VOIP Telephone Technology Information

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How do answering services integrate VoIP technology with their call center systems.

By Specialty Answering Service

On the simplest level, VOIP is voice (telephone) service that is provided or processed using the internet. This allows people to combine their internet service and phone service into one provider, instead of purchasing their phone and web connections from separate places. In certain cases, such as Google Voice, this style of phone service can be free or low cost. Even though VOIP has certain limitations including degradation of voice if there is not enough bandwidth to support it, many call centers have adopted this technology because of the significant cost savings.

The advantages of VOIP are innumerable. Besides the low or nonexistent costs, the call quality is often very clear and much more flexible than traditional phone service. VOIP services convert the voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. If calls are made to a regular phone number, the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal before it reaches the destination. VOIP can allow calls to be made directly from a computer, a special VOIP phone, or a traditional phone connected to a special adapter. Besides being able to originate from any of these sources, VOIP also enables a plethora of customer preferences. A call to a VOIP-activated phone number can not only reach an office, cell, or home phone, it can discriminate where the person who is trying to be reached is. Incoming phone calls are automatically routed to your VOIP phone where ever you plug it into the network. Take a VOIP phone with on a trip, and anywhere it can connect to the Internet, it can receive incoming calls. Call center agents using VOIP phones can easily work from anywhere with a good Internet connection.

Disadvantages of VOIP telephone service are just as plentiful as advantages. One of the main issues associated with VOIP service is the unavailability of emergency-call functions. On many VOIP services, 911 is listed as an unavailable number. This can prove to be dangerous for users of these phone-providers. Additionally, in the result of a power failure, phone use is unavailable as the internet not usable. Number portability, as well, is another controversial aspect. Many VOIP services issue a new number to the client, many of whom have used the same phone number for years. This becomes a point of argument and controversy for many when deciding to switch to a VOIP number or not. A final issue that has been presented with VOIP is that they do not offer an information/directory assistance type number-search service.

The advantages and disadvantages are many in the VOIP style telephone service. Those choosing between a traditional service and VOIP have many things to consider, as it is not necessarily ‘'right' for everyone. Many telephone answering service have adopted VOIP lines into their call centers because of the lower cost versus having multiple phone lines ran into the building. By using the data lines for information transmission, the call center is able to provide multiple DID trunks to their customers at almost half of the cost compared to the same end result from a land line provider.

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