Is having a landline phone still necessary in the era of mobile telephony and internet messengers (Whatsapp, Signal, WeeChat or the forerunner of video chats - Skype)? I think so because having such a number increases the prestige of the company, affects the subconscious of the potential Client that they are dealing with a serious player who did not appear on the market "yesterday".
I was convinced of VoIP technology over a decade ago when - while running a financial and accounting software service - I had clients from a limited area. Most Clients found contact in the Google search engine and on stationary advertising media (banners, posters, car advertising). I was surprised that despite entering the area of operation covering an area of several hundred miles, I only received calls from potential clients from the immediate vicinity. These were times of high call costs, no flat rates. It was then that I decided that I needed a landline phone. The operators operating in my office building offered rates from outer space; However, I was so desperate to agree to them. There was one problem. While my colleagues and I were out in the field, no one would be able to call me on that phone anyway. So I dug around until I found an alternative. I went to a store and bought a simple VoIP gateway for a dozen or so pounds. For less than a quarter of the rate offered by landline operators, I bought landline numbers from all the zones I operated in, and on the website I entered each number as "Branch". I only needed the phones I would receive, so I didn't look at the call rates (which were lower anyway); however, I was very happy to use my phone for international calls. And a potential customer saw me as a company from their area and chose my services more often.
Advantages compared to traditional telephony:
- independence from state operators/monopolists (freedom of choice and potentially also greater privacy). It often happens, especially in peripheral locations, that a landline operator refuses to connect a new subscriber, or offers a high price for such a connection. In the case of VoIP technology, *any* Internet connection is enough.
- free calls within the operator's network,
While today most telephone operators offer no-limit tariffs for domestic calls, let's think about what can happen to the costs of calls when our company has branches in different countries.
- full user mobility (the problem of roaming is of limited importance).
Many VoIP operators offer applications for mobile phones that extend our phone with an additional landline number. All we need to do is be within the network range and regardless of the location, Your customers can contact You as easily as if You were in Your own office. Additionally, You can assign any number You have to any endpoint. Subsequent numbers can be assigned to users in different cities and even countries. I once did an installation for a Client who had branches in Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Germany. Within one week, all branches had a full set of numbers from other countries: the branch in the Czech Republic received numbers assigned to Germany, Poland, Ukraine and, of course, the Czech Republic. Using these phones, employees called between branches at no cost.
- low infrastructure costs (compared to traditional telephone lines)
The cost of a stationary VoIP gateway is a few dozen pounds. Many other devices (routers, access modems) already have a built-in VoIP gateway that You just need to equip with the data that You get from Your operator. The VoIP technology client can also be installed on Your mobile phone like any other application. Configure and enjoy a stationary phone anywhere in the world.
Disadvantages compared to traditional telephony:
- In the past (with slower connections at end users) this meant greater service failure, today it is practically unnoticeable. However, I feel obliged to mention it.
- The need to have dedicated hardware or software and an Internet connection.
- In the case of hardware implementation, higher purchase costs (e.g. devices) for the end user (however, in many solutions, "civilian" telephone terminals can be used.
- lack (due to complete uncontrolled mobility) of the possibility of geographical location of the "network end" (important, e.g. when calling emergency numbers and other short numbers). However, operators provide the possibility of manual location on the Client's side.