Technology changes constantly. For example, the Kindle was HOT
when it first came out three years ago. It sold out in just over
five hours and was then out of stock for five months! Now the iPad
is out and Seth Godin has already suggested that to survive the
Kindle needs to be, "…
so cheap to buy and use it's irresistible." Telephony
is yet another element breaking its way into a new age, and here's
how:
OLD: POTS (Plain
Old Telephone
System)
- An analog phone line is a conventional or traditional phone
line, used for fax or credit card machines.
- Analog is low maintenance and easy to implement.
- Long distance service for POTS lines is provided by a long
distance carrier such as AT&T, and can be rather costly for
organizations that make a lot of long distance calls.
NEW: VOIP (Voice
over Internet
Protocol)
- VoIP is more flexible, offers more control, and long distance
calling generally costs less than analog phone systems. Service
providers such as Vonage, Skype and Broadvox offer VOIP telephone
service.
- VoIP call quality is as good or better than it is with analog
systems. This is at least partially dependent upon the bandwidth
available to the VOIP server.
- VoIP may require more attention from IT staff than analog. You
must have a VOIP server or use an ITSP (Internet
Telephone Service
Provider) to obtain service. Should you choose to
have your own server, the system must be setup on that server, and
basic maintenance operations must be performed by staff.
- Many telephony software systems are now VoIP-capable,
including InphoniteVoice allowing for greater communication
capabilities.
- VoIP is gaining in popularity and gradually overtaking analog.
It allows for ever-increasing integration with computer
applications, and it is more cost-effective than POTS lines.
The most important difference to keep in mind here is that VoIP
allows for the future, while Analog is still in the past. Although
Analog is easy and comfortable for some, it may eventually hinder
your potential for growth. Although VoIP is essentially the future
of telephony, InphoniteVoice supports both OLD (analog) and NEW
(VoIP). No matter what the system, Inphonite is ever ready to bring
you into the future of telephony and beyond.
By Rick Clayton, Inphonite, a leading Tucson,
AZ Telephony Company
