Things to consider when looking for a VoIP provider.

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol phones is nothing but a phone system that utilize the internet connection for making calls. VoIP technology is a great innovation that makes it possible for people to talk over the internet without any necessity of a telephone handset. VoIP phone services have become quite popular among all sections of people and businesses that desire to make international calls at cheaper costs. VoIP services are provided by different service providers who offer competitive rates. There are free VoIP phone services as well as VoIP plans that need to be purchased.

Some of the VoIP phone services run on analog technology, while others run on digital packets. It is evident that both analog and digital packets carry voice data whereas voice is only transmitted via these digital packets. VoIP phones work on the same principle as the regular telephones. VoIP phones are simply connected to the computer via an ethernet cable or wireless router.

The auto attendant feature of most VoIP phone services also comes into the picture.

With the help of this feature the user can get his/her call answered automatically or he can even engage the auto attendant feature and receive call reminders. Apart from these features, there are many other exciting options available in the VoIP world. This is what we shall discuss further in detail in the following lines.

The very first option is the mobile app. Most of the VoIP phone services provide free mobile apps for downloading. However, you may need to download an additional plug-in to use this mobile application. VoIP mobile application provides useful information about the features as well as the plans offered by many VoIP phone services. Depending on your business requirements, you may need to select a specific plan and customize your VoIP phone plan accordingly.

Next is the VoIP Call Transfer.

The auto attendant offers this facility to the customer, whereby he may transfer his call to another line with the help of an auxiliary service called ‘Asynchronous Transfer mode.’ This advanced feature allows you to connect VoIP to the internet and access various web pages on the internet.

The VoIP providers may provide many advantages to the customers but one must be aware of some disadvantages also. The main disadvantage of using VoIP phone systems lies in the fact that it involves significant cost. The reason behind this is that it is not economical to adopt the use of broadband connections for making long distance calls. As a result, many people may switch over to using other means of making calls such as mobile phones or home phone systems.

• Another drawback of using VoIP services is that it restricts the users to make local as well as remote calls.
• Even though the service allows you to make local as well as remote calls, it limits the call length to less than 30 seconds.
• The users also have to experience problems while in call transfers.
• The problem in transferring calls can be solved by setting up an external VoIP adapter that can be connected to the internet.

The last major disadvantage of using this advanced technology lies in the fact that it is quite slow. The high bandwidth limit of the connection often poses a problem in VoIP services as there are few calls which can be made at the same time. It also limits the number of calls that can be placed simultaneously. Due to these limitations, many businesses choose the traditional phone service instead. This is because they prefer a hands-free system where the employees can use their personal devices while communicating with the clients.