How to Avoid VoIP Outages When Power or Internet is Down

Traditional phone systems, run by traditional phone companies, have large generators and backup systems to keep phones running during power and internet outages. While the best VoIP providers have systems in place to minimize issues during VoIP outages caused by accidents, severe weather, down wires, and many other causes, it's important to be prepared and understand how to handle a VoIP outage. The reason for this is that in years past, the world relied on landline phones as the major form of communication from person to person. The other reason for this is that in case of a VoIP outage phone companies are required to get the phone power up and running as soon as possible so citizens can call 911 if needed.

Nowadays, the internet is relied upon as heavily as phone systems are by people all over the globe. This means that when the internet goes down and a VoIP outage occurs, people are without a major source of information. The internet has only been unavailable on a wide, nationwide scale, a couple of times during its lifetime but it can still suffer power and internet outages in smaller segments because of the weather.

You can first ensure that the VoIP outage is due to power and internet outages and not any internal disruption. 

• You can check your router.
• You can check for any stray cord.
• Check your VoIP Phone system’s configuration.

Once you make sure and rule out any possibility of the problem originating from these areas you can consider the power and internet outages as the reason behind the VoIP outage and the VoIP system going down.

Businesses and individuals are susceptible to power and internet outages 365 days per year, no matter where they are located in the country, which means that these VoIP outages cannot be avoided even when operating with a VoIP system in the office. When choosing a new VoIP system, it's important to account for the fact that VoIP  depends on the internet and electricity to function. 

VoIP outages can hit us anytime so an important question that arises is how can you still operate your VoIP phone system during internet and power outages?

A few things need to be considered during the VoIP outage so that you are still able to operate the VoIP system and run your business.

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for a VoIP Outage

The best way to keep your VoIP system up and running, when facing a VoIP outage, during power and internet outages is to purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). This piece of equipment is installed with your internet router in order to keep power supplied to a DSL/cable/wireless broadband. This might be the best possible solution to a VoIP outage as long as you understand your minimum VoIP bandwidth needs and can support your communications this way during an outage.

Backup Power Supply for a VoIP Outage

When you use a VoIP system through an internet provider and not a phone provider, there typically is a backup system or plan in place in the event of a VoIP outage. This plan, or system, could keep your VoIP system up and running for at least a 24-hour period should you be without power for that long. The reason that this can happen is the fact that most of the equipment provided by the internet service company comes with rechargeable batteries that can be used in the event of such a VoIP outage. These backup batteries are not for constant calls but instead for emergency calls since the batteries might not last up to 24 hours at a time.

Since power outages occur in specific areas, the power outage might not affect the internet or phone service in your area, which means that you will still have excellent VoIP quality when using a backup system during a VoIP outage. The only items that should be plugged into the UPS are the modem, the VoIP router and adapter, and the cordless phone. A cell phone charger, a lamp, and a printer should not be plugged into the UPS. The reason for this is that the less you have plugged into the UPS, the higher the quality will be of the VoIP call during an outage.

Backup Internet Service Provider (ISP) for a VoIP Outage

During a VoIP outage caused by a power and internet outage, it is quite useful to have a backup internet service provider. For example, if you have a cellular ISP as a backup you could just switch to that to ensure internet connectivity, particularly if your systems are running on 5G technology.

Integrated Mobile Devices

The integration feature is one of the best features of a VoIP system. This is also highly beneficial during a VoIP Outage. Almost all VoIP phone systems can be integrated with smartphones. Smartphones are easily accessible to everyone in today’s world. The VoIP system can be configured in a manner such that if you face a VoIP outage, your VoIP system can roll over to your smartphone system, for example, all your calls can be routed to your smartphone.

Voicemail

If you are not able to attend to all the calls during the VoIP outage you can send them to voicemail and deal with them later.

Reroute Calls to Alternative Number or Site In Case Of a VoIP Outage

During a VoIP outage, you can reroute your calls to your alternative number or site for example if you have offices in multiple locations you can route your calls to the other office. Or to avoid the VoIP outage in their office, the employees can also work from home using their smartphones if they have been configured with the VoIP system. This rerouting can be done through the automatic call forwarding feature of the phone system.

A Reliable VoIP Provider: Preventing VoIP Outages

The reason behind your VoIP outage doesn't need to be power and internet outages. Sometimes the fault can also lie with the VoIP service providers so it is important to do proper research and choose a reliable provider to avoid future VoIP outages. Comparing the best VoIP systems, understanding SLAs around guaranteed uptime, and knowing how to plan for any outages will ensure maximum phone system uptime for your company. 

By taking these actions and focusing on these key aspects, we can easily deal with a VoIP outage and stay connected to our customers in such a situation. We just need to have a proper plan in place and have our safety nets and we can handle the VoIP outages with much more ease.