There is a lot of confusing technical terms used within the world of office technology. Two of these terms are VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and PBX phone systems (Public Branch Exchange Phone Systems). Both of these phone systems will streamline your small business’ communication’s process since they will keep you and your staff linked together for a fraction of what a traditional phone system would cost. Sometimes it can be difficult to choose between these two phone systems but knowing what the key attributes are may help you some.
What A VoIP Phone System Is
- VoIP uses a packet switched network in order to pass digitized voice data from one point to another. This will allow you to use the small amount of bandwidth for having many more conversations. As such, VoIP services make it really inexpensive for you to be able to make long distance phone calls.
What A PBX Phone System Is
A PBX phone system is a small telephone network that routes incoming phone calls to the correct extension. It also allows phone lines to be shared between extensions. A lot of companies actually like using a PBX phone system because of these, and other, great features that comes with it. A few of the other services that this includes are:
- Automated greetings are available to callers who dial menus
- Automated connections with voicemail
- Teleconferencing
The Cost Of A PBX Phone System
A PBX phone system will reduce your costs because everyone in the office doesn’t need to have their own individual phone line, which they don’t use a lot anyway. Instead, a PBX phone system will allow your company to reduce the number of phone lines your business needs while still allowing you to have a phone in each office or in each department. This is because all of your internal phone calls are routed internally, while all of your outside calls are routed to any of your available outside phone lines. Some of the other great features that you will get with your PBX phone system include:
- They are able to evenly distribute your phone calls to those employees that are available to answer the calls.
- You can have a conference between multiple incoming calls.
- Music can be played while your caller is on hold.
The Difference Between VoIP And A PBX Phone System
VoIP is different from a PBX phone system because a company will avail itself to you in order to set up the system. However, with VoIP you will usually have to set up the system yourself.