Things I Hate About VOIP

Ahhh! The promise of free calls and how it makes us overlook a multitude of sins… When I first heard about VOIP I thought "What a great idea! I can use my high speed internet to carry my long distance voice conversations and not have to pay per minute anymore." Vonage was the first service I tried out and I was pretty happy with it. Then my router got fried during one of our frequent Florida thunderstorms. I couldn't justify spending the money to purchase another one right away so that was that. Ever since then I have not been overly impressed with VOIP.

Here are the top 5 things I hate about VOIP:

1. The quality of your VOIP service depends solely on the quality and reliability of your broadband connection - As a solo business owner, did you purchase business grade high speed internet? I know I didn't. It was too expensive! I went with residential grade service which works fine but has one major draw-back. It is asynchronous. What does that mean? It means my download speed is lightning fast but my upload speed is quite a bit slower (about 1/10^th the speed of downstream.) Service providers designed residential service that way figuring most home users are more interested in downloading (music, streaming video and files) than they are uploading. Business class service is typically synchronous – same speeds for downloads and uploads. VOIP service works best with synchronous service but who can afford it? Another little known fact is that if there's an outage my cable company does not rush to restore my service. Business grade customers are fixed first and as a "residential customer" I am not the priority. I've had my broadband down for days at a time because of this policy. Can you afford to have your business line down for days?
2. Call quality often stinks – Maybe I'm one of the unlucky ones but I have yet to use a VOIP service that matches the call quality of a regular (POTS) line. Crackling, echoes, static and speech delays are common, not to mention dropped calls. I recently tested Ringcentral's VOIP service and was heartbroken. I so wanted it to work properly because I LOVE their virtual pbx service. Unfortunately it was awful. Many times during a conversation I could hear the other person but they could not hear me. How frustrating! I've had similar problems with Skype but the most annoying was the speech delay. I would be talking and would hear the other person try to say something which actually was a comment they made a few seconds ago about something I said. By the time I tried to reply to that comment she was trying to reply to my last comment from a few seconds ago. It's a mess! Maybe if I had purchased their IP phone instead of using their softphone I wouldn't have had as much of an issue. See Equipment Requirements below.
3. Equipment requirements – Most VOIP services require that you install a device that is connected to your cable or DSL modem. Some service providers will give you the device for free when you sign up for a service contract. Others require that you pay for the device and they can be pricey. Even if you get the device for free under a promotion keep in mind that if it breaks (like it happened to me) you will need to purchase another one to replace it. There are providers who utilize a "softphone" which is software you install on your computer that converts your computer into a telephone. All you need is a PC Headset. Again, you are now dependent on your computer and if it crashes or it is running slow it will render your phone service out of business. Power outages can also leave you without service since no equipment will run without electricity.
4. E911 – In the US, a POTS line will allow you to dial 911 which connects you to your local emergency service (fire, police or EMT). A lot of VOIP carriers (because they are non-local by nature) do not provide 911 services. If you use VOIP services make sure your carrier offers some kind of 911 service. If not, make sure you have a regular line in your home. The last thing you need is to have an accident or a fire and not be able to call for help.
5. Security Issues – Unlike a POTS line which is practically un-hackable (there is no such thing as an 100% secure ANYTHING) VOIP does have some security vulnerabilities that you should be aware of. Read this article for an overview of VOIP security issues: Security Threats in VOIP .

Despite appearances, I am not completely against VOIP. If you are one of the lucky ones who has VOIP and it works for you I think that's great. I'm jealous. I want my FREE calls!