3 types of VOIP service - who buy these and why?

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a phone system for receiving incoming calls and making outgoing calls using the Internet instead of the conventional methods. Today, there are three different types of Business VoIP systems available in the market and they are called - House VoIP, Hosted VoIP and Hybrid VoIP.

House VoIP is more aimed at established and successfully running business whose communication needs will be larger and who can also afford to buy the House system. Hosted VoIP is meant for businesses that are relatively new or businesses that are opening new branches and wish to postpone any long term phone equipment lease. Hybrid VoIP, as the name suggests, is for those businesses that want to continue with their existing non-VoIP phone systems but want to avail the benefits of the VoIP system.

As stated earlier, most well-established businesses would straightaway opt buying House VoIP also known as IP-PBX. It may be stated that House VoIP will basically resemble the conventional phone system and every employee will have a standard telephone instrument on his/her desk and there will be a PBX installed in some corner of their office. As the IP PBX equipment is installed within the premises, business owners can exercise direct control and ownership of the entire system. In other words, once a business invests in a House VoIP by installing an IP-PBX in-house, they will virtually become the phone company for all their remote offices and home offices by being able to provide Hosted VoIP services to all of them.

Hosted VoIP is more popularly known as 'Pay-As-You-Go' as it more hiring the system than owning. It would certainly cost more initially but the distinct advantage is you retain the flexibility if you are uncertain what your phone needs will be in future. With the Hosted VoIP version, your can have the business phones and enjoy all the features of VoIP phone service. But you may have to sacrifice the privileges that come with owning an IP-PBX. In this instance, the IP-PBX is not installed within your premises but you buy all the IP phones you need - one for each employee just as you have to do with House VoIP. You pay a monthly license fee to your Hosted VoIP provider for each and every IP phone that is functional.

The third version is the Hybrid VoIP which is meant for businesses that wish to combine the conventional phone system with VoIP to enjoy the benefits of both worlds. The fact is many businesses are quite satisfied with the functioning of their existing phone systems and are only interested in VoIP for its extra advantages. They wish to opt for Hybrid system if it can bring down their overall phone, data and Internet bills. Because of the huge costs involved in obtaining the old-fashioned non-VoIP dial tone, businesses are interested in the new Hybrid VoIP phone services.

However, the writing on the wall is bold and clear. Inasmuch as digital television has succeeded in replacing analogue television in a phased way, most businesses will soon opt for VoIP dial tone dispensing with the conventional systems. It is expected that companies now selecting the Hybrid system may eventually switch over straightaway to House system and will not favor going in for the intermediate Hosting system.