VOIP Business
Phone Service in
Huntington Beach

VOIP business phone service in Huntington Beach, Ca

Backed by 29 years of business phone experience

When it comes to communication tools for businesses, you have many choices. In recent years, the adoption of one type of business phone has increased faster than the others, voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VOIP business phone service in Huntington Beach, CA.  This includes communities within Huntington Beach such as Huntington Harbor, Sunset Beach, Downtown, Golden West, Central Park, and Bolsa Chica as well as the surrounding cities of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, and Los Alamitos.

VOIP, also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for delivering voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet protocol (IP) networks, like the Internet. The terms broadband telephony, Internet telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to providing communications services such as voice, voice messaging, fax, and SMS. Better known and business-related terms include cloud business phone service and VOIP business phone service. In contrast, older analog telephone networks that many of us grew up with are called public switched telephone networks (PTSN).

Many businesses in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and Newport Beach as well as in communities throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties have switched to VOIP phone service in recent years. As technology improves and the number of features increases, the value relative to traditional PTSN systems also increases, leading to more businesses embracing VOIP services.

What are the standard business VOIP services?

VOIP service is a suite of communication services, including such things as:

• Voicemail
• Call waiting
• Call forwarding, and
• Toll-free numbers

There are many additional features available with business VOIP services that are ideal for small businesses, including:

1. Call routing - Targeted primarily at mobile workers, call routing allows you to create a list of numbers where you can be found before a call goes to voicemail. As an example, a call is made to your office and rings twice. On the third ring, the call is directed to your cell phone. If not answered, the call is directed to your home phone for the fourth ring before being forwarded to voicemail.
2. Voicemail to email transcription - Voicemail to email transcription transcribes your voicemail to text and sends them to your email address. This ensures that you don't lose the information are jeopardize your safety, trying to record the data from the message.
3. Call screening - This feature allows you to look at the phone number of an incoming call on the caller ID and choose how to address it. For example, if your spouse is calling, you can direct the call to your cell phone. If it is advertising, you can disconnect the call.
4. Coaching tools - This feature is great for call centers. Rather than waiting for a customer service representative or salesperson to finish a phone call, you can advise when they are on the phone.
5. Auto-attendant - This is a feature associated with a premium business VOIP service. This feature allows callers to interact with a menu to choose an appropriate extension making your business look much larger and more professional than perhaps it is.
6. Conferencing - These are tools that allow the user to manage the conference. You can order invitations, "hand-raises," muting individuals, and so forth. Online discussions with many people can get messy if not managed correctly. These are a great set of tools designed to help you manage your meetings.
7. Reporting - Data and analytics are essential if you want to optimize your performance to your business needs. A business VOIP service provides you with reporting on bandwidth utilization, data usage over time, call history, inbound and outbound call detail reports, etc.

These features will help your business, regardless of whether you are located in Huntington Beach, CA, or elsewhere.

Is VOIP Business Phone Service the same as Cloud Business Phone Service

Several phrases have been used to describe newer Internet-based phone systems such as cloud-based phone systems and voice-over-Internet Protocol, or business VOIP phones. The question we often receive is whether or not a cloud-based phone system is the same thing as a VOIP phone system.

The Cloud is the terminology used to refer to the Internet, whereas VOIP service refers to a VOIP server's services. The Cloud or the Internet turns any device with Internet access into a potential phone. Extension dials, instant messaging, voicemail management, and more are integrated into a VOIP server's services.

Essentially, cloud-based phone service and VOIP phone services are both components making up Internet-based phone service. However, the two are used interchangeably to refer to Internet-based phone services.

Business communication is evolving because of the Internet and Internet-based phone services. The argument for transitioning to Internet-based phone services is the same today, as it was years ago:

• Reduce telecommunication costs without sacrificing the quality of calls and their accessibility to customers, and
• Invest in a phone system to implement external calling and extension dialing to reach new clients and co-workers.

Unlike traditional analog phone systems, Internet-based phone services eliminate the need for additional wiring and most of the hardware maintenance cost because it runs entirely online, providing significant value and cost savings to businesses of all sizes.

What are the benefits of a VOIP Phone system for a small business?

There are several benefits that a small business can realize from a VOIP or cloud phone system, including:

1. Significant savings - Most VOIP providers have a subscription-based business model based on the number of lines or "seats." Adding a new line or multiple lines, or seats to an account is very easy. In contrast, a traditional analog system requires a substantial investment in the form of copper wire or fiber-optic cables and additional hardware. In addition to the equipment's cost, there are installation costs and operating costs for long-distance calls. As a result, the return-on-investment (ROI) for VOIP business services can be substantially higher than an alternative traditional analog phone system.
2. Potential integration with many applications - Most VOIP business services already come with many features and many extras. Suppose you can't find a given feature or have a unique business process to your business or industry. In that case, you can integrate third-party applications or apps into your VOIP system, giving you access to even more functionality. Popular phone system integrations include customer relationship management (CRM) applications and call-center management software.
3. Flexibility - New features, functionality, and services can be added to a VOIP system very quickly and does not involve new hardware.
4. Scalability - The main goal of every business in recent memory has been growth. For many, this means new locations, employees, and remote workers. Adding a new node to a business network with a VOIP system consists of a high-speed Internet connection and possibly a new Internet-connected phone.
5. Uniformity - With a VOIP business phone system, adding a new location or remote worker to your communication network consists of a high-speed Internet connection and perhaps, an Internet-connected phone. In contrast, adding a new site or remote worker to a traditional analog business phone system requires new copper lines or fiber-optic cables, and equipment such as switches that all come at a high cost.
6. Disaster recovery - To succeed in business, your business phone system needs to be operational as close to 100%. Leads need to be received, and transactions transacted 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. With a VOIP business phone system, your data is stored in a secure environment away from the risks that plague your physical business location. These risks include weather, crime, and, increasingly, social instability.
7. Benefits to your IT team - With an owned traditional analog phone system, maintenance and support will often fall to your IT department or individual in the case of many small businesses. With a VOIP system, responsibility for programming, care, and support lies with your VOIP provider.
8. Rich features - VOIP business phone systems come with many features such as advanced email, voicemail, automatic attendants, and more as standard.
9. Information security - Your VOIP service provider is responsible for data security and safeguarding your information. As a result, they invest substantially more money in information security than a smaller business such as yours ever could, resulting in a great deal more protection for your data.

Is there a free VOIP Service?

Many VOIP phone service providers will provide a free trial for a short time to test their products. At the end of the trial period, to continue service, you must become a paid client. When using free online services, in most cases, you are the product. In exchange for providing you with free access to their services, many online companies such as Google, Facebook, and many others collect a great deal of information about you and your Internet use. In turn, they sell the information they collect about you to advertisers to advertise their services through their platforms. These companies are the fastest-growing, most profitable companies in the World, demonstrating that "free" online is, in fact, tremendously beneficial for these companies.

Do I need a particular phone to use VOIP services?

I have received this question from many clients in Huntington Beach, CA, and elsewhere. In short, the answer to this question is yes; you do need special phones for VOIP business systems. However, technologies are available that can be applied to mobile phones and traditional analog phones, making them work with a VOIP network.

A VOIP phone network is a seamless and wireless form of communication. When a VOIP user makes a call from one end, the receiver doesn't have to be using a VOIP system. They can be an ordinary landline user or another VOIP network user.

A desktop computer connected to the Internet can make and receive phone calls, provided it is equipped with a headset. In technical terms, the sound from a voice is digitized into little packs of information. These small packets are then broken up and routed to the receiver over the Internet. Once received, the packs are reassembled to recreate the sender's voice. The entire process involves only three objects; a wireless Internet router and two communication equipment pieces, one for the sender and the other for the receiver.

Mobile phones designed to work on a cellular network can work on a VOIP network using a mobile app configured to send and receive VOIP calls.

Traditional analog phones or public switched telephone networks (PTSN) make use of copper wires to transmit data and information, whereas VOIP is wireless and relies on the Internet. You can't use a traditional analog phone to make and receive data as described. The two networks are directly incompatible. However, with additional hardware, PTSN phones can be made to make and receive calls using a VOIP network. An ATA, or Analog Telephone Adapter box, channels the analog voice data into little information packs.

Maintenance, support, and training of your VOIP business phone service in Huntington Beach, CA

Selecting a VOIP business phone system provider in Huntington Beach, CA, is the same as elsewhere. Since cloud business phone service is entirely online, many businesses overlook the importance of maintenance, service, and training in the selection process. Equipment needs to be installed and configured at your place of business. Online and remote VOIP providers rely on outside vendors to complete the installation process while maintenance, service, and training are either do-it-yourself or online.

If your business in Huntington Beach stops when you don't have VOIP service, you don't want to solve the problem yourself or call an 800-number when your cash flow hangs in the balance. For this reason, you may want to consider a service provider local to Huntington Beach, one with experience not only with VOIP technology but also business telephone systems.

We are right next door and have been servicing business phone clients in Huntington Beach, CA, for over 28 years. When clients need maintenance, service, or training, we are always available by phone or email. Most importantly, we will get into our truck to make a service call to your business in Huntington Beach to get you whatever needed to get your phone system in working order.

Excellent local service and training are what sets us apart from our online competitors. If your phone system is your business, you need a local resource to rely upon when things stop working, and they inevitably will stop working. You want a relationship with your provider who knows your business and your phone system to optimize it for your business. Somebody you can call anytime and can be at your location in Huntington Beach in minutes to get your business back online.

If you want to learn how VOIP business phone service can benefit your business and save you money, contact us or give us a call, we are local. (562) 333-3100.