VoIP vs. Landline: Which Is More Reliable?

The short answer is it depends.

Many readers surely recall VoIP’s early, troubled years and assume that it’s just not a reliable alternative to plain old telephone service (POTS). (We dispelled this myth in a previous post.)

VoIP IS reliable. As long as you have a high-speed internet connection, you’ll experience high-quality voice calls with 99.9% connection uptime. And you can boost this uptime to 99.99% by making sure you have a backup power source in case of power outages. But is it more reliable than POTS?

At BullsEye, we think VoIP is the more reliable choice.

I’ll explain …

VoIP services have been around for a while. As far back as 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported that 25 percent of US households have dropped their landline subscriptions.

So, with a shrinking subscriber base and aging infrastructure, what’s going to happen to landline phone bills? We’ve already seen landline prices go up, while prices for VoIP services are dropping. And the gap continues to grow …

In fact, per user costs for VoIP are now about half the cost of landline services.

What we’ll eventually see is the phase out of the landline telephone. The aging infrastructure will become too expensive to upkeep, and telecom companies will invest instead in the latest technology like fiber optic cables and 5G.

So, is a technology that might not be viable 10 years from now really a reliable choice?

VoIP on the other hand is built on internet protocols. It works via ethernet cable, Wi-Fi, and even LTE. You can make VoIP calls from any internet connected device – including traditional desktop phones (older models just require a small adapter to connect to ethernet ports).

But what if your internet connection goes down?

Well, you have several ways to protect your phone system. For one, you can use your mobile (LTE) connection as a backup, so you can make calls even if the power goes out. You could also get a backup power source (like a battery or generator) to keep your internet connection online at all times.

Maybe the biggest question is this: will VoIP also soon become obsolete?

We don’t think so. VoIP is constantly evolving. And due to the nature of VoIP contracts (monthly subscription-based), customers can take advantage of software and hardware advancements without having to pay more. It’s a competitive market, so we’re always seeing new features and even greater reliability and security protocols put in place.

Think of VoIP as a springboard from which you can access new business communication capabilities.

It’s a great first step on the road to fully Unified Communications, which integrates voice calling with other advanced office communication features like video conferencing.

The bottom line is this:

While VoIP wasn’t always reliable, it’s now the most reliable and lowest-risk voice communication option for small and medium-sized businesses.

But reliability isn’t the only reason to go with VoIP. There are several more benefits, including:

• flexibility (you can customize your plan and change it over time),
• portability (you can make calls from any device, anywhere),
• scalability (it’s easy to add new features and users),
• cost-effectiveness (It’s about half the price of POTS), not to mention the
• potential integrations (connecting your phone system to your CRM, for example).