What are the disadvantages of VOIP?

Voice over IP is the integration of VoIP architecture and internet technology. One of its greatest disadvantages is the quality of voice delivered. The other main drawback is the need for a reliable broadband connection or a steady but fast internet connection; without one a Voice over IP solution is probably not good enough for anyone to use.

Power outages or electricity failure presents another imminent hurdle. Since Voice over IP requires a live Internet connection, losing electricity means losing your phone service. If you are concerned about losing power, you could install a UPS for your cable/DSL modem and your ATA.

Even a small UPS would keep those devices powered for several hours. Alternatively, you could keep a single phone line with no premium services as a lifeline for those times that you might lose your power or Internet connection.

Emergency 911 calls are another challenge for Voice over IP telephony, because unlike traditional telephone it's difficult to determine the exact location of an IP address with geographic certainty. Without knowing the exact location, it's also difficult to determine which call center should receive a Voice over IP originated 911 call (though most Voice over IP providers do have 911 call routing based on the address you used when you registered).

The voice quality of your Voice over IP call is also another consideration. Since the data travels across the Internet, there's the potential for dropouts or "burbles" similar to what you might experience on a cell phone.

Managed IP networks, used by all the Voice over IP providers in the roundup, coupled with quality of service (QOS) mechanisms built into their ATAs, and a high-quality compression algorithm (G.711) yield call quality that greatly exceeds that of cell phones and approaches or matches that of traditional phones. Although it is getting better all the time, the quality of most VoIP services and products can't yet match that of PSTN. There are inherent challenges in sending a voice stream over a packet network.

Because of VoIP solutions architecture some services require that both the caller and the called party be subscribers to their service, and some software programs require that both parties have the same software installed. However, there are other services/programs that allow you to call anyone, including calling from your computer to a regular telephone, or even calling from phone to phone with packets routed over IP in between.

Despite these disadvantages, Voice over IP can still be a viable alternative to PSTN or traditional telephone. All you need to do is read through some VoIP reviews before committing to any of the VoIP providers.

Hope Ocampo is a freelance writer. To find out more about her articles and about VOIP, please visit href="http://www.voip-architecture.com">VoIP Architecture.