The end of the landline has been predicted for over a decade but has yet to come to pass. With 67% of consumers keeping a landline just because they have to or because it comes as part of the bundle, is it the end? Have businesses adopted VoIP enough yet to finally see the demise of the landline?
A survey run last year by ISPReview found that 67.2% of consumers kept their landline only because ISPs required it and only 14.5% of consumers ever used their landline. Are businesses any different? With the rise of VoIP and the lower cost of faster internet connections, why would you want to pay extra for a landline you don’t use?
With fibre internet being available more places than ever before and FTTP connections being expanded across the country, the case for maintaining a landline is growing thinner and thinner. As long as you don’t operate in a rural community anyway.
Business advantages of VoIP over landlines
There are many reasons why you might consider using VoIP instead of landlines. Here are just a few.
Cost
Landlines may be cheap but they still incur a monthly service charge and often expensive installation. Calls outside of any inclusive minutes are chargeable which can increase a bill significantly. You may also need a PBX to manage your landlines.
VoIP calls are either much, much cheaper than landline calls or free depending on your solution. International calls are the same, either cheap or free. VoIP to VoIP calls or internal calls across locations are also free.
Call volume
A landline requires a 64K connection for a single call while VoIP requires just 10K. A single broadband connection or leased line could carry many hundreds of VoIP calls while a landline can only carry very limited numbers depending on how you configure it.
If you’re running a busy office or call centre, you would potentially need dozens of landlines split using a PBX where a single VoIP server could do all that on your internet connection.
Features
There are many useful PBX features that can be utilised using a landline but many more features available in VoIP. Some of those features can include auto-attendant, call forwarding, call recording, call analytics, voicemail to email messaging, voicemail to text, anonymous call rejection, softphone compatibility, CRM integration and many more.
Some intelligent PBX can offer some of these features but they are just the tip of the iceberg to what is possible with VoIP.
Does the landline stack up?
If you depend on VoIP to do business, running it over an ADSL connection over your landline just won’t do. It can impact call quality, limits the number of concurrent calls you can handle, is physically vulnerable to weather, damage and interference and is hundred-year-old tech trying to do a 21st century job.
We wouldn’t want you to spend resources on buying a better internet connection for no reason but when there are many compelling reasons to upgrade from a landline and when we can do it at such competitive prices, there is every reason to spend those resources!
