VoIP or a traditional phone line: what really changes

Two different ways to carry a voice

With a traditional line (what the industry calls the PSTN, the public switched telephone network) every number is tied to a copper pair that runs from the operator's exchange all the way to the socket on your wall. A call occupies a dedicated circuit for its entire duration. ISDN is the digital version of the same principle: several channels on the same connection, but still a physical link to an exchange.

With VoIP (Voice over IP) your voice is turned into data packets and travels over the internet. The phone, or an app, connects to the operator's server using the SIP protocol, and from there the call reaches any number, landline or mobile. The number is no longer tied to a socket: it is tied to a SIP account, a username and password you can use wherever there is a connection. If you want a full overview before getting into the comparison, start with the guide to VoIP for business.

In practical terms the difference boils down to this: with a traditional line you pay for infrastructure, with VoIP you pay for a service that runs on the infrastructure you already have, namely the office's fibre or broadband connection.

Why it comes up now: copper and ISDN

Many people ask the question not by choice but because their operator has announced that the old line is being retired. In many European countries copper networks are gradually being replaced by fibre, and exchanges that only serve copper are being switched off area by area, on timescales that depend on the country, the area and the operator. ISDN services, still common in offices with an older phone system, are also becoming harder and harder to maintain.

In most cases the "landline" you get today bundled with fibre is already VoIP managed by the operator: the router has a phone port and your old handset plugs into it. It works, but it usually ties you to that router, that number of lines and that price list. The step we describe in this guide is different: using a VoIP operator that is independent of your connection, with SIP accounts that work on any network.

What it costs: how calls are billed

Traditional business tariffs often include two items that weigh on the bill without you noticing: a connection charge, a fixed amount paid at the start of every call, and billing in blocks, for example by the full minute or in increments of 30 or 60 seconds. Many also offer bundles of "included" minutes that cost money even when you do not use them.

Per-second billing

On Vohippo calls are billed per second, with no connection charge on the destinations in the price list. It pays to do the maths with your office's real calls, not with averages:

• a 47-second call billed by the minute is charged as 60 seconds; billed per second you pay for 47 seconds
• a call lasting 2 minutes and 5 seconds costs 3 minutes when billed in full minutes; per second it costs 125 seconds
• an unanswered call, or one that ends up in voicemail after a few seconds, does not carry a fixed charge

Businesses that make lots of short calls (a garage ringing customers to say "your car is ready", a call centre confirming appointments) are the ones that notice the difference most. Rates to 233 countries, excluding VAT, are public in the per-second price list: take a month of calls from your current bill and redo the sums with those prices.

Fixed costs to include in the comparison

VoIP is not "free": it has clear costs, and they all belong on the same sheet. These are Vohippo's prices, excluding VAT:

Credit is prepaid: you top up by card, PayPal or bank transfer, and there are no minimum monthly charges on calls. On the traditional side, put in the rental of each line or ISDN connection, any lease or maintenance fee for the phone system, and the cost of moving or activating new lines.

What you gain with VoIP

Call prices are only part of the picture. The benefits people notice most after a few months are organisational.

The number follows people

A SIP account works anywhere there is internet: on the desk phone in the office, on the laptop at home, on the mobile with the app. On Vohippo the same account can register up to 5 devices, so the same person can have a phone in the office and the app on their mobile. For businesses with several offices or remote staff, see the page on multiple sites and remote teams.

Lines are added in minutes

With ISDN the number of simultaneous calls depends on the physical connection. With VoIP it is a setting: on each SIP account you choose the «Simultaneous outbound calls», from 1 to 1000, and each extra channel costs €0.50/month. A new colleague is a new account, not a new cable.

Numbers where you need them

You can have a number with the area code of a city where you have no office, or a number in another country for foreign customers. There are virtual numbers in 232 Italian cities and in more than 90 countries; we explain how they work in the guide virtual number: what it is and how it works.

Incoming calls handled by rules

On each number you build a call flow: ring several accounts at once or one after the other, forward to a mobile, a voicemail that sends messages by email, an AI secretary that takes the caller's name and reason for calling. The details are in the guide on how to set up an inbound number.

The limits you should know

An honest comparison must also say where VoIP needs care.

• It depends on the connection. If the internet goes down, so do the office phones. Incoming calls can still be forwarded to a mobile or to voicemail, because the call flow lives on the server, not in the office.
• It depends on power. An analogue phone on copper kept working during a power cut; routers and IP phones do not. A small UPS on the router and switch covers short outages.
• Quality depends on the local network. A G.711 call uses about 100 kbit/s in each direction: very little for fibre, but a congested Wi-Fi network or a router with SIP ALG switched on can cause choppy or one-way audio. We cover this in the guide to NAT, firewalls and ports for VoIP.
• Emergency calls. With copper the location was tied to the socket; with VoIP the account can be used anywhere. In the office, always keep a mobile phone to hand as well.
• Fax. Fax over VoIP is unreliable in general and Vohippo does not offer a fax service: if you still need one, consider a dedicated fax-to-email service.
• Security. A SIP account with a weak password is a target for people trying to make calls at your expense. The countermeasures are simple and you will find them in the guide to VoIP security.

How to switch without changing habits

Plan the move so that whoever answers the phone barely notices. Here is a path that works for a small office, for example a practice with 4 people and a number printed on the website and business cards.

1. Sign up at https://cloud.vohippo.com/register and load a little credit for testing.
2. Create a SIP account for each person or desk, with randomly generated passwords.
3. Set up the phones or apps and make a few test calls to a mobile.
4. Decide what to do with your existing number (see below) and, if needed, get a new one.
5. Build the incoming call flow: for example everyone rings together for 30 seconds, then voicemail takes over.
6. Only when everything works, switch off the old line or keep it as a backup.

The number you already have

Vohippo does not offer number porting. There are, however, two ways to keep the number your customers know.

• External number. If your number is already VoIP with another operator and that operator gives you the SIP credentials, the platform keeps it registered on your behalf (€1.00/month) and calls arriving on that number follow the call flow you have set up. The number stays with the other operator: it is not porting.
• Verified caller ID. If you just want customers to see your existing number when you call them, you can verify it as a caller ID with a code sent by SMS, WhatsApp or voice call. Each answered call with an external caller ID costs €0.02. We explain how it works in the guide on caller ID and how to set it.

A traditional copper line, on the other hand, has no SIP credentials: in that case the usual solution is to keep it active until customers have learned the new number, or ask your current operator to forward it to the new number.

New numbers

An Italian geographic number costs €23.48/month or €109.83/year, with incoming calls included and automatic renewal from your credit. Activating it requires documents: for a company, the legal representative's ID, an address in the area-code district and the company registration extract (the Italian visura camerale); the outcome usually arrives within 1-3 working days. You can search for a number right here:

Phones, apps and phone system

You do not have to throw everything away. Any IP phone that speaks SIP is configured with the same few details: server sip.vohippo.com, port 5060 UDP, the account's username and password. You will find the steps in the guide on how to configure a VoIP phone, with variants for Yealink, Fanvil, Grandstream, Snom and Cisco. Old analogue phones can be used with a SIP adapter (ATA).

If you would rather not buy anything, every account also works in the browser webphone and in the Vohippo app for iPhone and Android; for programs you install on a computer, there is the guide on how to set up a softphone.

If you have an IP PBX such as Asterisk, FreePBX or 3CX, you connect it with a SIP trunk and the extensions stay as they are. If instead you need voice menus, queues or opening-hours rules, those are PBX features: you get them from your own PBX or from a cloud PBX, as we explain in the guide to the cloud PBX.

Which to choose: a quick comparison

For an office with a stable connection, VoIP is almost always the more flexible choice. A traditional line still makes sense where the internet connection is weak, or for equipment that needs an analogue line, for as long as the operator keeps it running. If you are unsure about your case, write to us from the contact page with the number of people and the calls you make in a month.

Frequently asked questions