Hand of man using ip phone with flying icon of voip services and people connection, voip and telecommunication concept
Voice over Internet Protocol, aka VoIP, is taking more and more phones over from the old copper line system. But, we have to ask, how reliable is it?
The answer to that question seriously depends on why you’re asking.
For calling people, it’s incredibly reliable. Once upon a time, VoIP was a great way to sound like the distorted soundtrack of the Matrix films. Today, however, tech advances have made a world in which VoIP call clarity rates higher than those old copper lines.
That being said, a VoIP phone needs the electricity on, or a battery backup, in order to keep working. If the power goes out, a VoIP phone won’t turn on.
So, let’s address these one at a time.
VoIP For Regular Business Use
For day to day business use, VoIP is great. Today it offers crystal clear calls, along with all business features, at a fraction of the cost of old copper phone systems.
One of the big advances came in the form of a Quality of Service router. These routers prioritize voice call data over other kinds of data. So, for instance, one person at the business is making a phone call, and another is trying to watch a streaming instructional video. Once upon a time, there was no way to tell the Internet line which of these should come first, so the voice data would be shunted for the video data. The video can buffer, which the voice call cannot. So, the end result was sounding like those weird electronic wails on the Matrix films as the voice data got interspersed between the video data.
A Quality of Service router, instead, organizes and prioritizes the data coming through. Voice calls get prioritized, and video or file data can wait just a nanosecond. Most people will never notice the data lag on anything else, since files and videos both have their own buffering ability.
In addition, the whole business system is now made up of programming instead of solid copper wires. This means that adding extensions, conference calling, transfers, autoattendants, hold music, voicemail to email, virtual fax, and any other business function just got a whole lot cheaper.
What About Elevators And Alarms?
Ok, that’s where the issues come in. Elevators and alarms still have to work if the power goes out. The old style copper systems carried a very low voltage charge, meaning the phone always worked even if the power line got cut. There are ways to get around this, but they involve battery backups that must be replaced frequently. Each battery is usually only good for about two to three years, whether it’s ever needed or not.
Here at NoContractVoIP, we do provide copper lines for those functions for current clients, because we know they have to keep working.
We don’t know what will happen in 2025 when the FCC says that old copper system is going away. Innovation keeps going, and we’ll keep our clients updated as it comes out. That’s our promise, we keep on the cutting edge with telecom so you don’t have to.
Ready For A Top Notch VoIP Business System?
Here at NoContractVoIP, we create custom business phone systems that offer a full suite of hybrid and remote solutions for your telecom needs. Your success is our success.
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