IP Phones in the Business Environment

In the business world, your phone bill can get expensive.  Constant calls to clients, faxes and more can run up a pretty penny.

  That’s why these days more and more businesses are turning to IP Phones.

What is an IP phone?
An IP phone is a phone that uses Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies.  This means that these phones work over an IP network, i.e. the Internet, rather than over conventional phone lines.  VoIP was originally used mainly for computer-to-computer calls.  However, these days you can make calls over an IP network using regular telephone handsets and cellular phones and devices and you can even send faxes via IP.

The Benefits of IP
In the business environment, the main benefit of using IP phones is the cost.  IP phone calls cost next to nothing and if you work in an office where the phones are always in use, your company can save a great deal of money.  Even international calls cost only pennies with VoIP.  VoIP also saves a lot on operational costs for conference calls, call forwarding, caller ID and more.
IP phones are cheaper than traditional phones primarily because the Internet is billed, rather than the phone bill.  Internet costs are much lower than telephone charges.

The Many Uses of IP Phones and Technologies
In addition to making phone calls, there are a variety of other services that IP phones and IP technology can be used for.  These include everything from faxes and voicemail to email and Web conference.  Virtually everything you can do with a traditional phone can be done with an IP phone - redialing, caller ID functions and more.  Some services even allow for recording of conversations.

IP Phone Hardware
If you are interested in using IP phones in your office, it is easy to get set up.  A standard IP phone looks just like a regular phone.  It has the speaker and earphone, a keypad to enter the number you are calling, and a power source.  However, instead of hooking the phone to the wall with a phone jack, it has an Ethernet cable that you can use to hook the phone to the IP source.  You’ll have to sign up with a VoIP provider in order to use the service.