Confused by VoIP Services and how they compare to traditional phone systems ?
What is VoIP and what is a Cloud Based Phone system?
VoIP stands for ‘Voice Over Internet Protocol’ and VoIP telephony refers to the technology that allows you to make phone calls using the internet, instead of traditional phone lines. With VoIP, your voice is converted into digital data, which is then sent over the internet to the recipient, who hears it as a phone call. VoIP technology can be used on a variety of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
This means your business phones work anywhere there is an internet connection, or you can use a VoIP app on your mobile phone.
VoIP telephone systems are also be known as cloud-based telephone systems or cloud-based telephone PBX but they can be run in-house on dedicated equipment and they use the internet for making calls.
Cloud-based is a term that is often used and refers to services or resources available to users via the Internet and refers to a phone system that is hosted in the cloud, rather than on-premises. With cloud-based telephony, all of the hardware and software needed to run the phone system is located in a remote data center, and users access it via the internet. Cloud-based telephony can include VoIP technology, but it also includes other types of communication options, such as instant messaging and video conferencing.
PBX stands for private branch exchange, which is a private telephone network used within a company or organisation.
For most purposes, cloud phone systems and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems fundamentally provide you with the same phone system functionality, and are interchangeable terms in most cases.
Using a Traditional Phone Service.
Traditionally phone systems rely on the public switched telephone network, or PSTN to make and receive calls.
Telephone lines are connected from the local telephone exchange to your premises.
If you want more advanced features such as multiple users on a business line, hold facilities, switchboard etc, this could mean additional hardware in your business premises.
Traditional phone systems often come with long contracts and don’t always have the flexibility of features or call costs that your business may need to change regularly.
Using a VoIP service for your phones
VoIP bypasses traditional telephony solutions and uses software to handle calls intelligently and cost-effectively over the internet.
This means your business can break free from the constraints typically associated with traditional phone systems.
A typical single physical phone line, for instance, can only be associated with one phone number. By using VoIP, users, phone lines and phone numbers are all virtual, meaning many users can be associated with a single phone number and vice versa.
Get more flexibility with VoIP services
VoIP phone systems are often hosted in the cloud (but not in all cases).
This means that the system running your business phone system becomes independent from location and onsite hardware.
You can set up and configure your cloud-based phone system from anywhere by logging into our online portal. You can use the free-to-use mobile and desktop apps, to make and take calls from anywhere using any device within minutes.
Your users can work from anywhere, providing they have an internet connection.
Business-grade VoIP systems should not be confused with other consumer-grade services like WhatsApp, Messenger etc, even though they fall under “VoIP” style systems.
Cloud-based phone systems offer high quality, reliable and feature-rich service that older telephone systems or “free” VoIP systems can’t compete with.
With business users in mind, business VoIP services are built from the ground up to provide near-perfect uptime and, importantly, end-to-end encryption to protect your data.
Help your Work-Life Balance with VoIP
Many micro and small businesses start by using their mobile number so their customers can contact them.
However, not everyone respects your working hours so you may find yourself answering your mobile outside your typical working hours or even worse when you are on holiday.
The choice to answer a call is always down to you, but by using a virtual landline number as your primary contact number you gain some control over your calls.
- If your mobile VoIP app rings, you know that it is work-related.
- Set up your call routing so that when customers ring you out of hours, they are informed you are not available and to leave a message.
- Use Whatsapp Business with your virtual landline and use Whatsapp automation tools to set an away message when you not working to auto-answer so your customers know when to expect a response.
- Use IVR (Interactive Voice Response) menus to help guide your callers. This can help direct calls to the right person or department. It can be used for providing recorded updates to your customers.
We’ve published some information on Work-Life Balance when running a small business here, as well as the ways that tech can help, including using VoIP to control your calls.
Pick your phone number.
You can choose from a range of virtual landline numbers with a Cloud-Based phone system.
Local geographical virtual numbers
Having a local landline number for your business is a great way to help your customers feel comfortable when dialling your number. Using a phone number dedicated to the local area of your customers makes them feel safe with the thought that your business could just be situated down the road.
This is a great option if you have a lot of active or prospective customers in an area where your business doesn’t currently physically operate from.
Go National with a 0330 number.
The 0330 area code is a non-geographic number that has the same costs and fees as calling a standard 01 or 02 landline number. These 0330 numbers are used by businesses or organisations that don’t necessarily want to associate with a specific location or just need one phone number for multiple locations.