What is hosted voice? The next step in business telecom
With the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) switch off imminent, you’ll have no doubt heard the term hosted voice (and its myriad of synonyms) thrown about as an alternative. Here we explain how hosted voice, or hosted voice over internet protocol (VoIP), works and how your business can benefit from it.
How does hosted voice work?
Traditional phone systems work by sending voice signals down the copper lines that have formed the UK’s public switched telephone network (PTSN) infrastructure since the late 80s. Hosted voice is different in that it converts sound into a digital signal to transmit across the internet.
For business use, it’s usually done through a business-specific phone system called a private branch exchange (PBX). This PBX doesn’t use hardware like traditional solutions, hosting everything instead via cloud technology.
What are the benefits of hosted voice?
Hosted VoIP has several clear advantages over traditional phone systems:
Cost: It’s cheaper than landline calls, which often involve charges by the minute. You can also add features such as on-hold advertising and call recording.
Flexibility: Hosted voice allows your team to be based anywhere, unlike a landline which is tired to one location. You can also have plans which suit your business’ needs which you scale up and down as and when your circumstances dictate.
More features: Your business has much more scope for what you can do with hosted voice than traditional telephony. Extra features include more sophisticated call recording, conference calling, video and much more. You’ll only ever need to pay for the features you need as well.
Reliability: When VoIP first hit the market, ISDN was generally a more reliable alternative. The rapid improvements in internet connectivity have levelled the playing field in this department, and when your phone system hits an issue, it’s much quicker to resolve if you are using a cloud PBX.
Does hosted voice have any other names?
Yes, quite a lot. It’s a famous adage about the hundreds of words Eskimos have for snow, and while the different terminology to say hosted voice isn’t quite as dramatic, it’s not that far off.
There are several related terms that businesses use to describe making phone calls via the internet. Some of these are as follows:
- Cloud phone system
- Cloud private brand exchange (PBX)
- Cloud telephony
- Hosted telephony
- Hosted voice over internet protocol (VoIP)
- Hosted PBX
These terms are diverse ways of describing making phone calls over the internet. Telephony is another word for a phone system, PBX is a business-specific phone system, and VoIP is the process that sends voice signals via the internet.
VoIP services host from the cloud instead of hardware like traditional phone systems. Therefore, you’ll often hear or read this terminology alongside hosted or cloud.
Take advantage of hosted voice today
However, your business communicates, hosted VoIP offers multiple ways to improve how you call. Book a call with one of our experts today so we can help you understand precisely how to use the technology to power your business forward.