Cloud phone service has been around for about two decades now but many people think of it as merely a technology that is meant to place phone calls over the internet. Due to these misconceptions, cloud service has been always been characterized with low and bad performance due to its low cost. Most users have experienced the frustration associated with using cloud service that results in call loss, disconnects and the low sound quality that actually irritates people more than offering any kind of significant value. This is why people will think of cloud service as a technology that offers low quality service that has to be improved if it is to be viewed as something useful.
The truth is that cloud phone service is much more than what people think and is used in so many ways. It is a protocol and technology that changes the nature of voice waves in order to make them able to travel over an IP network. This allows voice waves to travel through different domains and at a high quality that allows for easy and reliable communication.
Customer premises network:
Most enterprises and organizations have private networks that allow their employees and different departments to communicate easily. These networks are usually controlled by the administration itself and allows for the easy and fast transfer data. These networks whether they are LANs or WANs might be still connected to the internet but are still privately managed and monitored and this means that the communications are under tight control most of the time.
A cloud phone system shares the same structure as data networks and this means it can be used in the same way to transfer voice waves between different members of the network who happen to be connected at any given point. It can be used to connect different departments and people who work and use private networks in order to exchange information in a fast and convenient way. An IP PBX has to be installed at the core of the network while physical phones have to be installed in different places and offices so that people can have easy access to talking to each other using the infrastructure of their privately owned and controlled network. The voice calls will travel in the same way that data does and will be of high quality. They are also secured and safe due to the operation of the privately owned networks.
SIP trunks:
Cloud phone service also works on the telecom service provider side where voice services are offered over a controlled network and not over the public network. This is why SIP trunks are different from best effort cloud services that most people mistake for the only purpose of cloud service. These are of better quality and are not subject to the same kind of problems that people deal with when using cloud service in the most popular manner. Session Initiation Protocol works according to a mechanism that ensures that voice packets arrive in an orderly manner and at the right time to ensure the quality of the voice in the calls made which is very different from what most people use cloud service for.
Mobile networks:
There is a special way that provides both data and voice from end to end. This involves the use of mobile telephony network. The network extends from the operator’s network to the handset itself. Mobile operators use a very controlled environment to deliver their voice calls. They use different protocols and techniques to change voice waves to a digital form that can be carried over the network. Most of the time the voice is carried using the GSM standard while in other cases it is carried over the CDMA standard. But in some cases mobile telephony networks will use cloud service to carry voice from one user to another.
Cloud service is also used in Over the Top applications that are otherwise known as OTT. These applications are very popular and somehow very cheap or cost nothing as the voice is transmitted over the internet in a data form. But because of this reason in particular, the quality of the voice is not as reliable.
Conclusion:
Cloud phone service is so much more than a technology that allows people to place calls over the internet. It provides a chance for easy and reliable communication over the different domains of different IP networks and also allows people to place worldwide calls at low cost.