p36-38 tech Apr17 14/4/09 17:35 Page 36
knowledge technology
ttglive.com
VoIP telephony
Hanging up on
landline costs
The latest online technology is proving a popular way
to cut phone bills and ensure clients are speaking to
are looking for areas where they
can save money. Historically,
the right people. Alex Coxon talks to agents who A
s the recession bites, agencies
telephony has not been one of
have ditched analogue for internet
those areas. After all, agencies rely on their
landlines to make and receive the calls
that bring in business. The hefty charges
associated with installing and maintaining
lines is something that companies have
shouldered without question.
But now there is technology available that
could slash those costs. Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) is a piece of kit that allows
agencies to make calls using a broadband
internet connection instead of a
regular analogue telephone line.
Peter Healey is chief executive
of the Vertical Group, which
provides VoIP to several agencies
including Future Travel division
Holiday Now. He explains: “VoIP is
basically a mechanism for chopping
the voice into chunks, or ‘packets’,
and taking them over a data
network to a phone handset
where they’re converted
into an audible voice signal.”
Healey says VoIP has the potential
to save users a lot of money. “Say you’ve
got five staff. With VoIP you only need one
broadband connection; all five telephones
can be routed from there.
“With a traditional system, you’d need to
pay for a line each at a cost of maybe £14 per
line, per month. These costs obviously grow
the bigger the agency gets.”
According to Greg Denning, managing
director of VoIP provider Northway Commu-
nications – 90% of whose customers are
travel agencies such as Worldchoice and
Hays Travel – there are other advantages
too. The big benefit, he says, comes where
36 17.04.2009
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