VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol. What is it and what are the benefits?

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol – what is it?

At the most basic level, VoIP means running a phone call over the internet rather than over a telephone line. In the case of a typical business phone system setup, there would be a box on the wall (the PBX) and also a number of ISDN lines going into it. Furthermore, all business phones connect into the PBX to handle their voicemail, call routing and so on.

Alternatively in a hosted VoIP system, this PBX is hosted on the internet, also the business phones connect to it via an internet connection in order to get all the services and make calls. To enable VoIP, all you need is an internet connection to connect to a VoIP phone (or a standard phone with a VoIP adaptor), that’s it!

VoIP – What are the real benefits?

For one thing, you can have as many extensions as you like with all the features you would expect such as call groups, voicemail, divert to mobile and more. Most importantly, a hosted VoIP system works at a fraction of the price of a traditional solution.
One of the best features is the flexibility of VoIP. In the event of an internet loss, each employee takes their phone home, plugs it into their home internet and the phones work exactly as before, with incoming callers completely unaware of the difference!

VoIP – Features

Answer your calls on almost any phone from anywhere, at anytime.
Have as many extensions as you like.
Set up call groups, voicemail and diverts to mobile
Free inter-office calls, no matter where in the world they are located.
Benefit from lower cost calls to landlines and mobiles.
Automated call attendant (see below).
Visual voice mail – transcripted into text and emailed to you.
App available for mobiles – this enables users to make and receive UK calls from anywhere in the world. These calls are still charged as local calls, even when abroad (data charges may apply).
As phone calls are run over the internet, there is far more choice of phone system suppliers.
A hosted VoIP solution is a fraction of the price of a traditional solution.

VoIP – Automatic Call Attendant

This is an automated system that manages where incoming calls are directed. An example of this is ‘Press 1 for sales’, alternatively it can reroute calls directly to voicemail or to specific messages.

Redirects office phone calls to mobiles.
Users can set up appropriate voicemails for callers to leave a message.
Provides key support information automatically.
Supplies emergency contact information.
Unlimited nested call attendant – this is a 2nd level menu that the 1st level auto attendant connects the call to, see image below.