Do we need desktop VoIP phones?

Voice over IP (VoIP) is designed to be flexible and portable, so you don’t need to be tied to your desk. You can answer calls on your smartphone, your computer, your tablet or even a colleague’s PC on the other side of the world.

Yet for many people, there’s a certain convenience in having a desktop phone, and VoIP lets you use one with ease.

Choosing a phone

If you already have a desktop phone, and you’d like to keep it, we’ll help connect it to your internet phone service. If you’re not particularly tied to a phone yet, we recommend that you buy a handset that’s specifically designed for business VoIP.

Look out for these features:

• Multiple lines: so you can make and receive calls on more than one extension or number. You should find that your VoIP handset supports at least two lines.
• Audio quality: you won’t hear any difference in quality if you make phone calls that cross onto the traditional telephone network. But if you make VoIP-to-VoIP calls, you can benefit from much higher quality. Check that your phone will support this.
• Headset support: handy if you need to talk and type at the same time.
• Busy lamp fields: these lights tell you at-a-glance whether another extension is busy. This helps you to route calls to people who are more likely to be available to answer.
• LCD display: the majority of desktop business VoIP phones offer LCD displays to make it easier to change settings. Higher end models tend to have colour screens.

Corded or cordless

If you work at your desk, a corded phone – with a speakerphone or a headset – should cover the majority of bases. However, if you have a job that requires you to jump up and walk the floors, a cordless handset is a sensible alternative that will allow you to roam 100 to 300 metres (depending on the environment).

Bear in mind that cordless business VoIP phones are smaller, so you won’t get the benefit of those big screens, alert lights and programmable keys. You might have to dive into a menu to carry out certain functions, too, so they are a little less convenient when used with an internet phone service.

Setting up

If you buy a phone from Nimvelo, will pre-configure it before it leaves our premises. That means less hassle for you: just plug and play. We’ll even configure the extensions exactly the way you want them. And if you change your mind, just return the phone – unopened and sealed – within 7 days of delivery for a full refund.

For more information, or to buy a handset for our internet phone service, contact us today.