With Covid-19 affecting the world, many of us are now working from home. While standard phone networks and your cellphone may do the job, there are many reasons to consider switching over to a VoIP service for your home.
VoIP offers tons of value for those working from home, and can also be a more cost-efficient, updated way to utilize your home phone line as well. VoIP systems offer great features like virtual fax, voicemail-to-text, and SMS messaging, making this phone system an excellent choice for your home office.
What to Know About VoIP for Remote Work
VoIP is an internet-driven way of making phone calls. The system works by taking your analog voice signals and converting the sound waves into digital data. Then the digital data transmit over the internet. The process happens through SIP or Session Initiation Protocol. This is what starts, modifies, maintains, and stops the real-time sound and video data over the internet.
Many phone companies are switching from the traditional analog phone service to VoIP, so if you’ve been starting to work from home, changing your service to VoIP now may be a great way to stay on top of the curve.
Using VoIP to Work From Home
With VoIP, it’s easy to work from home. VOIP is a way of calling using an internet connection, often giving you all the same features of a professional business phone, and allows you to call from your computer.
One great feature of VoIP phone service is how easy it is to bring your office phone line to your home office. With VoIP, you can take your office IP phone home and keep the same number you have at work. The phone will maintain the ability to dial extensions, page coworkers, transfer, and receive calls, just as if you were sitting in the office.
You should also consider getting an additional IP phone for your home office and set it up to function on your office’s phone network. While you would have a different number for this phone, you can set it up to receive all the calls your office phone receives.
The Benefits of VoIP
VoIP phones are easy to set up, and are more affordable than traditional analog phone lines. Many VoIP plans have mobile apps for iOS and Android that work as extensions from your primary phone. Some other features available for VoIP phone service are:
- Mobile phone extensions
- Call routing
- Automated attendants
- Conference call bridges
- Call recording
- Cloud-based private branch exchange
- Call screening
- Auto-receptionist
- SMS messaging
- Voicemail-to-text
When it comes time to choose a VoIP for your home, make sure to check out a list of the best VoIP services for your home.
The Disadvantages of VoIP
While there are many advantages of having VoIP, that doesn’t mean VoIP doesn’t come with some drawbacks. Here are some downsides to VoIP:
- Needs electricity to function
- Unlike traditional phone lines, VoIP needs to have the power to operate. So if there is a power outage, your phones will go down.
- Slow and poor sound quality: If your network’s internet speed is slow, you will have problems with sound quality and delayed delivery.
- VoIP is prone to viruses and hacking: While you can find VoIP with encryption, bringing your phone line into the internet runs risks of being attacked by hackers.
- VoIP doesn’t integrate well with 911 calls: Because VoIP connects to the internet, your broadcast comes from your phone’s IP address. This means if you dial 911 from your VoIP work phone at home, emergency dispatchers will be sent to the registered address of the business, not your home. If your office has numerous locations using the VoIP network, this can be difficult when trying to report an emergency.
While there are a few drawbacks, VoIP is quickly becoming the new way to make phone calls. With affordable pricing and convenience, many offices are quickly converting their phone lines to VoIP.
The Future of Remote Work with VoIP
As VoIP gains popularity, so will the options for working from home. With Covid-19 affecting how the world is operating, we see now more than ever the need and benefit of having ways to quickly and easily work remotely. VoIP opens the door to more possibilities.
By having your business phone line wherever you go, your office can run far more efficiently. With this type of flexibility, it’s never been easier for businesses to transition into remote offices, and VoIP is the phone system to tie it all together.
