Bob Milliken
Bob Milliken

If you are tired of constant downtime, dropped calls, busy signals, unreachable service technicians, inflexible voicemail systems, repairs and maintenance, it may be time to switch to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

But wait! When using hosted VoIP, you may experience bad call quality. Hosted VoIP is supposed to be more advantageous than traditional phone or on-premises VoIP systems, but many providers still can’t seem to guarantee landline call quality when it comes to voice calls.

To overcome this challenge, businesses need to work with a qualified VoIP provider to ensure that their Internet service has been configured to adequately support the requirements for both voice and data.

Landline versus VoIP calls

Landlines use ‘circuit switching,’ a method of connecting two or more parties via a dedicated service, which ensures that the connection will be maintained throughout a call’s duration. On the other hand, VoIP calls work by taking analog audio, converting it into digital data, and transmitting them via the internet. Because transmission of data over the internet can be affected by traffic issues, VoIP calls may be choppy or delayed.

voipHow would a dedicated circuit improve VoIP call quality?

With a dedicated service, you’ll have a designated facility that connects your on-premises phones to your hosted VoIP provider’s off-site servers. Having this setup simply means your users will be able to make phone calls over a private Internet service that’s not shared with other users, thus bypassing the public internet to ensure clearer, landline-quality calls.

However, there is a far easier way to achieve this Quality-of-Service (QOS). And achieving a fully redundant Internet service in the doing.

VoIP providers’ well-kept secret

By adding Failover to your Internet (failover combines two or more dissimilar services, for example Shaw and TELUS) you will achieve the QOS of a dedicated service. With failover, whenever the Internet is working problem free, one of the services will automatically be dedicated to Voice and the other to data. When one of the Internet services suffers an outage, then all voice and data will be automatically routed through the remaining service, resulting in an always-on Internet. Failover will keep your business up and in operation in times of Internet service interruption.

Your Take-Away

Internet telephony has become the default choice for business communications because it offers land line call quality, fully featured configurations, ease of use, integration with mobility, and significant cost savings.

Our VoIP technologies ensure that you have the bandwidth for voice to travel on the same network as your business systems, eliminating the need for a dedicated internet connection just for phone service.

Businesses can’t afford to stick to legacy phone systems if they want to stay competitive. Are you ready to move to a VoIP telephone system? Need help? Call us at 604.270.1730 and we’ll be happy to work with you.

Bob Milliken is the TheITguy@CascadiaSystemsGroup.com specializing in helping businesses with their IT needs and are experts in VoIP telephone systems.