Advantages of Business VoIP
VoIP can offer a number of advantages for business users, and the most important benefit for most users great savings that can be made by switching to online telephone services.
Low Cost Call Charges
Telephone bills can represent a large volume of your office overheads, so it is a good idea to consider switching to VoIP services as you can save a lot of money on monthly phone bills. Most VoIP providers charge a flat monthly rate for their price plans and for that you will be able to make unlimited national calls and some unlimited calls to designated countries. For example Voip.com offer a standard price plan which provides unlimited calls not just within the whole of the USA, but also to Canada and Puerto Rico for just $19.95 per month. International calls are also priced very competitively with VoIP services and you can save a lot of money if you regularly do business overseas by phone by switching to a VoIP provider.
No Contracts
Many VoIP providers do not require you to sign up to a contract when you open a new account with them, unlike standard analogue telephone providers, and this can be a great advantage as if you decide the service is not suitable for you, or you get a cheaper offer in the future then you can switch your provider without having to pay any cancellation fees. Some providers also offer 30 day free trial offers with no obligation to continue the service if you find it is not suitable for your business needs and this is a great way for newcomers to VoIP to try out online telephoning to see how it works out before committing themselves to a price plan.
Multifunctional Features
One of the big advantages of VoIP is it provides a fully functional, versatile telephony system which can be adapted to suit almost any business need at a very low cost. For example online telephone services provide business customers with:
Voicemail – VoIP accounts come with an answerphone service called ‘voicemail’ and this provides your customers and colleagues with a way to leave a message for you if you are engaged or unavailable.
Multiple Lines – you can have as many as 10 lines set up for the same VoIP number, so that when one line is engaged incoming calls will ring through to the next available line, or if all the lines are busy go straight to voicemail. This is a cheap and effective way to deal with a high level of incoming calls.
Keep Your Existing number
This is very important for established businesses who want to maintain continuity for their customers, and you can arrange with your new VoIP provider to ‘port’ (transfer) your existing number over to your new VoIP service. This can take a few weeks to process though so it is a good idea to keep up your standard telephone service until your phone number has been switched over to make sure your customers and suppliers can still get hold of you easily, and your VoIP provider will also offer you a temporary online phone number whilst you are waiting for your original number to port, so you will also be able to start using your new VoIP service straight away as well.