What are the most important VoIP terms and why?

Trying to understand telecommunications and VoIP terminology (or telco terms) can be confusing. See? Even explaining what the terms are is confusing! And to make matters worse, business phone definitions can change from company to company.

Understanding these terms for your business is important because VoIP can bring an opportunity to your business: the ability to communicate no matter where you or your employees are. VoIP enables companies to communicate effectively and deliver high standards of customer service and is a key element in allowing employees to collaborate easily from wherever they are located, remote or local. And in today’s world, we are seeing a lot of remote working.

Understanding the terms used is important for various reasons. Some of those reasons may be the following: you may be a business owner trying to explain your something to your current business phone provider or you may be trying to find a new business phone provider or even trying to read through your monthly invoice.

In order to help you understand the terminology used, let’s break the terms down:

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony which is the technical term, is the technology that converts your voice into a digital signal, allowing you to make a call directly from a computer, a VoIP phone, or other data-driven devices. Simply put, it’s a phone service delivered over the internet. The great thing about VoIP is that before, phones had to be in the same building. Now, with VoIP, phones can be anywhere there is Internet. Since VoIP does require a high speed internet connection, such as cable, DSL, T1, or even wireless, you should make sure the internet provider’s bandwidth meets the minimum requirements for the VoIP provider you choose.

So what is bandwidth? Internet bandwidth affects Internet speed. Bandwidth refers to how much data per unit of time a network connection can handle. Bigger bandwidths allow for more data to flow through but it may not mean higher performance.

Understanding that VoIP essentially is a phone service delivered over the internet makes it easier to understand the benefits and mobility if utilizing VoIP for your business. The benefit of VoIP is that it can be used for phone calls that aren’t VoIP and if you go abroad, you’ll still be able to keep your own number. You can also benefit from using an internet-based phone by having two phone numbers available through the same device. VoIP doesn’t run off of a sim card, so you can keep your original number, get an internet based number (usually operable through an app) and use the data from your original sim card to still have access to both numbers while you’re out and about.

Here are a few more benefits:

• Cost savings.
• Accessibility is increased.
• Higher scalability.
• Advanced features for small and large teams.
• Clearer voice quality.
• Supports multitasking.
• It’s portable and flexible with softphones
• Creation of a branded auto attendant.

With all of these great benefits, what exactly is a softphone that was mentioned above?

A softphone is an app that can be installed on any iOS or Android mobile device and is provided by VoIP business phone companies such as Joon. Joon’s cloud-based VoIP system is perfectly suited for flexibility and mobility. With the use of a Joon softphone which is installed as a mobile phone app, your employees are able to provide the same communication support whether they are at home, traveling, or in the office. Through the app, they have the same functionality their desk phones provide; bringing their office into the home virtually at no additional cost. Additionally, when your employee makes a call, their cell phone number never appears on their caller ID. The softphone app is simple to install and set up and requires no additional hardware except your mobile device.

Another great benefit of VoIp is being able to have an auto-attendant answer, escalate, and route calls instead of a human switchboard operator. An auto-attendant is a software that automatically answers incoming calls and directs the user to the proper information or person. You are more than likely already familiar with an auto-attendant and just never knew what the term was called. An example of what an auto-attendant may say is ”press 2 for sales, 5 for support”. The auto attendant is often the first encounter with new customers. Having an auto attendant for your business can help solve several underlying challenges. These challenges include:

• Missed customer calls
• Improper call routing
• Abandoned calls

Selecting the right VoIP service provider is a major business decision because it’s the foundation of your communication with your clients, partners, and staff. Whatever your reasons may be for wanting to utilize VoIP (and there are many reasons why one would want to), understanding the basic terms will be helpful.

In what many are calling 2020 as “the new normal” communication is now more integral to your business more than ever with many working remotely more than ever… We get that. That’s why our VoIP services are flexible to your business needs, scalable to grow with you, and reliable with great call quality and 24/7 customer support. Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, we have the resources and infrastructure to handle your communication and set up your business for success.

Take the time to schedule a consultation with us online, or give us a call at 844-GET-JOON.