Business VoIP: Coming to an Understanding
Many organizations in these days use a PBX system, alongside what is known as Business VoIP. This allows them to connect to an IP network to make voice calls, while still retaining the functionality of being able to use the PSTN when necessary. It’s important to understand that there is no loss of functionality in the transition to VoIP. In fact, the flexibility and scope of IP-based communications solutions means that functionality is actually drastically increased by the switch.
While it is widely used, this technology is not, however, widely understood. In large part this is due to the technical aspects creating a barrier to entry. Not that it is hard to grasp the workings of the technology, but rather that much of the language involved appears at first to be impenetrable. Take, for example, codecs. These are used to convert analog voice signals into digital packets for transmission and, in doing so, compress them so that less bandwidth is used. Of course, there is a balance to be struck between the amount of bandwidth used and the quality of the transmission. Business VoIP supports many different codecs, though the two most common ones promoted by service providers are G.711 and G.729. If you have specialized needs that aren’t met by one of these two, then your best bet is to speak directly to a provider.
As for the operation of the technology itself, it is no harder to grasp than the Internet. Many people use the Internet every day without knowing exactly how it all works. VoIP is very similar in fact, as it is essentially voice services that use IP networks such as the Internet rather than the traditional phone network (often referred to as the PSTN). There are numerous advantages to this, such as a lower cost for phone service and the ability to simplify things by using a single network for both voice and data. It is also a good way to begin bringing together all the various communication channels in use under a single umbrella, a process that is referred to as unified communications or simply UC.
At this point, it becomes clear that the basics of VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, aren’t so complicated after all. Really, the expanded name tells you almost everything that you need to know. Business VoIP is a specialized service which takes the benefits of the basic service and adds on advanced features and capabilities to build a product targeted at professional organizations. You may also hear about a technology called SIP trunking when looking into IP communications, but that is a story for another time.