A VoIP service allows you to make phone calls over the internet rather than over a traditional circuit-switched phone line. Despite being in the mainstream for over a decade, VoIP’s popularity has taken off only in the past few years.
Due to VoIP’s compatibility with mobile devices, people can work from anywhere, seamlessly moving from the office to a remote location without having to change appliances or phone numbers. Additionally, VoIP is appealing to businesses because of its cost-effectiveness, scalability, and ability to unify communications.
The technology of VoIP is rapidly advancing. Call quality is determined by the speed of the internet connection and bandwidth available – both of which can cause a delay, or latency, if overburdened. Technology and tools exist today to overcome these challenges and provide quality conversations across multiple calling environments.
Challenges with VoIP
VoIP has several advantages, but it isn’t without its challenges. Generally, the issue is not in making or receiving calls, but with the sound quality and connectivity issues that interfere with optimal phone conversations.
In the case of VoIP technology, common negative experiences include varying levels of speech cadence (causing the participants to talk over each other), echoes, overlapping noises, and unsynchronized audio or video during video conferencing.
What causes problems with VoIP voice quality? Occasionally, a local virus can disrupt a customer’s local area network (LAN), but this is highly unusual. Usually, the internet provider is to blame.
Low quality of service leads to poor voice quality. Either there is not enough bandwidth to handle the data of a softphone call or the IP equipment, such as the wiring, modem, or router, has a fault.
When typing is more common than talking at work, the phone is reserved for the most important communications. The end-user ultimately can have a fluid conversation that matters the most, regardless of the technology involved. It is therefore imperative to ensure as little technical interruption as possible to avoid slowing business down.
Many employees are unable to walk over to a colleague’s desk and ask a question immediately with remote work gaining momentum. They now rely on technology to communicate, which is great except when it isn’t working.
With businesses shifting to remote work, people of all ages and generations are having to adapt quickly to new systems. VoIP is a cloud-based system that causes less disruption to businesses’ workflows and increases productivity.
