The Disadvantages of IP Telephony

Despite their relatively young age VoIP technologies have already started to replace traditional phone systems. The number of customers that prefer IP telephony to other means of telecommunications grows rapidly that may lead to a complete dominance of IP telephony in the telecommunication market. Eventually phone companies and businesses are likely to switch to VoIP services completely.

However VoIP technologies as any other emerging technologies have a lot to think about and modernize. VoIP providers can't satisfy all the customers' requirements yet as IP technologies still have drawbacks.

The disadvantages of VoIP services:

1. VoIP phones depend on wall power. Whether you use VoIP software installed on your PC or VoIP phones you are dependent on power while your conventional phone relies on the power supplied by a separate line from the central office. If your power goes off you still can use your ordinary phone but not the VoIP phone (unless it is powered by batteries).

2. Many other systems you may use in your home are integrated with conventional phone lines – digital video recorders, subscription TV services, home security systems and others still can't be integrated with VoIP.

3. Calling 911 with VoIP can cause problems. An emergency 911 call from an ordinary phone is received by the 911 operator and your current location can be easily identified. But IP address used by VoIP can't tell where you are situated and the central 911 office does not know where to route your call and what is the nearest emergency service station to you. VoIP providers and developers try to solve this issue but including geographic information into IP address may deprive VoIP of its other benefits.

4. VoIP uses Internet connection therefore all the factors that effect the quality of your internet are to affect the quality of your conversation. Latencies, jitters, packet losses may distort or even frustrate your session.

5. As any other information stored on your computer and transmitted through Internet Protocol VoIP is susceptible to viruses and hacking.

6. Much depends on the processor your computer uses and other requirements. If you run several programs simultaneously your VoIP phone call may be distorted. The program may either slow down or even crash in the middle of an important conversation.

VoIP providers and developers are now working to solve these issues and optimize the benefits of VoIP.