VoIP Phones
Introduction
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology offers an unbeatable proposition: streamline telecommunications while reducing total cost of ownership. VoIP integrates communications into a single infrastructure: the data network. IP Telephony combines voice and data networks onto a single network, creating a more manageable, cost-efficient and productive solution for communications.
VoIP systems offer benefits too significant to ignore. Voice over IP promises to extend and simplify communications infrastructure. VoIP can also connect with other communications media – a combination known as unified communications that combine email and VoIP, so that users can access voicemail through their email clients.
VoIP Technology Overview
Voice over Internet Protocol introduced a simple yet profound innovation in telecommunications: the ability to transmit voice over a data network. Traditional phone systems rely on circuits switched by PBX (Private Branch Exchange) equipment and phone lines connected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). VoIP bypasses this conventional telephone hardware, transmitting voice over the data network. The system converts the signal digitally and sends it by voice data packets through an Internet Protocol (IP). VoIP can also access the public switched telephone network, allowing calls to reach conventional land lines. This compatibility between VoIP and PSTN enables organizations to migrate to VoIP gradually while phasing out the old legacy PBX system.
Primary Benefits of VoIP
VoIP benefits are many. The Voice over IP systems promise to increase productivity while lowering costs. The basis of this claim is the technology’s convergence of voice and data onto a single unified network. Users enjoy easier access to information, greater flexibility, more advanced functionality and the streamlined infrastructure is easier and cheaper to maintain. Because VoIP telephone traffic travels over the network, there will be no busy signals when calling between campuses. Also, voice messages will be delivered to you as an email attachment with its text in the body of the email.
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Access
VoIP users can take the office with them wherever they go, accessing the system via any internet connection. This anytime, anywhere access is crucial for a mobile workforce, accommodating workers stationed abroad, in transit, or simply telecommuting from home. With VoIP, users can check voicemail and email, access project data, and place calls--all over a single network, using a single communication device.
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Integration
VoIP technology integrates with other communication technology, such as Outlook. The system can automatically retrieve customer data on an incoming call--thus service representatives have a caller’s history at their fingertips. And everyone can benefit from unified messaging, which delivers voicemail messages to the user’s email inbox.
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Lower Maintenance Costs
A streamlined communications infrastructure dramatically reduces maintenance costs. Aside from the inherent benefit of consolidating communications into a single network, a data network is more flexible and cheaper to maintain than circuitry and phone lines.
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Functionality
Many advanced functions that are either a luxury or unavailable on PBX systems come standard with VoIP. These features include advanced call forwarding and instant messaging, custom auto-attendant, three-way conferencing, video conferencing and presence.
- Peer to Peer Phone calls
All calls are Peer to Peer. This is a big advantage over the traditional PSTN. The call is set up by the VoIP server then the call flows between the two endpoints. All of the voice or video traffic is directed between the two endpoints reducing the congestion at the server.
- Presence Management
VoIP applications can take advantage of presence management. This is a function of the system that allows users to set how other users view their presence on the system. Most systems have tremendous flexibility.
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