VoIP or traditional circuit based systems? VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is considered to be the best telephony system today in comparison with the switched circuit based analog systems. VoIP is an IP telephony that manages the transmission and reception of voice information over the Internet. It uses broadband Internet connection for routing the calls. The voice information is managed in the digital form in separate packets using IP (Internet Protocol) rather than using the previously used circuit based transmission. VoIP has become more popular over the last few years because of the quality and reliability of the transmission of voice data, along with the cost advantages over traditional telephone networks.

The special features provided by the VoIP service providers are likely to be voicemail, call waiting, caller ID as well as some advanced features like call tracking, video conferencing and online system management.

Benefits of VoIP for Home based business

• Cost Effective

Cost savings is one of the main reasons for people to use VoIP rather than traditional circuit based system. In this system, you can place a VoIP call using the broadband Internet connection. The call cost remains the same even if you call across the street or across the country. Thus, the users can benefit a lot on long distance charges. The maintenance charges for using VoIP system are very less and are charged as a monthly rate. 

• Small business to look bigger

If you wish to make your home business look and feel like a bigger one, then a virtual PBX (Private Branch Exchange) with a dial-by-name directory can help. These systems may cost thousands to install but, many VoIP companies provide a hosted virtual PBX and you pay based on the time of plan, the cost can sometimes be as low as $2 USD a month. You can provide a separate line to each member of your team, view and print usage reports that show frequency and number of calls from and to each member of your team. 

• Freedom of Movement

Using VoIP service, you can place a call from anywhere you go where there is an Internet connection. The same number can be used even if you move to another city. 

What is the operation of VoIP for Home Office?

When it comes to business VoIP services, whether it is for home based business or a large business, there are options available according to the requirement of every company. The type of VoIP service plan to choose depends on the number of employees using this system. The business VoIP providers provide the Analog telephone Adapter (ATA) which converts the analog signals from a telephone into the digital bit stream for the transmission over the Internet. The ATA can handle up to 2 telephone lines. A fax machine can also be attached with one of the ports as it requires its own private number and phone line. 

With home office VoIP solution note that the extra phone lines and PCs can be attached by connecting them to the LAN side of the router.

For home office environment on small scale, this plan is well suitable and additional phone lines can be attached to it which costs the same monthly rate.

The quest for understanding the Advantages and disadvantages of VoIP begins with understanding the technology. The voice signals from the telephony are converted to a digital format and then compressed, these digital codes are then transferred through the Internet networks, making use of the Internet protocols. Later at the receiver’s side, these packets are decoded back to the simple voice format, which can be heard by the receiver of the message. In simpler words, the voice messages that were previously delivered through the PSTN (public switched network service) are now sent via the Internet This feature of the VoIP is what is well understood and used for varied business across the globe.

Following are the ways that one could connect to the VoIP service providers:
ATA (analogue telephone adapter) – which makes use of the Internet network and the existing telephone lines. This is a fixed service for a given place.
VoIP phones – which do not need a computer and thus directly connect to the Internet providers.
Soft Phone (Internet and digital phone) – is installed in the computer directly and does not need a dedicated software.

Talking about the Advantages and disadvantages of VoIP, the two major advantages of the VoIP are the reduced operational cost and efficiency through the flexibility it offers. Reduced operational cost is explained; as the phone calls can be made in the same network, which is used to transfer data, therefore saving the price of paying for or building the infrastructure for another line.

For traditional telephone, public switched telephone network (PSTN), additional features like conference calling, IVR, call forwarding, and caller ID are provided, but with additional charges. Whereas, the same come free in most open source VoIP implementations. The billing method utilized in the PSTN is typically based on the minute or second usage. VoIP utilizes the billing counter in the form of megabytes of data transferred. Hence, the VoIP bills per megabyte data transferred, and not the time, for which the call is made, thus, making it considerably cheaper.

Flexibility wise, VoIP offers a specific advantage since it is able to transmit to multiple lines using the same broadband connection. The role of VoIP in ensuring security of the data transferred, is further explained, as VoIP already uses the standardized protocols as a pre-existing feature, which in traditional telephony, has to be added by digitizing and digital transmission. VoIP also offers independent location in terms of usage, since it only needs an Internet connection and can operate from any location unlike the old traditional telephone usage.

Disadvantages of VoIP are not numerous at all for the average residential user or small business. The biggest disadvantage for the fore mentioned set of users is the reliance on the Internet connection from your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Without Internet access, your VoIP phone service will not work, so you must have a reliable Internet service.

For medium to larger business, the issue starts becoming things like firewalls, which firewalls do not necessarily know how to handle VoIP traffic. Having multiple users also create a problem since judging the amount of bandwidth required at any point in time. This becomes even more important when the organization uses video conferencing and other real time type services. Quality of Service (QOS) management becomes very important.

So, it is our opinion that the advantages of VoIP outweigh the disadvantages and is a consumers dream come true for real time communications service.