenance cost is phenomenal. International calls also get a lot more expensive.
Conclusion
Between landlines and VoIP services, the difference in reliability is imperceivably small. However, because VoIP services rarely ever experience downtime, they’re a much better service now. Thanks to the increase in internet reliability and technology, the service keeps getting better and better, allowing cheap, quality calls to be made. Plus, if you’re growing as a business, VoIP services are much easier to scale. In other words, VoIP should be your first choice when it comes to communicating.
If you are looking for VoIP solutions for your business in Brooklyn, New York, get in touch with us today. We’re happy to help.