Why is VoIP important?
Options
One big feature of VoIP telephony is that it offers many options to users. Users now have a choice on many aspects of their phone usage. They can communicate through an audio-only conversation, as well as a video conversation. They can use traditional telephones, or they can opt to use IP phones, computers or mobile devise. The choices offered by VoIP telephony far exceed what has been possible so far.
Hardware options
As stated above, VoIP systems allow users to choose their hardware. Traditional phones, IP phones, computers and smartphones can now be used to make calls, and so phone calls are no longer restricted to a single device. Moreover, businesses can now avoid PBXs in their offices. Indeed, IPPBXs offered by VoIP companies are both virtual and hosted by the provider, which means offices no longer need to make room for such large infrastructure.
Convergence
With VoIP, the convergence of all forms of communication to the Internet is now complete: emails, phone calls, video calls, conference calls and all other forms of data transfer can now take place on a single unified IP network. This allows deployment and maintenance costs to be reduced, while also removing the cost of additional networks, since the fees related to expanding one’s Internet network to encompass telephony are much lower than the costs of deploying and maintaining a separate network dedicated to phone calls.
Customizability and convergence are some of the key factors in the evolution of hardware and technology. Thankfully, VoIP brings both of these to the world of telephony, allowing businesses and individuals alike to further converge their services to an Internet network as well as choose what hardware they will use and how they will use their phone service. For this reason, VoIP is an important step forward in telephony.