Cloud-Based Phone Service an Improvement over Copper

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

A recent report by Digital Trends discusses the current Federal Communications Commission initiative to test a nation-wide IP-based phone system.

It says the FCC (News - Alert) began examining the possibility of moving to an Internet-based system, which would effectively kill the traditional copper wire system, in January this year. It has been working with private telecoms such as AT&T (News - Alert) to determine the effect of replacing the plain old telephone service (POTS) with IP transmissions.

AT&T, for its part, may begin eliminating POTS by the second half of 2015, and that would mainly affect the communities of Carbon Hill, Ala. and Kings Point, Fla. Those two communities still rely heavily on POTS, and the transition would slowly move them toward wireless telephone service and broadband Internet-supported phone service.

It is likely that anyone making the switch from something they have come to know and trust -- e.g. POTS -- to something they do not know, will be skeptical. This concerns individuals as well as businesses.

That is entirely understandable. However, in the case of IP-based phone systems, many myths that demean the quality or security of the service are unfounded.

IPBusinessEdge.com lists, and debunks, a number of myths about cloud-based phone service. First, it says people may fear that voice quality will be affected. In fact, despite opinions to the contrary, the site says digital phone service can provide call quality that is much higher than what copper lines can deliver. Users say digital voice sounds less "tinny" than it does on traditional lines.

Some may say that IP-based phone systems are less secure. Again, compatible hardware can encrypt all voice communications, so businesses do not have to worry about their sensitive conversations being open to prying ears. In addition, businesses may fear that such new phone systems are not scalable, but that also is false. Traditional private branch exchanges require that businesses deploy PBX (News - Alert) boxes on premises. IP-based systems do not, and as a result, their software-based implementations can easily adapt and scale with businesses in a matter of minutes rather than the days it could take to run additional lines to the physical PBX system.

Finally, businesses and individuals can take heart that cloud-based phone systems may be even cheaper than traditional systems. Setup and scalability is easier, so customers should find that maintenance costs and initial setup requires less outside intervention and will work within minutes. The FCC also supports the technology, as discussed above, and soon the copper wires will give way to mandatory IP-based systems. This is what everyone will be using because it will be the standard for voice calling, so it will not soon fade away to any other incoming technologies that seek to replace the national infrastructure.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi