What is VoIP and How Does It Work?

What is VoIP

Business phone systems used to depend almost entirely on dedicated telephone wiring and traditional phone carriers.

Today, many businesses use the same network that carries their computer traffic to carry their phone calls.

This technology is called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

VoIP converts voice communications into digital network traffic that can travel across the internet.

Instead of requiring every phone to have a traditional landline, modern VoIP systems can use desk phones, computers, phone apps, and many other connected devices.

How Does VoIP Work?

When you place a call with a VoIP enabled phone or app, your voice is converted into digital information.

That information travels across the network to the VoIP system or provider.

If you are calling another user on the same VoIP system, the call may stay entirely within the organization’s phone system or provider network, depending on how the system is configured.

If you are calling a normal telephone number outside your business, the VoIP provider connects the call to the Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN.

Microsoft describes the PSTN as the worldwide telephone infrastructure that allows phone numbers to communicate across traditional and mobile networks.

Do I Still Get a Normal Phone Number?

Usually, yes.

Businesses can generally obtain a normal number, or transfer their existing number to a new network in a process called number porting.

VoIP changes how the call is delivered behind the scenes, but customers can’t tell the difference. It behaves the same way a regular phone works.

Cloud phone systems can also provide great business features such as:

Why Do Businesses Use VoIP

Flexibility is one of the largest reasons.

A traditional phone extension is closely tied to a physical phone line.

A VoIP extension is virtual. This means it can often follow the employee and can be reassigned relatively quickly.

Someone may be able to answer their business number from:

This can make VoIP particularly useful for businesses with remote employees or multiple locations.

Does VoIP Depend on the Internet?

Cloud-Hosted VoIP usually does. This makes the quality of the network important.

If your internet connection is unstable, your internal network cannot handle the load, or a squirrel chews holes in your internet line, voice quality may suffer.

These issues do not mean that VoIP is bad. It may mean that the network carrying the signal needs attention. This could be the network internally, or the internet service provider’s network.

A properly designed network can prioritize voice traffic to help reduce a lot of these problems.

What happens during an internet outage?

This depends on your phone provider and configuration.

Some systems can automatically forward calls to mobile phones or another location during an outage.

Businesses that rely heavily on phones may also use redundant internet connections or cellular failover.

This is one reason your phone system should be considered alongside the rest of your technology infrastructure instead of treated as an isolated service.

Sources & Further Reading

Microsoft, What Is Teams Phone?
Microsoft, PSTN Connectivity Options
Cisco, Small Business VoIP resources
Ubiquiti, Unifi Talk