IP telephony is a way of making phone calls over the internet, instead of the traditional telephone network. IP stands for Internet Protocol, which is the technical standard for sending information over the internet.
IP or VoIP?
IP telephony is sometimes referred to as VoIP (Voice over IP), broadband telephony, or simply internet telephony. Whatever the name, it’s all about the same thing: making and receiving calls over the internet. This is because IP telephony is not part of the fixed telephone network and does not use the same copper lines as regular calls. Instead, when you make an IP phone call, the information is sent as data.
How does IP telephony work?
IP telephony works much like regular telephony – the only difference is that you make calls over your broadband instead of over the telephone network.
To use IP telephony, you need an IP telephony subscription and an adapter. You plug your phone into a socket, which in turn connects to your broadband connection – and then you make calls as usual.
IP as a technology is about transmitting audio and video over the internet in real time by breaking the information into smaller data packets to make it easier and faster to send.
What is the difference between IP telephony and regular telephony?
The main difference between IP telephony and conventional telephony is that IP telephony uses the internet instead of the traditional telephone network. With IP telephony, you use the same network for telephone services as for surfing the web.
In practice, there is really only one thing needed for IP telephony to work: you need a reliable and stable broadband connection.
With IP telephony, you don’t need to use a phone to make a call – you can often do it just as well via your computer using a softphone. The main thing is that the device you use to make the call is connected to the IP network in one way or another.
Traditional telephony always requires exactly the same capacity to make a call, whereas IP telephony uses the capacity that is available. The data traffic generated by an IP telephony call is very small, making it a low-cost, in many cases almost free, solution for making calls over the network.
Read more: SIP trunk and VoIP – how they’re connected
What are the benefits of IP telephony?
- It’s cheap – sometimes even free! Because you make calls over the internet, IP telephony is much cheaper than traditional phone calls because you don’t have to pay any extra network charges, and in many cases no subscription fees either.
- It is flexible. You only need access to a computer and the internet to make and receive calls, which means you can use IP telephony virtually anywhere.
- It is easy to scale up (or down). With IP telephony, you are not ‘locked in’ to a specific mobile data plan, but can choose features as your business grows. In this way, IP telephony is more scalable than traditional phone systems.
- It is easy to integrate. IP telephony services are easy to integrate into your existing infrastructure. With Telavox as your provider, we take care of system updates, so you always have access to the latest technology.
- It gives you better video conferencing. Video calls are included in the price of IP telephony, which is different from fixed networks where it is usually an additional service.
- It is high quality sound. Many IP telephony services offer high-quality audio directly through your computer or smartphone.
IP telephony and VoIP with Telavox
IP telephony allows you to work more efficiently – you get lower call costs, better mobility, versatile features, smooth customer interactions and greater reliability.
Telavox is a leading communications platform for startups, global giants and everything in between. Whether it’s IP telephony, PBX, contact center or more, we deliver a smart and efficient solution with our cloud-based telephony.
