Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is here to stay, whether you directly embrace it or not. Some business phone systems are completely internet-based, while others look like a traditional copper wire telephony system, despite still being on a network-based system. Here are a few details about VOIP to help you understand why the technology is relevant and what it can do for you.
What Is VOIP?
VOIP is a set of technologies centered around turning audio into computer and network-readable data, then changing that data back into audio. It works for any kind of audio and is a step forward from just talking into a computer microphone for a recording, but the use as an actual telephone replacement system is a bit more complex.
The core of VOIP technology is the codec. Codec is a portmanteau of coder and decoder, but the word is used to describe a set of rules for managing the audio data. There are multiple areas of VOIP codecs that are managed by different types of tech enthusiasts, professionals, and artists--sometimes a mixture of all of those groups in a single person.
For the sake of simplicity, VOIP codec use is a balance of audio quality versus transfer speed. The quality often depends on personal taste, but the audio has to be intelligible to the other side to be worth using. Higher quality sometimes means bigger files sizes, and the bigger the file size, the longer it takes to transfer the data and the more chances you have of sending interrupted data.
Is VOIP Safe?
Before addressing the security concerns with VOIP, understand one thing: whether you trust VOIP or not, your calls will go through a VOIP system at some point. Many people mistake internet and computer network technology for the same easily-hackable systems as home computers, but it's much bigger than that.
Without going too deeply into network technology, internet cables are basically telephone cables with a lot more wires. Instead of a simple two or four wire copper cable, you have a 6 or 8-wire cable that can move that voice information a lot faster. With fiber optic cables, that voice quality moves even faster.
Every major telecommunications company has long since moved to such technology as a part of their backbone. Some people are confused at the fact that their local telephone systems still use copper wires, but the only thing that happens in such situations is a speed reduction when faster cables connect to the slower copper lanes.
All of that said, VOIP security is a concern at a certain level. Both old copper system and newer telephony can in theory be wiretapped, but that's mostly out of your hands. The security risks come from inner-business networks that handle VOIP traffic.
When you ask for VOIP solutions, you have the option of routing VOIP traffic through your business internet or using a separate line. No matter what you do, allow a business telephone systems professional to set up a separate channel or network path for VOIP so that any infiltration to your computer network--whether because of a virus from an employee browsing the wrong sites or an direct hacker attack--will be separate from your phone systems.
Contact a business phone systems professional to discuss other parts of VOIP technology to understand how your business could benefit.
Share26 January 2018
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