VoIP ideal for homeworkers
By Danny Sullivan
I just read an article about the growing demand for VoIP in Canada, and thought I’d pitch in on the topic.
As a technology flack working out of a home office in the UK, I have been a customer of one of the VoIP industry’s market leaders for over two years now. There are several good reasons why a VoIP phone system suits me:
1. Cheap international and free long distance calls. Sure, there are all kinds of plans out there from the incumbent telephony providers, but I have yet to see the kind of rates applied across the board that I get as standard using VoIP. As probably over 50% of my contact with media and clients is international, this is a compelling benefit.
2. The ability to have virtual numbers in any location. inmedia is headquartered in Canada, so there is obviously a significant amount of regular contact with my colleagues and clients over there. At a nominal fixed cost per month, I am able to have a local number in Ottawa that rings here in the UK. There is no limit on the amount of numbers and it would take a matter of moments to establish a local number in any region, say for a new client in another country. Even if the overall benefit to a client is relatively small, it’s still an inexpensive way to provide a good customer service component.
3. Online access. The Internet dashboard that comes with my VoIP system is invaluable. When I’m on the road I can access all my phone details via the web, allowing me to check call logs, listen to voicemail, set up call forwarding and all kinds of other features.
Now, although my experience with the technology has been overwhelmingly positive, I probably shouldn’t mention VoIP without making it clear that it’s not perfect.
“Danny, you’ve gone all robotic on us,” was the concerned response from one of my colleagues on a recent conference call.
VoIP, as an internet-based service, is dependent on a certain level bandwidth for it to operate effectively. It doesn’t need much, but it can mean that you occasionally experience degradation of voice quality, either inbound or outbound. Hence my sudden transformation into a Dalek last week.
But to be honest, these issues, while a bit unnerving for those on the other end of the line, are few and far between, and the benefits of VoIP by far outweigh them. For people who work from home, VoIP is definitely worth a look.
