VoIP Phones

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Sometimes it's referred to as Voice over Networks or (VoN), Voice over Broadband (VoB) and sometimes Internet Telephony. VoIP allows you to make free, or very low cost, telephone calls over the Internet. You can call any telephone in the world and any telephone can call you - regardless of what equipment or network the person you are calling uses.

Also, because VoIP uses, digital, internet technologies (sip) many new features and services that were previously impossible, or very expensive using traditional telephone technology, become available. With Voipfone this means we can give you many free features such as voicemail, voicemails sent to you email, music on hold, call diverts etc.

But you don’t need to know anything about the technologies used if you don’t want to, after all, you probably don’t know that ordinary telephony uses TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) but your telephone still works.

How Does It Work?

Your voice is converted into digital information which can be sent like any other data over the internet. People are often confused by this but the way to think about it is that your internet connection uses the same wires as your normal landline telephone and can be used to transmit all kinds of things such as faxes, telephone calls, emails, instant messages, web pages and Google searches – what makes the difference is simply what is plugged into the wires. Telephone systems are the lifeblood of any business should be reviewed every 3-5 years.

Before we get too far into the technology, we need to squash a myth. People tend to think that VoIP is about cheap calls - and it’s true that VoIP calls are cheap - but the real benefit of VoIP is that calls can be totally free and that all sorts of new services become possible with them.

Calls can be free not because we’re a charity but because you’ve already paid for them in your monthly broadband subscription. When you make a call over the internet your voice is converted to data and sent like any other piece of data down your internet connection; just like web surfing and email; you don’t have to pay again to use it. So, if you call another Voipfone user anywhere in the world, it’s a free call – you only pay if you call an old fashioned telephone network. Telephone systems should be reviewed every 3-5 years.

How Can I Make a VoIP Call?

Normally you just to pick up your phone and dial the number! The most primitive form of VoIP uses your PC as a telephone and we provide you with a software telephone – a softphone – to do this. This displays a model of a telephone on your screen and you simply type the number to be dialled in or click on the phone’s directory to dial the number.

You can either use your PCs speakers and microphone of use a simple headset to talk.

For business use though, most people use purpose built VoIP telephones or telephone adapters with ordinary telephones plugged in. Apart from the obvious benefits of convenience to use and quality of call this method means that your telephones work even when your PC is switched off.

What Kind Of Equipment Do I Need?

A broadband (high speed Internet) connection is required for most, but not all, of our services. This can be through a cable modem such as NTL/Virgin, or services such as ADSL.

To make phone calls you then either use a softphone on your PC or laptop (see above) or a purpose built VoIP telephone or telephone adapter.

This was produced by a business telephone systems expert for help with telephone systems contact me!