Making a switch to VoIP can initially seem like quite a daunting task. There are many questions and concerns that any business owner may have. However, investing in new technology doesn’t need to be intimidating. VoIP offers many advantages, including improved efficiency, greater mobility, and lower long distance costs. Before any movement to a VoIP system the best place to start is to make an assessment of all needs. Planning and considering future growth is crucial while implementing VoIP. Though there are many benefits to VoIP, here are a few things to look out for when installing. If you anticipate the potential problems they can easily be avoided.
Call Quality
A first challenge to potentially expect is that call quality can vary, depending on network settings. Sometimes there can be an echo on the line, or brief silences lasting momentarily. In order to avoid this, quite a bit of bandwidth is required. Some networks that are adequate for data cannot fulfill the demands of VoIP. The equipment to compress audio and to restructure it has advanced to the point where VoIP sound quality over a high-bandwidth connection is as good as or better than that of regular phones. Therefore, in order to get optimum sound quality, high bandwidth is crucial.
Power Outages
Secondly, a concern that many people have upfront with VoIP is power outages. During a blackout a regular phone can often keep working by the current provided through the phone line. However, with VoIP or internet service this is not possible. There must be power to run VoIP phones. One solution to this problem is to use a backup source of electricity such as a generator. Another solution is to have a backup POTS and regular phones just in case. Obviously, cell phones can also be used in this situation. Just keep in mind that outages can affect local cell towers as well.
Security
As with any new online technology, security problems quickly become an issue. Some issues that are of main concern are denial of service attacks, Phishing, snooping and spoofing. Furthermore, a misuse of the technology by hackers, advertisers has been an obstacle with the internet and can be so with VoIP. In order to make service as secure as possible, online security measures need to be taken. One of the leading ways to provide efficient VoIP security is to make use of encryption. Encryption can be executed by installing an encryption hardware that inhibits a hacker's access to your voice data. Be aware of password thefts and make sure that all producers’ passwords are reformed with minimal delay.
All of the benefits of VoIP can be utilized and problems avoided as long as all the scenario details are well examined. Compare plans over three to five years with expected growth developments. There may still be problems but if companies make sure to takes steps still be able to communicate effectively both internally and externally, than VoIP can help obtain a richer user experience that has more options than ever before for virtual networking and telecommuting.
