Disadvantages of VoIP

With all this going for it, it's a wonder that anybody still uses regular phone services. However, there are a few disadvantages to VoIP. Continuous service during a power outage and emergency calls are two of the biggest problems.

The disadvantages of VOIP can be annoying, but are relatively limited for the consumer. The main complaints regarding VOIP have to do with providing the level of quality of service that customers are accustomed to with regular telephone technology.

First of all, VoIP is dependant on wall power. Your current phone runs on phantom power that is provided over the line from the central office. Even if your power goes out, your phone (unless it is a cordless) still works. With VoIP, no power means no phone. A stable power source must be created for VoIP.


Because VoIP uses an Internet connection, it's susceptible to all the hiccups normally associated with home broadband services. All of these factors affect call quality:
Latency
Jitter
Packet loss

Phone conversations can become distorted, garbled or lost because of transmission errors. Some kind of stability in Internet data transfer needs to be guaranteed before VoIP could truly replace traditional phones

VoIP is susceptible to worms, viruses and hacking, although this is very rare and VoIP developers are working on VoIP encryption to counter this.

With all this going for it, it's a wonder that anybody still uses regular phone services. However, there are a few disadvantages to VoIP. Continuous service during a power outage and emergency calls are two of the biggest problems.

During a blackout a regular phone is kept in service by the current supplied through the phone line. This is not possible with Internet phones, so when the power goes out, there is no VoIP phone service. One solution to this problem is to use battery backups or power generators to provide electricity.



Given the growth and increasing popularity of VoIP, it seems that all these disadvantages will be overcome in time. Now is the time that the major service providers – isp’s and telcoms – are using their formidable resources to work through the VoIP bugs. It is estimated that as soon as 2007 most of the kinks will be ironed out and VoIP should receive widespread consumer acceptance.



All these voip disadvantages will be overcome in time. There is a tremendous amount of work being done to increase the reliability and usefulness of VoIP. By 2007 most of the kinks will be worked out and VoIP will receive widespread consumer acceptance.

Overall, the disadvantages of VOIP aren't significant enough to dissuade the average consumer from using the technology; especially with the fact that they know that the calls they are making are free. But we can rest assured that the technology will only get more reliable as time goes by.


The disadvantages of VOIP are usually tolerable if the callers are using a free service and the calls are for individual, personal communication. But once a network of users, such as a business, wants to use VOIP, the problems become a little more complicated. Part of the reason is that most networks have a firewall; and most firewalls don't know how to route a VOIP call once it is received - which phone does it go to?

Lack of emergency reliability and clarity are also two of the major disadvantages. Sometimes echo is heard on the phone so it becomes difficult for us to understand what we are speaking and for the front person as to what are we saying.

There are a few disadvantages to VoIP. Some of these are being addressed by ISPs and VoIP providers, while others are likely to remain.