VoIP phone systems
VoIP just means your calls travel over the internet instead of down a copper telephone line. That one change is what makes everything else on this site possible.
Why it matters that a call is just data
On the old network, a call travelled down a specific physical wire to a specific building. That is why an extension was welded to one desk: the desk is where the cable went.
Once a call is data, it can go anywhere your internet goes. Your extension can ring at your desk, on your laptop at home and on your mobile in the van, all at the same time, because none of those things need a cable running back to a box in your office.
What changes in practice
- No hardware to own. Nothing to maintain, nothing that becomes obsolete, nothing to replace at your cost in six years.
- No fixed call limit. An old analogue line carried one call. Two callers meant one got an engaged tone. That constraint disappears.
- Staff work anywhere. Home, second site, on the road, all on the same number.
- Features come as standard. Voicemail to email, call recording and auto attendants used to be paid add-on modules. Now they are just on.
- Changes happen in software. A new starter takes minutes, not a cabling job.
What VoIP needs from you
A working internet connection, and that is genuinely it. No new cabling, no equipment room, no dedicated line. We check your connection before quoting because a hosted phone system on a bad connection is a bad phone system, and we would rather tell you that up front than install one and argue about it later.
The one thing worth planning for
If your internet goes down, so do the desk phones. The answer is a routing rule that sends calls to mobiles automatically when the office connection drops. We set that up as standard, so an outage becomes an inconvenience rather than a day of missed calls. Old phone systems, for what it is worth, went down when the copper was cut and had no equivalent fallback at all.
A longer plain-English explanation of VoIP, if you want the full version.
Common questions
Is VoIP call quality as good as a landline?
On a decent connection, better. VoIP carries a wider range of frequencies than an old copper line, so voices sound fuller. Problems only appear when the internet connection is genuinely poor or badly configured, which is why we check yours before quoting rather than after installing.
How much internet does a call use?
Very little. A call uses roughly a tenth of a megabit each way. A connection that streams video comfortably will carry many simultaneous calls without noticing. Bandwidth is almost never the issue, consistency is, and that is what we test for.
What is a SIP trunk?
It is the modern replacement for an ISDN or analogue line: the connection that carries calls in and out of your business, running over your internet connection instead of a dedicated cable. The number of simultaneous calls it can carry is a setting rather than a physical limit. Longer explanation here.
Can I keep my existing number?
Yes. Numbers transfer across and keep working exactly as they do now.
Find out what your phones should actually cost
Tell us how many people answer the phone and we will tell you the monthly figure. No survey, no sales visit, no obligation. Most quotes take about five minutes on the phone.
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