Today, the unprecedented range of telephone systems options is both challenge and an opportunity for the discerning office manager or small business owner. Increasingly, attention is being given to using the office computer network as the office phone system.
Today it can seem like some new innovation is made every year, and even to mention the days of one black phone and one big phone company is to date oneself. Rather than be overwhelmed by the number of choices available today, the best way to organize business planning on telecommunications might be ask first: What are this company’s specific needs?
Some needs will vary from business to business. One can’t expect a call center, with each desk making a hundred long-distance calls every day, to have the same needs as a suburban chiropractic office – even if they have the same number of phones. However, the times being what they are, one need is common to all: Saving money.
VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Provider, is a system in which the telephone service is directly connected to the computer, bypassing the centralized telephone company altogether. The most obvious advantage of VoIP is that it is dramatically less expensive than service through any centralized phone company.
The most familiar type of VoIP is the Analog Telephone Adapter or ATA, in which the telephone jack is simply plugged into the computer. The simplicity and lack of start-up fee are attractive features for many users. Then there is the Internet Protocol (IP) phone, which looks just like a regular telephone except that it’s connected to the computer through the Ethernet. Finally there is computer-to-computer, in which there is no charge whatsoever.
There’s a down side to everything, including VoIP. Almost any user would admit that it as reliable as the better-established phone companies. There might be occasional service interruptions, which could be caused even by a hardware problem with a computer. The sound quality might not be as crisp, either. The phone quality does generally become dependent upon the quality of one’s phone network. This could be crucial for attorneys, sales people, recruiters, or anyone else expected to close deals over the phone.
That said, VoIP generally has one final advantage: if there is any charge at all, that charge is going to be either month-to-month or even one-time-only. There are almost no long-term contracts. That means businesses might be able to experiment with VoIP, see if it satisfies them, and sign with one of the standard telephone systems only if necessary.
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