Traditional phone lines are not the ideal choice for enterprise settings. With each phone line costing anywhere between $35-$50 each month, many businesses choose to switch. VoIP is a scalable and cost-effective platform that utilizes packet switching technology to transmit analog signals into digital packets over the internet.
But there’s no denying that traditional phone lines offer the best quality in comparison to cell phones and even Voice over IP Systems. Though hard to admit, with an average latency of 45 ms, traditional phone lines use copper wires to transmit one telephone conversation per line, making legacy phone systems extremely clear and reliable in comparison to alternative modes of communication.
The Overlooked Factor That Will Ruin VoIP Quality
Spotty phone communications can discourage businesses to switch from Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS) to Voice over IP Systems.
VoIP phones inundate copper lines with multiple voice and data traffic packets making phone calls susceptible to noise interference and interruptions. One of the main culprits that will ruin quality is insufficient bandwidth.
VoIP users need to dedicate sufficient bandwidth to their systems to prevent potential throttling and data caps from their ISPs.
It’s especially important for businesses that do not dedicate a data “line” solely to their VoIP systems to ensure that their phones support Quality of Service (QoS).
QoS prioritizes VoIP traffic and allocates the proper amount of bandwidth to preserve the quality of a phone conversation.
Cost Comparison of a Long-Distance Call
One of the major downsides of traditional phone lines includes the costs associated with long-distance calls. The following graph from Packetworks compares the average cost of a long-distance call between a traditional phone line and a standard line.
Cost Comparison between Traditional Phone Lines and VoIP
Though plain old telephone services offer better voice quality, the high cost per subscriber makes VoIP a cost-efficient alternative. When paired with the appropriate amount of bandwidth and features, VoIP phones can offer high-quality communication at a fraction of the cost than a standard line.
