Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, provides telephone service that uses the public Internet to carry voice data rather than the traditional switched network used by Bell System phone companies and others. This post recounts the technological advancements that led to VoIP and outlines the many advantages it brings a business.
In the Beginning …
In 1969, there was Arpanet, the forerunner to today’s Internet. That fledgling network first connected four university computers together to enable information sharing and communication. By late 1973, a team had developed what became known as “Network Voice Protocol.” Although primitive, it had the goal of carrying voice conversations over the Arpanet.
However, it wasn’t until 1995 that Israeli company VocalTec debuted the first Internet Phone. It galvanized the high tech industry and, by March 2000, VocalTec was trading at $3,363 per share.
The company developed software that compressed the voice signal, converted it to data packets, and sent them out via the Internet. While voice quality wasn’t equal to traditional landlines, Internet Phone caught the attention of home computer hobbyists and technologists who realized they could avoid long distance charges.
By 1998, only one percent of all voice communication in the U.S. used VoIP. However, entrepreneurs and major tech companies — Cisco, 3 Com, Lucent and others — brought new hardware to market over the next few years that supported the growth of VoIP. So, just two years later, VoIP had claimed three percent of U.S. phone traffic.
Then Came Remarkable Growth
VoIP began reaching the mass market around 2004 as startups, ILECs and CLECs introduced VoIP service at prices far below the regulated rates of landline phone companies. Many offered unlimited local calling, while others offered flat rates for international dialing.
With VoIP becoming a recurring headline in countless trade publication articles — and influenced by the 2009 launch of Google Voice service —traditional phone companies joined the fray and began to offer VoIP as well.
Between 2000 and 2020, the number of landline phones in the U.S. declined by 160 million with businesses switching to VoIP while consumers largely transitioned to wireless service. VoIP is firmly established as a proven communication method that rivals landline voice quality and provides a suite of features traditional phone service cannot.
What VoIP Delivers Today
With more than two decades of continual advancement, VoIP has become a solid, proven form of communication. Replacing landline service with VoIP allows a business to increase the productivity of the workforce. It can also lead to increases in customer satisfaction. In the process, VoIP saves money — as much as 40 percent compared to landline service. Here’s a quick view into a few of the benefits VoIP offers.
- Scalability. You must be able to scale your phone system to accommodate seasonal trends, company growth, and even reductions in force. VoIP systems are equipped with a web portal that lets the Office Manager or Administrator add or delete users with a mouse click. When adding a new user, you’ll have the choice of specifying a physical handset or a softphone that runs on the user’s PC and requires only a headset/mic to use — always an economical alternative.
- Reliability. VoIP systems are designed with redundancy to protect you against outages, including power outages. Likewise, business continuity and disaster recovery options protect valuable call data and provide automatic system backups.
As for specific benefits VoIP provides, voicemail and voicemail transcription, a day/night auto attendant, instant messaging, and conference calling (voice and video) all enhance your ability to communicate. In addition, well-designed VoIP systems also give you these benefits.
- Phone Twinning – allows an incoming call to ring on two phones simultaneously. When set to ring an office phone and a mobile phone, employees can be more responsive to colleagues and customers.
- Mobile Access – lets employees access the core capabilities of the VoIP system on any device from anywhere. This facilitates communication no matter where or when calls are made and received.
- Hot Desking – also known as hoteling, allows employees to work in any workspace that has a phone and access their extension. Users simply log in to the phone with a password and their user settings are enabled on the phone.
- Video Conferencing – lets users collaborate in face-to-face meetings.
- Call Recording – when enabled, supervisors can record incoming and outgoing calls at each agent’s extension. Recordings can be downloaded or played back, which allows call center managers to archive conversations for compliance and training purposes.
- Shared Calling Experiences – allows you to assign more than one device assigned to a user account. This permits users to make calls from their office phone number regardless of the device they’re using.
- Unlimited U.S. Calling – No charges, no limits for local or long distance in the U.S.
- Visual Voicemail – allows users to play voicemails by clicking a play button in their user portal rather than dialing into the user’s voice mailbox.
- Call Whisper – otherwise known as call screening, lets users hear a message when they have answered an inbound call, during which time the caller continues to hear ringing. This gives employees information that helps them prepare for the call before beginning to speak.
Conclusion
VoIP has evolved from a fascinating concept that first emerged in the 1970s to become the first choice for businesses large and small. Extended Office Systems delivers VoIP as a service for both SMBs (< 500 phones) and enterprise companies that might require thousands of phones. Contact us to learn how you can move your telecommunications into the 21st century.
