Executive Summery: VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.

Voice over Internet Protocol is also known as Voice over IP, or Internet Telephony. What ever you want to call it – it generally means getting a phone call to go over a computer network.

VoIP struggles against two major misconceptions – firstly, it’s not actually free and the other major misbelief is that it is of poor quality.

The latter of these two is a legacy of people using poor quality services like Skype or MSN Voice Chat, or even some of the residential VoIP services. These almost zero cost services are great for saving a few dollars to chat to your friends, but they are not a business grade solution. The reality of VoIP is that it can deliver better then normal phone quality when configured correctly.

On the financial side – VoIP does cost money. Like any phone service, you will normally pay to be connected and then you will also pay for your calls. Principally the chief benefit of VoIP over PSTN or ISDN connectivity is by using a proper VoIP carrier, your international and domestic calls should be routed over the least expensive path. What this means is – if you make a call to the United States from Australia, your call will travel over an IP network (normally the Internet) all the way until it gets to the local area you are calling. This is a lot cheaper then going over the incumbent carriers network all the way.

One important thing to remember is that almost every call made (particularly in Australia) has a VoIP component to it. Most exchanges are digital now, and they use VoIP to get your phone call from exchange to exchange. It is much cheaper and easier to manage an IP network versus managing thousands of pieces of copper carrying analogue voice signals. When you switch to using VoIP, you simply make the choice to use your own network instead of the incumbent carriers to make and receive your calls.

Installing VoIP in your office doesn’t mean you have to rip out your existing phone system, and put those sexy new phones in that you see in the movies. If your current phone system works for you – you simply need to put something in front of it to allow it to connect to the VoIP network. Some people connect to VoIP and maintain their land line connections, others go fully VoIP. Your circumstances and requirements will dictate that decision for you.

If you would like more information about VoIP or how it can integrate with your business, check our our Voice Services or talk to the experts on our Voice Solutions team.