Making the Switch…from VoIP? (Part II)

Note:  This is the final segment of a two part article that examines a switch back to traditional phone service from VoIP and other user’s experiences. Part I is here.

Part I was a look at reasons users might take a step back from the growing VoIP usage and return to a traditional, analog phone system.

Admittedly, VoIP isn’t for everyone which is why there are still other options but after having read Renai LeMay’s story, “Why I’m Ditching VoIP for the PSTN,” I wanted to know if this sort of technological backtracking was a trend or an isolated occurrence.

To get a sense of whether or not VoIP service represents a burger grilled to perfection for some or is still undercooked for others (Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone!), I sought the opinions of actual VoIP users.

Didn’t Like it and Switched Back?

As I inquired about peoples experiences I looked for end users who switched to a VoIP phone service and then switched back to a traditional phone service because of issues with reliability, call quality, or problems with the hardware or software.

At the very least I was interested in what people thought were the pros and cons of both services.  Here’s what they had to say.

VoIP Behind the Scenes

Eric Loyd is President and CTO of Bitnetix Incorporated a small technology consulting company just down the thruway from us in Rochester, NY that specializes in business phone systems, including VoIP.  He explained to me that:

Most people don’t realize that VoIP is used behind the scenes in almost every phone call. You no longer have copper wires connecting the world – they connect end points to switches, which tunnel across MPLS and ATM networks to put your phone traffic into an internet-like cloud (and sometime, the internet itself). It’s just done at a level that’s a few layers above the end user, so you never know it’s there.

In addition to VoIP’s participation behind the scenes unbeknownst to the average consumer, Loyd adds that Bitnetix Inc. helps “convert companies to VOIP all the time and have yet to have one go back to copper.”

Never Looking Back

In that vein of Bitnetix’s satisfied customers, Mike Arman who’s operating two small business out of Florida and author of “Talk For Cheap!,” adds that he is “never ever, ever, going back” to AT&T’s copper lines after switching to VoIP service.

Arman reports that he’s enjoying  a threefold decrease in his telecommunication costs with VoIP.  A $350/month bill for three phone lines, fax, and email is now down to $105/month with “more features, better service, better customer care.”

Regarding questionable VoIP call quality and reliability Arman adds an interesting point that “Cell phones have lowered quality expectations in telecomm services.”

Arman admits that copper lines offer the best call quality but the prevalence and acceptance of cell phone call quality, to him, means that “an occasional dropout or cutoff on a VOIP line is not considered worrisome or exceptional.”

Never Looking Back Part II

Yes, “Never Looking Back Part II.”  If you’re thinking that I’m really laying it on thick in support of VoIP well, you’re right!  No, no, not entirely.  There’s more to this exploration than that.

Klaus Sonnenleiter with PrintedArt, an eCommerce site for selling photography printed on unique display formats, uses VoIP at his business and says he wouldn’t switch back but, for the record he notes a few disclaimers:

We are using VoIP only at PrintedArt and I would never switch back. However, I do have enough nightmare stories to contribute between incompatible hardware, software being hard to configure (we are using Asterisk with Trixbox now and it works well, before we had other Asterisk frontends that were far harder to navigate), and particularly providers coming up with new things to watch out for all the time, it’s certainly a challenge to keep a VoIP service up and running. On balance, however, it is far better than an old style POTS phone, especially when it comes to audio quality and cost.

See, that’s fair, right?  PrintedArt likes VoIP but they had some problems in the past.  Not uncommon.

Unreliable Faxing

VoIP Insider has broached the topic of VoIP faxing before with “Introduction to Fax over IP with FaxxBochs” and “Faxing is Alive and Well.”  The consensus?  It’s not always easy but it’s not impossible either.

Yuriy Krivenko at Seasonal Staffing Solutions shares his company’s experience when they switched to VoIP in 2008 to save on costs:

The prices seemed so attractive. But, we later found out that we could not rely on the service to send or receive faxes. This was a disaster, and we had to get back to traditional service.

There are certainly fax over IP myths to combat but sometimes connection issues are too frustrating for users to deal with.

‘A’ for Effort

Lastly, I was told several stories that VoIP was a great idea but lacking in practical application.  Here’s a couple stories that give VoIP an ‘A’ for effort.

Michael Zipursky of Business Consulting Buzz, a leading blog for consultants, expressed his initial attraction to VoIP that many people have — Price and features.  Zipursky notes that he soon noticed “that the call quality wasnt as good as a standard landline,” changing service was a hassle, and he moved back to a landline. Recently he’s been using VoIP from through his internet cable connection and that lately it’s “been working very well for one of our offices.”

Sandra Holtzman, President of Holtzman Communications, a marketing and advertising company, has similar sentiments as she “loved the concept of VOIP but it didn’t work for [her] in practice.”

Holtzman was attracted to VoIP for lower prices and better service than she’d been getting from Verizon.  But with Vonage, dropped calls at highly inopportune times (calls with clients) became too much to bear along with increasing static on the line.  “Enough already. I went back to the devil I know, ” states Holtzman about her return to a Verizon landline.  Her VoIP experience was entirely bad but she’s still looking ahead to the future beyond VoIP:

The one great thing about Vonage, aside from pricing, better customer service and tech support than Verizon, was that I would get emails on my Blackberry telling me I had a message and who the caller was. This was great when I was out and about since I never had to call in for messages.

I understand that there’s a new technology afoot designed to replace VOIP. I can’t wait!!!

VoIP Scorecard

VoIP versus Landline  – Is there a clear cut winner?

This small sample size represents the most commonly shared opinions of, and experiences with VoIP.   In other words, it’s still a mixed bag.

VoIP technology is still emerging to an extent and continually being perfected.  It’s not only the future of telecommunications but as Loyd pointed out it’s already being “used behind the scenes in almost every phone call.”

VoIP’s been around a for a little while, it’s still growing, and you’ve already been using it whether you wanted to or not.  It may not be the technology of choice for everyone today but it will be tomorrow.