IP Telephony – The Advantages, Flexibility And Availability

The Internet has provided thousands of uses since its inception and only gets better over time. For those looking to move away from the convention telephone systems and free themselves of the restrictions of such traditional technology, then IP telephony may have the answer. It provides an alternative with additional benefits and advantages. IP telephony (otherwise known as voice over IP or VoIP) allows normal telephony services like phone calls, SMS and faxing to be used over the Internet instead of the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

For Consumers

Voice over IP provides many benefits, but these are separated into what is good for a consumer and what is good for a business. Some of the advantages don’t crossover. Since VoIP only requires a high-speed Internet connection, it allow locational independence and combined with the flat subscription fee that allows unlimited calls, even to other countries and individuals on the same network occasionally, it makes for an excellent service.

VoIP allows for three methods of connection. The first is a VoIP phone set that’s designed purely for the voice over IP use. A converter allows a conventional analog phone to use VoIP by converting the signal into whatever is necessary. The last is the softphone, which is a software variant of the phone with a digital number pad and it only requires that the computer it’s installed on has access to the Internet.

Business Use

Due to the nature of phone calls over the Internet, it’s usually considerably cheaper for businesses to switch from older copper wire telephone systems to the voice over IP systems. Using this with the ability to run both data and voice over a single network, the operating costs can be massively reduced. This is one of the major businesses decisions often made when considering VoIP.

When using the appropriate telephone devices, it’s possible to swap between networks with problems as well as use singular devices instead of multiple ones for maximum compatibility. These devices can also allow multiple methods of communication, instead of simply being restricted to phone calls. Another additional benefit that’s free of charge is the security. All VoIP calls go through an encryption process that is decoded at the other end. Doing this with a normal phone line is much more difficult.

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