VoIP is an acronym for Voice over Internet Protocol, or in more common terms, a phone service over the Internet. If you have a reasonable quality Internet connection you can get phone service delivered through your Internet connection instead of from your Telkom line.
VoIP is the new buzzword in the telecoms industry. It stems from the philosophy that telephone voice calls are merely another type of data and can be sent over normal data lines, rather than over telephone lines.
This philosophy of convergence means that you can use a single data line for all of your voice calls, internet and e-mail.
New technology and dropping inter-connect rates have led to many new changes and innovations in the market.
Today VoIP allows clients to route all their telephone calls − inter-branch, local, national, international and mobile. Because interconnect rates into the various networks keep dropping, a VoIP solution allows you to continuously take advantage of these rate drops.
In order to use VoIP in your company, voice calls need to be in IP (Internet Protocol) format. If your Switchboard (PBX) is IP-enabled, your calls will already be in IP format. If your PBX is not IP-enabled, a VoIP Media Gateway needs to be attached to the PBX to convert the voice calls into IP format.
Why use VoIP?
There are two major reasons for using VOIP
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Lower Cost
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Increased functionality
Cost Saving.
If you have been using a traditional analog phone system, switching to VoIP can greatly reduce your monthly phone bill, especially if your company places a substantial amount of long-distance calls. Since calls are routed via your Internet connection rather than traditional phone lines, it costs no more to connect an international call than a local one. In addition, you will not be charged for usage during “peak hours” as you would with traditional phone services.
Functionality.
Conference calls. – On the phone line, only two persons can speak at a time. With VoIP, you can setup a conference with a whole team communicating in real time. VoIP compresses data packets during transmission, and this causes more data to be handled over the carrier. As a result, more calls can be handled on one access line
Mobility. – Incoming phone calls are automatically routed to your VoIP phone where ever you plug it into the network. Take your VoIP phone with you on a trip, and anywhere you connect it to the Internet, you can receive your incoming calls.
Scalability. – You can choose to have your VoIP service hosted with a VoIP vendor for a monthly fee. The vendor will provide system maintenance, troubleshooting and upgrades. You can also easily add more line extensions as your business grows. This is usually the best choice for smaller businesses. You will be able to select which features to have included in your package. Many providers will also offer onsite training in how to use the system.
Control. – A managed, cloud-based VoIP service can provide bandwidth utilization information that allows you to view data usage over a period of time. Inbound and outbound call detail reports let you view details of your company’s call history, including rates, duration, originator, destination, and cost.
Find me/follow me call routing. – Mobile users will appreciate this feature. Find me/follow me call routing allows you to create a list of numbers where you can be found before the call gets pushed to voicemail. So, for example, you might have your office phone ring twice, but on the third ring, your cell phone starts to ring, and then on the fifth, your home phone. If the list is exhausted, the caller gets sent to voicemail.
Auto attendant. – An auto attendant is one of the hidden gems of premium VoIP services. This feature allows callers to interact with a menu to choose an appropriate extension. Your business will suddenly seem more professional and impressive. It’s like having an electronic receptionist!
Do not disturb. – This feature does exactly what its name implies: leaves you undisturbed. You can turn it on to temporarily stop incoming calls to your phone. This becomes especially useful during conferences, lunches, and meetings. Best of all, you can program it so that it does not just ignore callers, but directs them toward voicemail or another destination of your choice.
Portability. – We can port your existing Telkom number onto our VoIP platform and have you up and running in no time.
Should you want to change providers but need to keep your number we are the ideal partner.
