Effective communication is fundamentally important to every business and no matter what your product or service is, you need to know that customers can contact you quickly and easily. To ensure that your telecommunications are handled efficiently, the internal and external systems you have in place must use reliable lines of communication. That’s where a technology called IP telephony comes in.
What is IP telephony?
Also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (or VoIP for short), IP telephony is a communication technology that is hosted in the Cloud. IP telephony allows you to make and receive calls using your internet service, transforming audio into data packages and sent via online networks. As IP telephony comes from your internet service provider, you don’t need an in-house phone system. All you need is a single incoming phone line with good broadband access.
How is IP telephony different from traditional phone lines?
IP telephony is used to describe the exchange of data like voice, fax, and other types of phone information via the Internet. The main distinction between IP telephony and your traditional land lines is that with IP telephony, all your “phone lines” are carried over your broadband connection. That makes it easy to add more lines as your business grows, whereas traditional phone lines have to be physically installed at your premises by a qualified technician. IP telephony also offers free features such as call forwarding whereas extra features can become costly when using a traditional phone line.
Key benefits of IP telephony
IP telephony works via the Internet, which means that any business can access all of the advantages it offers without incurring any expensive costs. Because IP telephony services include call centre software and many other phone services that all work via the Cloud, even the initial installation and activation are extremely fast, simple, and
cheap by comparison to fixed line systems. Plus, when updates or changes are required, not only can you avoid incurring the costs involved with renewing outdated equipment, it can all be done online without having to call a technician to service the system at your office.
When it comes to costs and maintenance, IP Telephony also offers greater flexibility. For example, let’s say your business needs the call recording feature. If you are using IP Telephony call recording can be very easily added to your system with a simple software application. If however you have an in-house, fixed line system, you will need to source the hardware that supports the feature, and also have it physically installed.
Broadband speed matters
The secret to IP telephony is that you must have a strong broadband connection. If your broadband speed is too low, you cannot be guaranteed of a high enough quality service to support your IP telephone system, meaning that you could end up spending money on a system that doesn’t work to its full potential. To find out how fast your internet speed is, you should start by conducting an internet speed test (such as this one at https://broadbandspeedtest.ie/) on your broadband line. This will tell you how fast your internet connection is.
If you find your internet speed is not up to the required standard for IP telephony, it is important you explore all other possibilities for accessing faster broadband at your location. If your location however cannot achieve the broadband capacity required, we can provide you with advice about alternative options including an in-house telephone system. We are committed to finding the right phone system for your specific business requirements and infrastructure, and you can trust us to provide a phone service that will work for you.
IP Telephony is the future!
The digital transformation of business telephony facilitates better scalability and higher audio quality without being restricted to a single location. So, when it comes to the future of telephony, companies that haven’t already made the switch will most likely shift from their traditional phone system to IP telephony in the near future. To find out more about your options get in touch with Ashbourne Communications today and see how IP telephony can work for you.