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In this article we will explain what a Voip phone is, 🤓 how it works and why you should install this system in your company. If you are interested in the optimization of resources in the company 💸, be sure to read this article!
What is VoIP?
VoIP is a system that allows you to make and receive phone calls over an Internet network. The term VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, or Voice over Internet Protocol and is also known as IP telephony.
VoIP telephony has many advantages, including free or low-cost calls to other VoIP phones, and the ability to make calls from anywhere with an Internet connection.
VoIP allows you to use cell phones, desk phones («landline phones»), other mobile devices and even computers equipped with microphones and headsets («soft phones») to make and receive calls.
What is a VoIP Telephone?
VoIP phone is a phone that uses the internet to receive and make calls or video calls to any softphone, landline or cell phone.
Any device with internet connection and microphone can become VoIP terminal: cell phones, landlines, tablets and computers.
What is the purpose of a VoIP Phone?
A VoIP phone is used to make and receive calls over the internet. VoIP allows you to make free or low-cost calls to other VoIP phones. In addition, it has the ability to make calls from anywhere with an internet connection.
What are the features of a VoIP Phone?
The features that VoIP phones have are multiple and may differ depending on the phone brands that exist in the VoIP telephony market.
The features of the most common VoIP phones are:
- Allows transfer of VoIP calls
- Calls on hold option
- Caller ID capability
- Supports access to the phonebook
- Supports multiple caller ID
- Call parking feature
- Video streaming function along with audio
- …
What types of VoIP Phone are there?
There are multiple types of VoIP terminal, as many as to meet the different connection needs of each user or company. In many cases, the options are combined, for example: we could have a physical or virtual device in the office and at the same time install the application on our mobile.
We will explain below the different terminal options that exist to use the VoIP service:
SoftPhones SIP / VoIP or Software based SIP Phones?
It is a phone based on VoIP software. This software uses the computer’s microphone and speakers, or connected headphones, to be able to make and receive calls and video conferences.
Hardware-based SIP phone or VoIP phone?
A hardware-based phone is in appearance and functionality like a traditional telephone. It connects directly to the data network, rather than to the standard PSTN line.
These handsets have an integrated mini hub so that they can share the network connection with a computer. This means that they do not need an auxiliary network point for the phone.
Analog telephone via an ATA adapter?
If you want to use a traditional telephone as a VoIP system, you need to use an ATA adapter. The adapter allows you to plug the Ethernet network jack into the adapter and then plug the phone into the adapter. Thus, a traditional phone will be detected by the VoIP software as a SIP phone.
What are the advantages of using VoIP software?
- Call routing: allows call routing in a very simple way and regardless of where the physical network is connected. This allows you to receive calls anywhere in the world, as long as you have a quality Internet connection.
- Portable numbers: offer greater mobility and scalability than traditional phones. Because VoIP numbers are virtual, they can be taken anywhere in the world and always keep the same number.
- Unlimited phones: In professional uses, inserting new phones into a VoIP system is limited only by the bandwidth available on the company’s network. Softphones also offer greater mobility, because customers are not tied to physical locations as they would be with wired phones.
- Lower costs: they also offer cheaper international and long distance calls, since VoIP phone calls are charged at the local rate of the call destination.
- Optimal voice and video quality: thanks to the evolution of the Internet, having a high quality connection is simple. This makes calls clearer, with no latency, lag or noticeable drops.
- Multichannel functionality: SIP trunks allow you to provide SMS and MMS functionality from your phone numbers, this allows you to send text, images and videos, creating a more fluid conversation.
- Integration with other software: VoIP endpoints can also be integrated with other communications applications. For example, organizations can integrate their customer management software (CRM) with the handsets to improve caller identification and keep records of caller information, with additional statistics and data.
- Security and privacy: Thanks to advances in identity management and encryption, VoIP technology can eliminate security and privacy threats.
What are the disadvantages of VOIP software?
- The quality of VoIP calls depends on the Internet connection: the VoIP system will be as effective as your Internet connection is. Although VoIP does not require a lot of bandwidth, you will need low latency on your network to keep conversations free of delays and not cause dropped calls.
- Emergency Services Limitations: The 911 system is designed with traditional telephony in mind. When 911 is dialed, emergency personnel are alerted to the landline’s fixed location. With VoIP call portability, calling 911 will only indicate the address you provided at the time of setup, not your actual exact location.
- Power dependency: if you lose power and do not have a backup solution, VoIP terminals will stop working. The same goes for an Internet outage, since users cannot make calls from their VoIP handsets.
How does a VoIP phone work?
While traditional telephones rely on antennas and wires, VoIP phones communicate through a technology based on data networks and wirelessly via WiFi. Thus, the higher the speed of the connection band, the better the quality of the voice transmission.
Technically it could be explained as follows: routers or modems allow each of the devices connected to them to have an IP address that identifies and differentiates them. This is what we know as a local area network (LAN) communicating with each other. The Internet Protocol then allows the LAN to be linked to a Wide Area Network (WAN).
Through this network structure, voice and video data transmission is established between smartphones, computers, tablets, PCs and other VoIP-enabled devices. The data packets pass from analog to digital to be sent and delivered in real time to the IP address of the recipient.
How to connect a VoIP phone to a landline phone?
Connecting a VoIP phone to a landline phone is relatively simple. Most VoIP phones can be connected directly to the home phone jack. However, there are also VoIP phone adapters that can be used if the phone is not compatible (analog landline phones).
Once the phone or adapter is connected, VoIP software must be installed. Most VoIP providers offer free software that can be downloaded from the Internet.
Once installed, the software needs to be configured to work with the VoIP phone. This usually involves entering the phone’s IP address and port number. Next, a user name and password must be assigned. Once this is done, you can start making and receiving calls.
Why VoIP telephony is a good option for my company?
- Cheaper international calls with internet protocol.
VoIP phone systems avoid exorbitant international calling costs by using the Internet for their connections instead of analog phone lines. The digital signals that are sent over broadband avoid the «rental» costs that are established in PSTN phone calls over long distances. - VoIP software is mobile.
Using the VoIP system offers greater mobility in the workplace. The desk phone (anchored to the desk) is already outdated. In addition, it is possible to access internet protocol technologies via any internet-connected device, this also favors teleworking. - More informed and productive agents.
IP telephony can be closely linked to your other cloud-based tools. Unified communication solutions, such as customer management tools (CRM), sales, chat or email, are just the beginning. Connectivity delivers greater follow-up, informed conversations and a more productive workforce.
What is the difference between VoIP and IP phone?
- VoIP is a technology and IP telephony is a service:
- VoIP is known as the technology that contains the standards, resources and Internet Protocols that allow digitizing the transmission of voice and video data. This digitization causes analog voice to be converted and transmitted over the Internet (digital data network) between connected devices.
- IP Telephony is the service based on VoIP technology. That is, it is the infrastructure that is created based on VoIP technology to establish Internet communications through VoIP software. IP telephony makes it possible to transmit and distribute the voice data packets of a digital call to different telephone devices connected to the network. IP telephony would not be possible without VoIP.
- VoIP and IP telephony have different functions:
- VoIP: has as its main function to serve as the basis for IP telephony. It is the pillar on which the IP communications environment is built so that the user can use the IP telephony service.
- IP telephony: its functions range from offering the possibility of connecting remote offices to the creation of IP PBXs. IP telephony makes it possible to make telephone calls through VoIP software associated with an analog number, with the option of including different extensions.
- VoIP and IP telephony communicate voice differently:
- VoIP needs to first convert analog voice from a telephone network to digital voice in order to transmit it over an IP network. For this to be done, VoIP technology uses VoIP software to manage all the calls.
- IP Telephony transmits voice packets over a dedicated LAN or shared with the data network. All IP components use the digitized voice, which is transmitted via IP packets, with the help of an IP network, usually the local area network.
Despite these differences, both concepts coincide in that they are based solely in the digital realm. Physical infrastructures are not essential or necessary for communications beyond the device that allows the installation of the software and thus make possible the IP telephony service.
All this means a cost reduction of great importance for the company that decides to opt for a cloud communication system. It should also be added that it requires less maintenance.
What’s the difference between VoIP and SIP?
- VoIP stands for Voice over IP. The meaning of IP is Internet Protocol.
- This system refers to any technology that allows voice to travel over the Internet in real time.
- It can also be found under other names: Internet telephony, broadband telephony, etc.
- Whatever hardware and software you use, if a phone call travels over the internet it is VoIP.
- SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol.
- This is a system of rules that allows devices to communicate with each other. It is a kind of language for hardware: if a computer and a modem don’t speak the same language then they can’t communicate.
- SIP is a kind of language for hardware.
- SIP is just one of many protocols used to implement VoIP. It is used to set up and terminate multimedia sessions, including voice and video sessions.
- It is the most widely used protocol. SIP is the standard protocol in the industry and this is what causes it to often be confused with VoIP, as when someone looks up what VoIP is they find it is used with SIP.
What is the difference between a VoIP phone and a SoftPhone?
VoIP phone and softphone are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but there are some key differences between the two.
VoIP phones use voice over IP technology to make and receive phone calls over an Internet connection, while softphones are available as applications for smartphones and computers.
VoIP phones can provide higher call quality due to data processing capabilities, while softphones are generally cheaper and easier to install.
VoIP phones also often offer additional features, such as voicemail, conference calling and HD support.
What is the difference between a VoIP and a traditional landline phone?
- Price: VoIP calls over the internet network are cheaper than traditional landline calls. In addition, most customers and businesses already have the Internet installed, so although VoIP has additional usage fees, there is no need to purchase extra services.
- Features: VoIP providers offer advanced features that are not possible on traditional phones: auto-attendants, call parking, call triangulation, real-time call analysis and business integrations among others.
- Device flexibility: traditional wired phones are limited to a specific physical location and VoIP phones can be any device with internet and audio, such as a desktop computer, desk phone or a portable mobile device.
- Contact with emergency services: VoIP phone numbers since they can be moved anywhere in the world, will not have an exact location, this data must be indicated to the emergency services by the caller. This makes traditional telephones a more reliable system for emergency calls.
- Call quality: VoIP calls depend on good quality Internet bandwidth. Nowadays this is not a big problem as you can now find reliable bandwidth in most locations, allowing high quality communications like traditional phones.
- Scalability: scaling up VoIP phone systems is simple. it is possible to purchase additional lines and licenses and enable employees’ personal devices. Scaling traditional phones is more complex. Doing so will require purchasing more phone sets and wired phone lines to add more users to the system.
How to convert an analog phone into a VoIP phone?
To convert a traditional analog phone into an IP phone using VoIP technology, you need to connect a VoIP adapter. Follow the steps below to do so:
- Disconnect the phone cable:.
Once the phone is disconnected from the mains, we will use an Ethernet cable to connect the VoIP adapter to the modem that you will use to connect to the Internet. - Connect your VoIP adapter:
Connect the phone cable to the VoIP adapter. Now the adapter will turn on. Most of them need to be connected to the power supply to maintain the battery. - Power on.
- Turn on the computer and connect to the Internet:.
Go to your provider’s website and once there enter some code or password that the provider will have provided you with. With this process you will be setting up the VoIP adapter. In some cases, you will also have to configure the adapter via the IP address. Enter the IP address directly in the browser bar and fill in all the information requested in the interface that will appear. Then save all the information and you can close the browser. - Verify that the installation is correct:.
Verify that the phone has signal, if so, the installation was correct and you will be able to make and receive calls using VoIP technology.
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So far everything you need to know about internet telephony service. If you are interested in using this system in your company, we can help you to achieve it. Contact us and we will inform you about everything!