VoIP Phone System Requirements for small businesses

VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, provides a rapidly growing alternate to traditional phone systems. VoIP calls are also referred to as internet telephony as it does not necessarily require telephone lines to communicate with the other person(s) and can be channeled across the intranet and internet. However, the implementation of internet telephony is very different between the corporate and enterprise market and small business, home office and consumer applications. We have set out the application of VoIP Phone Systems in the corporate arena elsewhere, but in this instance will focus on small business and consumer internet telephony.
Primarily, there are three basic requirements for a VoIP phone system to work for you: a fast speed internet like DSL, a computer or other terminal, and an adapter. Though VoIP Phone Systems can also work on slow speed internet connections but they hinder smooth communication and annoy the users. So, it is recommended even to pause all other downloads while using VoIP. Hence a fast speed internet is the first requirement.
Second requirement is related to the hardware. A computer is typically required to use VoIP services. That means there are some specific clients who prefer not to use a computer for this purpose, in such a case the VoIP service provider may provide them with the necessary alternative equipment to connect with VoIP; Vonage is such a company that does not require computers to provide VoIP services. However, the majority of the VoIP Phone Systems utilizes a computer as the terminal. The second hardware required to connect with VoIP network is a headphone to communicate with others. These headphones are available in the market or you can buy a VoIP head set for this purpose. These headsets are especially designed to VoIP functions and a VoIP services provider can provide you with one if you want to have one.
Software installment is the third and last requirement to connect with a VoIP network. Putting a glance at the top three VoIP service providers i.e. Google, Skype and Vonage; we come to know that only Skype requires its software installment to let VoIP users use its services. However, most of the VoIP service providers require their software installments for using their VoIP services. Most of these softwares are freely available for downloading.
VoIP Phone Systems are getting popularity for their affordable business communication solutions especially for small businesses and for this reason; they are called the future of business communication.
If you are paying lots of money on business communications, you can cut these bills down to a reasonable level by using VoIP services. Of course this has implications – call quality is typically very poor over the internet, and consequently this is seldom used in the corporate or enterprise markets.