If you’re looking at Florida phone systems available for your business, then you might be thinking about whether you want to use VoIP or landlines for your business.
After all, VoIP is a big trend among many businesses, especially ones that have many of their employees working from home.
At the same time, many businesses choose to use traditional landlines because it’s easier for them.
So how can you decide which one is right for you? It can be difficult to know with so much information out there.
That’s why we’ve put together this article. In it, you’ll learn about the pros and cons of VoIP vs. landline services. That way, you can choose the best phone system for your business and run it more successfully than ever.
Read on to learn more.
The Difference Between Landlines and VoIP
Before we review the pros and cons of the different types of business phone systems, it helps to understand how they are different from each other. This way, you can begin to understand whether one is a better fit for your business than the other.
We’ll start with traditional landlines. When you have this type of setup, you’re using an analog system. This means that the information carried through the phone lines is in an analog signal.
The phones are connected to the wall with a traditional landline cable. Depending on your business needs, you might have several lines installed so that calls can be directed between different team members.
When this analog information is carried, it’s carried through the phone lines to phone lines throughout the country and between countries.
So how does this change when you’re using a VoIP system? When you’re using VoIP for business, the analog signals you create that carry the sound of your voice are transformed into packets of data.
Instead of traveling through a phone line system, these packets of data travel through the Internet.
This is what “VoIP” stands for: “Voice over Internet Protocol.” Instead of your voice being carried through a phone line, it travels online.
In the same way, you would receive digital information online—for example, a funny meme someone sends you over Facebook Messenger—you receive and send calls through a VoIP phone service.
Now you know how it works—but how do you know which option is best for you and your business?
The Pros of VoIP for Business
There are many pros of using VoIP for business. These include more flexibility, lower costs, greater reliability, better sound quality, advanced features, and fast installation.
Let’s review each of these in detail now.
More Flexibility
Because a VoIP service is based online, you can access it from nearly anywhere. This means you can use the same business number to connect your clients to your employees on any computer, smartphone, or tablet.
This can be especially useful if you have a remote team. Because calls can be taken from anywhere, your employees based in another state or country can still answer the phone as if they’re based in Florida.
And if you want to take a vacation or get out of the office without having to worry about missed calls, you can still answer your calls on your cell phone. They can be redirected through the VoIP system to that phone.
Lower Costs
VoIP used to be an exciting new technology that was a little pricey. But now that so many businesses are running many of their communications online, even the best VoIP service is affordable. There also aren’t too many additional costs.
After all, you’re likely already paying for a robust Internet connection and computers or laptops for your employees.
You don’t even need a computer to use VoIP, so if your employees already have smartphones, you won’t have to worry about big costs.
You might have to invest in a few headsets or VoIP phones if your employees prefer to communicate with customers this way. This can be especially helpful, for example, if you have a large sales team.
Other than that, all you’ll have to pay for is the VoIP software.
Greater Reliability
Because Internet speed is so fast now not only in the US but in the majority of the world, you can be sure that your calls will stay connected and not be dropped. The same can’t be said for long-distance or international calls over phone lines.
Better Sound Quality
For the reason above, you’re going to have incredible sound quality when you use VoIP phone systems in Florida. This is because HD voice is much clearer and crisper than analog signals sent through a phone line.
Advanced Features
One of the biggest benefits of using a VoIP system is that you can get advanced features. These include call forwarding, call recording storage on the cloud, call queuing so that clients don’t get impatient, and auto attendants in the menu.
These features make your communications system smooth so that your business is more productive and so that your clients feel engaged when they call your business.
Fast Installation
With a VoIP system, installation shouldn’t take more than an hour. Sometimes, it only takes a few minutes. As long as you have an Internet connection with the bandwidth needed, you usually only have to install the software.
The Cons of VoIP for Business
Like with any business solution, there are also some cons to getting a VoIP communications system for your business. These include a pricier setup with many features, a potentially complex installation, and resistance from your team.
Pricier Setup for Many Features
Even though a VoIP communications system is usually cheaper when it comes to long-distance and international calls, you might find that the setup is pricier than expected if you want to have many features installed.
For this reason, you should ensure you budget beforehand to find out if the VoIP solution you envision having is one you can afford at this time.
A Potentially Complex Installation
As mentioned above, installing a VoIP system is usually pretty easy. However, if you want to keep the same phones in your office while switching them all online, you might need a VoIP service professional to come in and complete this installation for you.
Resistance From Your Team
Even though there are many benefits to switching from a landline to a VoIP setup, you might be met with resistance from your team. If they’re used to the old system, then it might help to explain to them that VoIP is easy to use and explore the features together.
The Pros of a Landline for Business
If you suspect that you might have some of the issues above with installing a VoIP communications system, then a landline might be a better option for you. Some of the pros include analog equipment, no requirements for bandwidth, and availability.
Analog Equipment
Depending on the setup of your office, you might be better off with a landline because it is required for analog equipment. One example of this is an alarm, which would need a landline connection in order to transmit the alarm information.
However, keep in mind that you can still keep your analog equipment while switching to VoIP for your phone communication. All you’ll need is an ATA, or analog telephone adapter.
This way, some of your devices will be VoIP, while the ones that need analog can still stay on the phone line.
No Requirements for Bandwidth
For VoIP to work properly, you need strong enough bandwidth. Many offices don’t actually have the 100 Kbps per line required. If this is the case for you, then switching to VoIP could end up being costly because you’d have to get more bandwidth.
With a landline, there’s no need for your bandwidth to change because it isn’t required at all. So if your communications don’t require too many features or online work, it would be best for you to use a landline for your business.
Availability
Finally, because a landline is a traditional form of carrying call information, its availability is incredibly extensive. In the last 140 years, copper wires for phone calls have been placed throughout the country over millions of miles.
If you’re mostly going to be using your phones for phone calls instead of anything too feature-heavy, you should choose a landline.
The Cons of a Landline for Business
Even though a landline can be useful in some cases, there are several cons to using this phone system. These include higher costs for certain types of calls, lower sound quality, and fewer advanced features. Let’s review these now.
Higher Costs
If you’re making calls locally, having a landline won’t be too costly. However, if you plan on making many long-distance or international calls, the phone bills will add up. You’ll find that you’re using Zoom and Skype more often to make these calls.
Since you’re already making so many calls online to save money at this point, it makes sense to switch to a VoIP solution.
Lower Sound Quality
The same issue occurs with sound quality if you’re making many long-distance or international calls. But even with local calls, you might end up having issues with static or call clarity. If you care about keeping your customers, it might be time to switch to VoIP.
This way, they won’t impatiently hang up the phone when you say for the hundredth time that you need them to repeat themselves.
Less Flexibility
When you’re using a landline solution for your business, you’re basically chained to your desk anytime you’re on the phone. This is annoying for you, but it can also mean you’re losing business. If a customer calls and you aren’t there, they might leave a voicemail.
But they might also hang up and call a competitor when you could have made a sale using VoIP call forwarding.
Fewer Advanced Features
One of the biggest cons of having a landline for business is that you’ll have fewer advanced features. You may think you don’t need them, but you do. If other businesses in your industry start using call waiting and forwarding, and you don’t, your customers will stop calling you.
There are other benefits you’ll be missing out on if you have fewer advanced features. For example, you won’t be able to remember every single detail from an important call.
Think of how much your lead capture efforts could improve if, every time someone called and couldn’t reach you, you’d be able to have their voicemail changed into an email that everyone on your team could see.
You’d be able to serve this client better and get more information about your customer base.
Finding the Florida Phone Systems for You
Now that you know about the pros and cons of VoIP vs. landlines for your business, you might need additional information. Maybe you want to find the right Florida phone systems for your business.
Whether you’ve decided on a VoIP or landline solution, we can help. At MetroDataSystems, we’re experts when it comes to phone solutions for businesses in Florida.
We can help you decide because we connect businesses with providers. To learn more about how we can help, contact us now.
