Phone Systems for Small Business

Unlike POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), Internet Protocol (IP) telephony uses the internet to transmit calls, texts, faxes, etc. to the receiving party. Here are some benefits you get when switching to an IP telephony system.

Reduced cost: The traditional phone lines will charge you per minute, while IP phone systems, especially VoIP ones, can be purchased by paying just £17 per month/user.

Easy transmission of multimedia content: IP telephony systems support MMS, video calls, chats, etc.

Software integrations: It is not easy to integrate CRMs and other productivity software into your traditional phone network. But the VoIP-based online business phone systems allow multiple software integrations.

Scalability: As hybrid work culture is gaining popularity, you will have employees working from multiple locations. No need to worry about getting all of them physical phone connections, you can log in to your IP telephony interface and add as many lines as you want.

Redefine your business with a complete online business phone system. Switch to Ringover’s IP telephony solutions that can give your business a facelift.

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a signaling protocol that enables VoIP. SIP offers the control layer for sending and receiving video calls, voice calls, instant messages, and media files.

The other VoIP signaling protocols are:

• Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP);
• Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP);
• Session Description Protocol (SDP).

The answer is yes and no. Many people, including service providers use the terms VoIP and IP telephony interchangeably. However, there is a subtle difference between them. The difference is so subtle that it matters only to network specialists.

VoIP phones are a type of IP phone. Simply put, IP telephony is a way to digitise the phone system to take advantage of the internet. In stricter terms, VoIP is considered as a digital transporting method for phone calls. VoIP, using the internet, can add more functionalities to voice communication.

In other words, VoIP is a subset of IP telephony and both can increase your productivity while offering you a robust online business phone system.

Setting up an IP telephony or VoIP-based online business phone system doesn’t require any IT skills. Just follow the below steps:

• Login to the web interface or app of your service provider.
• Choose your area code and then a phone number.
• Select a plan that best suits your requirement and make the payment.
• Once the payment is done, you can start using the IP telephony system.

You can set up greetings, call forwarding rules, and integrate CRMs and other software into the system.

PBX refers to legacy or traditional phone systems, while IP PBX is a digitised online business phone system. Here is a comparison of PBX and IP PBX telephony systems.

PBX (Private Branch Exchange) is an on-premise business phone system that is not connected to the internet. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a technology solution that makes use of the internet to make and receive calls, send texts, etc.

VoIP-based business IP telephony systems also support multimedia distribution, video conferencing, custom greeting, and call forwarding.

IP is a key technology used in VoIP-based phone systems to send data from the caller to the receiver. VoIP telephone systems rely on the visibility of the IP addresses involved in the transaction to send and receive calls, texts, or multimedia messages.

An IP (Internet Protocol) helps identify the specific web location or a device. The data is getting transferred between devices and web locations using the IP address. In the case of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), a public network is used to transmit data between users.

A PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system for small businesses is an internal telephone system that enables internal and external communication for the company.

The PBX phone system allows businesses to have multiple phone lines and extensions within their organisation. With a PBX system, small businesses can manage their voice communications efficiently, handle incoming calls, route calls to the appropriate departments or extensions, and use features like voicemail, call forwarding, and call transfers. PBX systems can be physical hardware installed at the business premises or virtual/cloud-based systems like Ringover that are accessible over the internet.

A VoIP phone system for small businesses offers numerous advantages, including cost savings, scalability, flexibility, and advanced features. With a VoIP phone system, small businesses can have virtual phone numbers, make and receive calls from anywhere with an internet connection, integrate with other communication tools like email or text messaging, and benefit from features such as call routing, auto-attendants, and call recording.

A business phone system normally offers call transfer, call forward, and establish local support across the world. Other than that, your business could also benefit from custom welcome greetings, IVR, and added integrations. You can find all of this and more with Ringover.

The first thing to determine is if you even need business phone systems for your small business. To do that, assess your business needs. Define the number of users who will need to access the system, the call volume you expect to receive daily, and calculate a realistic budget. Once you’ve done that, move on to evaluating the specific premium features. If they align with your business needs, you’ve found the right business phone system.

To know how many phone lines your business will need, you need to see the number of employees who will be on the phone simultaneously and the call volume they can expect daily. You will also need to figure out what other features you need to integrate into the setup like added integrations and call routing.

If the proper security measures are taken, a small business phone system can be very secure, even more than a traditional landline phone.

Yes, some businesses still have a landline phone but they usually keep it as a backup for unexpected power outages or service outages.

Yes, in most cases you need an Internet connection to use a business phone service, especially if it is a VoIP system.

There are a number of advantages when it comes to adopting phone systems for small business like cost savings, increased flexibility and mobility, premium top-notch features, and improved collaboration among the company.