Many businesses are now considering moving their business phone systems to VOIP. But VOIP Business phone systems are very different from the traditional phone services you are used to.
When you buy traditional phone service from the "phone company", they run a set of copper wires from their central office to your facility. If you need to have more than one phone call going at a time, you will need multiple pairs of copper. The phone company assigns a phone number to that line, one of a limited number that are available to that central office.
Once the line is wired to your office, you are pretty much on your own. You can either wire the lines to specific phones or you can wire them into some sort of very expensive PBX box that will handle such things as message storage, routing, etc. If you want special features like caller id or Centrex switching, expect to pay dearly for it.
In contrast, a VOIP system is totally different. You specify a phone number that you want, which can be local to any city in the US. Instead of running a pair of copper wires to your destination with that number, calls to that number are instead routed to the VOIP Company's switch.
Phones in your facility are connected to your internet connection and from there connect directly to the VOIP company switch. Since the VOIP company switch is on the internet, your phones can be anywhere an internet connection exists, not just in a single facility.
Since an internet connection is a high bandwidth connection, more than one call can be connected without additional wiring. Hundreds of simultaneous calls can be maintained on a single internet connection.
When a call comes in on your number, the VOIP switch is programmed to answer with a pre-recorded message and then to ring to certain extensions or combination of extensions. The VOIP switch can also be set up to forward calls to your home phone, cell phone, anywhere.
Once the call is answered by one of the phones in your office, that phone can also perform any of a number of commands which send signals directly back to the VOIP switch. These phones can, for example, transfer the call to another extension, conference two or more extensions, conference in an outside call, transfer a call to voice mail, etc, etc. When callers are placed on hold, the VOIP switch can play music or an advertising message of your choice.
The VOIP Business phone System has an added feature that provides email notification of voice messages received, so that you can be aware of messages even when you are not in the office.
When you buy traditional phone service from the "phone company", they run a set of copper wires from their central office to your facility. If you need to have more than one phone call going at a time, you will need multiple pairs of copper. The phone company assigns a phone number to that line, one of a limited number that are available to that central office.
Once the line is wired to your office, you are pretty much on your own. You can either wire the lines to specific phones or you can wire them into some sort of very expensive PBX box that will handle such things as message storage, routing, etc. If you want special features like caller id or Centrex switching, expect to pay dearly for it.
In contrast, a VOIP system is totally different. You specify a phone number that you want, which can be local to any city in the US. Instead of running a pair of copper wires to your destination with that number, calls to that number are instead routed to the VOIP Company's switch.
Phones in your facility are connected to your internet connection and from there connect directly to the VOIP company switch. Since the VOIP company switch is on the internet, your phones can be anywhere an internet connection exists, not just in a single facility.
Since an internet connection is a high bandwidth connection, more than one call can be connected without additional wiring. Hundreds of simultaneous calls can be maintained on a single internet connection.
When a call comes in on your number, the VOIP switch is programmed to answer with a pre-recorded message and then to ring to certain extensions or combination of extensions. The VOIP switch can also be set up to forward calls to your home phone, cell phone, anywhere.
Once the call is answered by one of the phones in your office, that phone can also perform any of a number of commands which send signals directly back to the VOIP switch. These phones can, for example, transfer the call to another extension, conference two or more extensions, conference in an outside call, transfer a call to voice mail, etc, etc. When callers are placed on hold, the VOIP switch can play music or an advertising message of your choice.
The VOIP Business phone System has an added feature that provides email notification of voice messages received, so that you can be aware of messages even when you are not in the office.