VoIP Advantages and Disadvantages

A voice over IP telephone system enables communication over the internet, instead of a traditional phone line.

A VoIP telephone system is essential for businesses, particularly since ISDN lines will be shut down by the end of 2025.

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What Is A VoIP Telephone System?

VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, basically means to make calls over the internet. So with a VoIP telephone system, you have a fully-featured telephone system that’s stored in the cloud. As a result, you spend less on hardware and get way more for your money.

With a traditional on-premises telephone system, you’re tied to your office. For example, you can’t make calls from home using your office telephone system. That’s different with VoIP. VoIP offers unparalleled flexibility, because you can use your telephone system no matter where you are. You can use all the features of a VoIP telephone system on a computer or a mobile. So no matter where you are, you’ll have your ultra-flexible phone system to hand.

The above image shows a ‘soft phone’, which is an application that can be used on internet-enabled devices to make and receive calls through your VoIP telephone system.

With a traditional telephone system, your call routing takes place inside your office. With VoIP, all of the call routing is done in the cloud instead. This means that you don’t have to purchase expensive hardware to store in your own office; all the routing takes place in a secure data centre.

VoIP: How Does A Voice over IP Telephone System Work?

VoIP communications are packeted and transmitted as IP packets over the internet.

VoIP systems that we create and install use a line dedicated to your VoIP system, despite both voice and data communications over a singular network being possible.

We use a VoIP-only line for your system to ensure a superior call experience for your business. If you use one line for voice and data communications, call experience can be negatively impacted. By using an additional line, we can assure a quality VoIP system.

Using a line solely for Voice over IP telephone systems allows for calls free of dropping, extended pauses and bad transmissions.

The VoIP call experience is the same as if not better than a traditional telephone system. Users will not notice a difference from using the public switched telephone network.

Notable advantages of VoIP are:

  • Reduced Costs
  • No Location Barriers
  • Enhanced Call Management Features
  • Scalable
  • Higher Voice Quality

VoIP Advantages

Now we’ve had a look at the fundamentals of what VoIP is and how it all works, we’re going to take a look at some of the advantages. There are multiple VoIP advantages that can completely enhance the way that you can communicate internally and with your customers.

The infographic below briefly explains the key benefits of VoIP:

VoIP Advantages and Disadvantages: Advantages

Reduced costs, greater scalability… here are the main advantages of a VoIP telephone system.

A VoIP System Will Reduce Your Costs

Setting up and maintaining a traditional telephone system is expensive, particularly as traditionally used technology becomes antiquated.

A VoIP system uses an internet connection rather than a traditional phone line, so setup and ongoing costs are both lower.

There Aren’t Any Location Barriers

Using a traditional telephone system, it would be costly to phone the other side of the world. With a VoIP system however, providing you and the person on the other end of the phone have access to internet, calls can be placed and answered for no extra charge usually.

If your mobile device is connected to your office VoIP system, you can answer calls to your office number on it. You don’t have to be close to your office, either – you could be on the other side of the country!

VoIP Systems Have Enhanced Call Management Features

VoIP systems come with a range of enhanced call management features through Horizon and other platforms that you wouldn’t have access to with a traditional system.

Features such as call forwarding and conference calling are standard with most VoIP systems, and these features are usually managed through a simple interface.

Here are just a few notable call management features. We’ll take a closer look at some of these later in this article:

  • Anonymous Call Rejection
  • Call Forwarding
  • Call Queue
  • Call Recording
  • Call Transfer
  • Do Not Disturb
  • Hunt Groups
  • Music on Hold
  • Voicemails
  • Remote Office

VoIP Systems Scale with Your Business

VoIP telephone systems are scalable – a factor that is advantageous to businesses both big and small.

Scalability is always noted as a benefit of VoIP systems, but what does it actually mean for your business?

A VoIP system will grow with you over time without the expense of having to invest in expensive hardware every time you expand.

VoIP Call Quality is High

When VoIP first emerged, it had a major problem: weak call quality.

Call dropping and latency were issues that all users had to deal with, but those days are long gone.

VoIP voice quality is no longer a problem. In fact, VoIP call quality is now good in most cases, providing an all-round impressive experience for users.

We use a dedicated line for your VoIP telephone system, separate from your main data transfer line. The dedicated line provides a robust, fast and stable internet connection that enables clear and lag-free calls using a VoIP solution.

Are There Any VoIP Drawbacks?

VoIP is a brilliant method of communication. Are there any drawbacks?

VoIP isn’t perfect. Main drawbacks include:

  • Latency with Poor Connection
  • Reliable Internet Required

Latency is A Concern if Your Connection is Poor

The majority of internet-based technology will have latency issues if you’re using a poor connection; VoIP is no different to any other internet-based technology.

If your connection is poor, your VoIP system won’t operate correctly. Packets will be transferred at a slower rate or transfer incorrectly.

Reliable Internet is A Must for VoIP

Your Voice over Internet Protocol telephone system will not operate correctly without reliable internet.

If your internet is unreliable and there is little bandwidth available, any internet-based technology will suffer.

When we install a VoIP system, we will use a dedicated line for your system with all the bandwidth you require. As a result, your VoIP system will have reliable internet and will therefore operate to its full potential.

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Call Management Using Horizon

Horizon is an online hosted communications service offering a number on telephony services that are useful to businesses of all sizes.

Using Horizon’s features for call management is made easy with the easy-to-use web portal. Here are some of the benefits of Hosted phone systems:

  • Remote Working is Made Easy
  • Multiple Sites Can Be Managed in One Location
  • Scalable System That Grows with Your Business

How Horizon Allows You to Manage Calls

Horizon has several call management features that help small and medium sized businesses to handle calls effectively.

Here, we’re looking at a few good examples.

Call Forwarding: The call forwarding feature allows you to forward incoming calls to a number and device of your choice. Call forwarding is ideal for when you know you aren’t going to be in the office, and you don’t want to miss important calls.

Call Queue: The call queue feature allows calls to queue if all handsets are already in use. Call queueing can be customised to include welcome messages and hold music to keep customers engaged while they wait for your team.

Call Recording: The call recording feature gives you the option to record some or all your inbound and outbound calls. Call recording can be assigned to an entire hunt group or a specific handset, depending on the settings you choose.

Remote Office: Remote office is a feature that allows a Horizon user to use any phone as their Horizon phone. Remote office can be activated and deactivated as required, allowing you to remain active even when you’re not in the office.

VoIP Is the Right Choice for You

VoIP telephone systems are the future. Every business should be moving over to VoIP from other lines, such as ISDN, that aren’t meeting the requirements of businesses anymore.

Fill in your contact information below and we’ll be in touch to discuss your VoIP requirements and advise you on how this robust option could help your business.