The popularity of packet networks is not only a tribute to fashion. This is a conscious step towards improving the quality of services, improving the service component. The principle of operation is the transmission of voice over IP networks. It is worth noting that the possibility of introducing this type of service has been discussed for several years, but a full-scale transition to their mass use has occurred relatively recently.
Today, connection to services of this type is available to almost every Internet user. Hundreds of operators provide the service for a relatively small fee. But this type of communication has not only advantages, but also disadvantages. What should you pay special attention to when changing the format of telephone communication?
Basic principles of IP-telephony
Internet telephony is a way to instantly digitize voice and transmit it in separate packages to another subscriber. A sound delay of up to 400 milliseconds is acceptable, which is practically not felt in a conversation. The level of such delay depends on the quality and capabilities of the equipment used by the operator providing the service.
A bit of theory
In order to fully implement all the necessary steps, companies providing communication services can use various equipment. These can be separate, specially designed programs installed on a personal computer, special desktop telephones, or high-capacity gateways.
It is the gateways that are responsible for processing traffic that comes from outside. Each of the gateways (depending on the settings) is capable of serving from one to five thousand telephone sets. This equipment is installed not only at the provider, but also at the end user, provided that the company has the ability to fully service it.
Another type of device used combines a gateway with remote access.
In the wake of the voice
- The call is transferred from the telephone network to telephone gateways, the signal is processed by means of a special card of the voice service device.
- Further, the gateway automatically redirects this information to the gateway located on the side of the receiving subscriber. This is done through the control protocols of the H.323 or SIP family.
- The receiving gateway relays the signal to the receiving telephony equipment using the dial plan as a guide and guaranteeing an end-to-end connection.
- So the connection is established. At the input device, the voice is digitized, then encoded according to ITU algorithms, compressed, "packed" into packets and sent in the opposite direction.
The main pros and cons of IP telephony
First of all, let's figure out what exactly is IP-telephony, the pros and cons of which are actively discussed on the network. At the moment, four types of Internet telephony are widely used.
- The first includes connections involving two PCs equipped with a sound card, as well as a headset.
- To the second - the interaction between a personal computer and a conventional landline telephone. Here, for a full-fledged connection, you must use a program pre-installed on your PC.
- The third method involves a connection between two stationary devices.
- And finally, the fourth is to use a VoIP gateway or a phone configured with a SIP server instead of a regular computer.
IP telephony: pros and cons
There are quite a few positives.
- Saving money, especially if the subscriber regularly makes calls to another city or even a country. The standard cost of a minute of conversation in this case is about 15 kopecks, which is significantly lower than when using traditional communication. Such democratic value is formed due to the increase in the sharing ratio.
- Complete confidentiality, which is protected by the relevant protocols of obligations of operators providing this type of communication.
- Possibility to increase the number of lines without any additional costs.
- High quality communication, which is completely independent of distance. The only thing that can affect the signal delay level is the channel load.
- Availability for every Internet user. By becoming a client of one of the four hundred provider companies providing this service, you will be able to use all the advantages of IP-telephony.
- Market volume. The annual turnover in Russia in this segment is more than 60 million US dollars.
The disadvantages include, perhaps, only the need to purchase additional equipment (that is, albeit one-time, but still costs), as well as the complete absence of devices that monitor, correct and fix the level of service.
Internet telephony, what is it? What are its advantages compared to traditional, GSM and city telephony? What do you need to start using Internet telephony? What internet telephony networks exist? Is there a difference between Internet telephony and IP telephony? Let's look into all these issues.
Internet telephony, as the name implies, works through public Internet networks. Most often, this is what it uses for voice transmission and call / hang up signals - ip packets, according to certain protocols. To date, the SIP protocol has received general recognition for ip-telephony, in fact, it helps to find the right interlocutor and send him a call. Voice and video, in turn, are encoded with a voice codec and packaged in RTP packets, and then the TCP / IP protocol stack already decides how it all is delivered to the right point.
In the world, one can boldly single out two commercial Internet telephony networks - these are Skype and Viber.
Viber all the same SIP protocol, to establish a connection, and certain voice compression. All information is stored on centralized Viber servers.
Skype unlike many other systems, it uses P2P architecture for data transfer. The list of Skype users is distributed across the computers of Skype network users, which allows the network to easily scale to very large sizes (currently more than 100 million users, 15-20 million online) without expensive centralized server infrastructure. Prior to the purchase of Skype by Microsoft, the Skype network was one of the most secure.
And of course, most importantly, IP telephony (Internet telephony) is readily used by telecom operators and providers. There is no need to lay a cable and buy expensive equipment, all calls go through an existing Internet network.
What devices are needed for?
IP phone, outwardly similar to a stationary office analog phone, the only difference is that it has its own mini computer inside, and it works via an Ethernet network, and all voice processing is performed by a digital processor.
Softphone, a softphone that allows you to make calls using a computer and a headset. Most of them are completely free and do not require the purchase of any licenses.
A softphone can also be installed on a smartphone as an application and function as a phone in a phone.
Wireless WiFi and DECT phones should be classified as IP phones.
In order to connect an ordinary analog phone to Internet telephony services, you need an analog FXS gateway.
So, what are the pros and cons associated with the use of this technology. Let's start with the benefits. There are actually two of them:
- Internet conversations compressed using the appropriate codec and packed into data packets load communication channels much less than those transmitted using traditional technology.
- Significant savings on telephone calls. Since an international (long distance) telephone operator is not involved in an IP telephone call, the cost of this call is an order of magnitude less than the cost of a traditional telephone connection, and tariffs in this service sector are becoming cheaper and cheaper.
The main disadvantage of Internet telephony for a long time was the potentially lower quality of communication. Moreover, the main disadvantage is the main advantage - packet routing of voice traffic. With a high network load, both the loss of part of the packets and unacceptably large delays in their delivery are possible - hence the loss of words, echo and interference. However, the development of equipment and technology, as well as the Internet itself, has made it possible to reach a level where speech is understood by subscribers so well that the interlocutors do not realize that the connection is made using technology.
Comments:
Increasingly, instead of the usual telephone communication, representatives of large and small businesses are choosing IP-telephony - an effective and modern way of communication that allows you to solve many problems without installing additional equipment.
Why do most business representatives choose IP-telephony? In fact, there are two global reasons:
- the prospect of optimizing communication costs, reducing them at times;
- a limitless range of possibilities for the implementation of the most modern high-tech solutions in the field of telephony.
Simply put, IP-telephony offers flexible solutions for a large successful business project, and for a dynamically developing small business. And, regardless of the scale of the project, it allows you to get high quality communication with the possibility of minimizing the cost of urban, international and long-distance telephone communication.
Analog communication and IP-telephony: the difference is obvious
What does a company get if it decides to change its analog PBX to modern digital communication standards?
- the ability to recruit staff on a remote basis;
- full access to corporate communication services in 24/7 format from anywhere in the world where there is Internet;
- mobility in the organization of promotion, whether it is a trip to conferences, presentations or temporary points of sale;
- the ability to receive calls directly from the virtual network - from the company's website or "selling" pages;
- flexible configuration of corporate communication system capabilities.
Do you need IP telephony?
In fact, to understand whether you need IP telephony is not at all difficult. It is enough to answer a number of simple questions, and everything will become clear to you:
- Is your business actively growing and developing?
- Are you in sales or manufacturing?
- Is the geography of your suppliers wide enough?
- Does your company have a developed branch network?
- Do you think the current level of communication costs is unprofitable and too costly?
- Disappointed with the quality of analog PBXs and would like to establish uninterrupted communication in accordance with modern standards?
If you answered “yes” to at least a few questions from the list, you should think about changing your current service provider to a provider that offers IP telephony capabilities.
IP telephony: the benefits are clear
In Russia, all the advantages of IP-telephony over analog telephony were the first to be appreciated by communication service providers, for whom this solution has become a real salvation in a dynamically developing market. The retail community has shown no less interest in introducing new technologies. It was large retail chains with branches in dozens of cities that were able to see the benefits in the possibility of creating their own corporate telephone network based on Internet data channels. Virtual PBXs have become a full-fledged alternative to the usual connection formats. And they quickly gained popularity not only in the central region, but also in areas remote from the center.
Today, hundreds of companies use IP-telephony in one way or another in their work - from financial and insurance organizations to banks and restaurant chains. Statistics show that more than 40% of enterprises and companies in Russia have already switched to digital communication standards. And more than 30% of the business community are planning such a transition within the next year or two.
What is the reason for such a massive demand for modern communication standards? In fact, there are many reasons for the transition from analog to IP-telephony. What arguments are most often mentioned by owners and IT specialists?
Scalable communication systems
When choosing IP-telephony, you can be sure that the chosen communication format is manageable. After all, it allows you to easily expand or reduce the subscriber base of a virtual PBX, instantly scaling network capabilities to meet the needs of your business.
With IP-telephony, you can not worry about the hardware capabilities of the telephone network - all of them will be implemented at minimal cost, and most of the functionality will be implemented using modern "cloud" technologies.
It doesn't matter if you work in a small office or own a company with dozens of branches across the country. Virtual PBX does not limit the possibilities of your business and allows you to build an office structure of the required scale at the pace at which it is necessary for you. Forget about buying expensive equipment for each branch - now you will have at your disposal the digital capabilities of communication systems that allow you to use virtual data exchange channels within a single branch network at no additional cost.
Favorable conditions for using communication services
IP-telephony is always profitable. Cost minimization will be obvious already in the first month of using digital communication standards. And calls and communication within the company will become available not only in voice, but also in video format - through special web clients and applications.
Internet telephony is devoid of many of the disadvantages of analog communication systems. And, in particular, it allows you to optimize communication costs, reducing the cost of calls by several times. Not to mention the fact that the range of tariffs available to users of digital telecommunication networks is noticeably wider than those offered by the usual telephone networks to their customers.
For IP-telephony there is no concept of "distance" - regardless of whether employees are in the office or work remotely, they can always stay in touch with Internet access. You no longer need to allocate additional funds for communication with employees during business trips and calls to branches. After all, all company numbers will now be united in a common network, within which communication will require minimal costs.
Another significant advantage is the wide range of IP network capabilities. For example, using digital communication, you can easily transfer communication into a conference or meeting format, connect video presentation capabilities to voice communication. In addition, IP-telephony allows you to receive and send faxes, voice messages, set the order of calls and forward them to the right specialists in automatic mode.
The choice of hardware and software for the implementation of IP-telephony is quite wide - you can always choose the option that is most appropriate for your business. And you can learn more about what opportunities are offered by equipment manufacturers for IP telephony today from the article “IP telephony: Avaya, Cisco or Asterisk?”.
Choosing IP-telephony for your business, you get the opportunity to have access to any statistical data, whether it be calls, video calls or use of an answering machine. Moreover, having access to billing, you can independently set quotas for employee communication within digital communication channels, setting the necessary spending limits. You can also control out-of-office calls and communication from corporate numbers by setting the necessary restrictions or a direct ban on outgoing connections to subscribers not included in the lists.
Are you thinking about switching to modern digital communication standards? The company "BitProfi" is ready to offer you its services for the integration of IP-telephony on the scale of an office, company or retail chain. With us you will make the transition to new standards of corporate communication in the shortest possible time. And get the opportunity to optimize the cost of calls and communication with partners, suppliers, customers, receiving significant cost savings from the very first days of using an IP connection.
Here are the disadvantages of IP telephony compared to conventional (analogue) telephony. In this case, we are talking not only about asterisk, but about any IP telephony systems: both paid and free. See the advantages of IP telephony.
- The high cost of equipment (as a rule, not the PBX itself, although some digital / software PBXs are very, very expensive).
- An IP PBX requires a computer (it may be included in the PBX package, but it is still a computer), which means that disk failures and other components are possible.
- As a rule, the complexity (and, accordingly, the high cost) of the initial setup.
- In any case (and if the PBX is connected to the Internet, it increases many times over), there is a risk of hacking the PBX, in which case the amount of telephony payment can be tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars (and this not exaggeration).
- As a rule, the complexity of telephony support (adding subscribers, changing / adding telephony operators, etc.), requiring the presence of a qualified specialist (any telephonist / computer engineer will not work here).
- With individual configuration settings (which is the rule), PBX programming is required, as a result (like with any program), failures, errors, etc. are possible, as a result of which calls "to the wrong place" (and other problems) are possible, which is best In this case, it creates confusion, and in the worst case, it can damage the company's image and/or lead to additional costs for telephony.
- Having a lot of features in a digital PBX, many of which are enabled by default, is not always a good thing. For example, PBX can record conversations, as well as listen to any telephone conversations in real time (and much more). Employees who know how to use such options can theoretically use them (if you do not provide additional protection or disable such features of the PBX).
- For telephone communication, a local computer network is used (and the Internet, when connected to SIP providers), so connection interruptions, poor sound quality, etc. are possible. when the network load is high and/or the internet connection is slow/loaded.
- As with analog telephony, failures / failures / glitches of voip equipment (both ip-phones and voip / gsm gateways, adapters, etc.) are possible, but since voip equipment is more complicated, the risk of its breakdown is higher.
- Faxes. Although some [managers] try to assure that faxes are transmitted better over ip telephony than over analog telephony, this is not so. In an ideal situation, faxes are transmitted via ip as well as via analogue. Any optimization/compression of telephone traffic leads to deterioration or even complete impossibility of fax transmission.
- Since a computer network is used for telephone communication, it is possible (as well as to intercept passwords) to eavesdrop on telephone conversations (regardless of the settings of the PBX), "peep" at which numbers subscribers are calling, etc.
- And finally, in fact, IP telephony is not always the cheapest solution. In some cases (for example, when making mobile calls within Russia within the network of one operator), the price of a call may be lower than via IP telephony (the cost of a call may even be zero, depending on the tariff and operator). So in each case it is necessary to make an individual decision on the use of IP telephony.
IP telephony is a new telephony technology that provides reliable communication, easy scalability, and does not require specialized equipment. In fact IP telephony system is a special program that runs on a server. Has a huge number of functions.
How is IP telephony different from conventional telephony and why is it better?
Classical telephony is limited by hardware resources. That is, if, for example, you have 5 lines on a classic telephone line or communication, and you want to add 5 more, then in order to do this, your telecom operator needs to stretch 5 more wires through which these additional 5 lines will go. But not always the operator has such a technical capability. It all depends on the equipment that he has, whether there are free channels, etc.
Plus, there are additional costs. The operator needs to pay a one-time fee for the fact that he will stretch these wires, then that he will connect these lines to his equipment. This is a problem on the part of the operator.
Difficulties on the part of the user on analog telephone communication associated with external lines (city lines)
If you have any mini PBX, then telephone wires are connected to this PBX, exactly the same as in a regular telephone. Accordingly, 1 wire is 1 line.
Here come the hardware limitations, ie. if your PBX was designed for 5 lines, and you wanted to add 5 more lines, then you cannot do this, because. there are no free connectors for external lines. In order for you to connect 5 more lines, you need to buy an additional module for your PBX for an additional 5 lines. And it's not a fact that you can add this additional module to your PBX. It is possible that you will have to change your PBX to a new, more powerful one with a large number of lines. This is what concerns external lines on the part of the operator and automatic telephone exchange.
Note
Installation of additional modules is possible only if your PBX supports the installation of additional modules and it has free bays.
Outer line- this is the line that goes to the city.
Difficulties on the part of the user on analog telephony associated with internal lines (connection of employees)
For example, you have 10 internal numbers: one for the secretary, one for the accountant, one for the designer, and so on. And you are expanding, and you need to add 3 more numbers.
And for example, in your automatic telephone exchange these 3 are not present. Those. employee internal number secretary 100, fax 101, accountant 102, etc. Here each of these numbers is 1 additional connector, i.e. socket in your PBX. Accordingly, if you want to connect 3 more numbers, then you must have free slots in your mini PBX where you can connect additional internal numbers.
If you do not have free connectors for extension numbers, then you need to install an additional fee in your PBX (if there is such a technical possibility). Those. you buy an expansion board, install it, and then set it up. And only after that you will be able to connect additional internal numbers. This applies to the minuses of internal numbers in a conventional analog PBX.
On top of everything else, PBX equipment is very expensive, and therefore, with each expansion, you will need to spend a lot of money. Among other things, it still needs to be configured, and this configuration is not free.
What is IP telephony
Now let's move on to what IP telephony is. IP telephony is the same telephone connection, only all connections go through the Internet, i.e. all calls are sent digitally to the virtual IP PBX. Those. in the case of a hardware PBX, it was a special thing standing somewhere, but here it is a program that performs its functions. Here, too, there are internal numbers and external numbers.
Only there you have external numbers - there were connectors with wires where you inserted external lines, but here it's just a setting in the program.
Advantages of IP telephony
Digital IP PBX is highly scalable and has a huge number of features, i.e. you can connect as many lines as you want to it, an unlimited number, and for this you do not need to buy and install any boards and equipment. Including from the side of the operator.
For example, in order for the operator to add 20 more lines to you, he does not need to pull 20 wires to you, but simply make the settings for himself and indicate that you have 20 lines. Accordingly, you automatically have these 20 lines. Thus, you can add 20 lines almost instantly.
You can also create an unlimited number of internal numbers. Those. if in a hardware PBX you were limited by the number of connectors in your PBX, then here you are not limited to this. You can do as much as you want. You need 100, which means a hundred, you need 1000, which means a thousand, there are no restrictions.
This is with regard to IP telephony and IP PBX to it.
IP PBX Functions
An IP PBX is very flexible, unlike a hardware PBX, which contains some specific minimum functions and you can’t do anything further.
Here it is very flexible, you can create voice greetings, you can create both in Call centers and. By the way, 90% of Call centers work on IP telephony. You can make different redirects, different variations of calls, plus you can turn on the recording of all conversations. In general, there are no restrictions. You can even make sure that at the time of the call, a message with the number, date and time of the caller comes to your e-mail.
Among other things, you can view detailed statistics for each number. Those. for each of your employees, you can see where he called, when he called and listen to the conversation.
Also very often the question arises of how the manager communicates with clients. You can listen to any conversation and understand how he is talking to the client, good or bad. Are there missed calls. This is also indicated in the statistics of all calls.
By the way, you can also view statistics and generate reports from any computer (at home, in the office, on the beach, no matter where).
Well, there are also many different functions that can also be used.
Among other things, another advantage of IP telephony is that your phone number is not tied to a place. Those. if earlier, for example, when buying a number in MGTS and moving to another office, you could not keep the old number. Accordingly, this is a loss of customers, because. they will call the old number.
Now you will always keep your number, because it doesn’t matter where you will be located here, even if you have a Moscow number in Moscow, and you moved to another city, then in the same way you will be able to use this number at home, because it’s absolutely not it doesn't matter where you are because IP telephony works over the Internet.
In IP telephony, the quality of communication is much higher than in conventional analog telephony, since all mechanical noise is absent, because. communication is digital. For comparison, imagine digital TV and regular TV.
Telephone sets used for IP telephony
I will write an example for better understanding. If you have an ordinary analog PBX, then each employee has a regular telephone on his desk, with which he receives or makes calls.
In IP telephony, there are several options for receiving and making calls.
The first option is to use an IP phone.
This is a hardware phone, outwardly no different from a regular one, but intended for use in IP telephony. From the point of view of an employee, there is no difference between using an IP phone and a regular analog phone. You won't even notice the difference. The price of these phones is slightly higher than the price of a regular analog phone.
The second option is to use a program on a computer (like Skype) to receive and make calls.
To use IP telephony, you can install a program similar to Skype on your computer and make calls through it, i.e. make calls through the computer. It does not matter if you are in the office or at home or somewhere else. If you have the Internet, you can easily connect to your IP PBX and make calls as if you were in the office.
The third option is to use the program on your phone (iPhone, Samsung, Nokia, etc.).
In the same way, you can install the program on your phone (smartphone) and, again, make calls and receive them directly from your phone, again, as if you were in the office. At the same time, money for calls made from your mobile phone is not debited. The main thing is the presence of the Internet.
IP telephony has been used for a long time, it is reliable and safe.
