Commonwealth Day: Use VoIP to Call the World

March 11 is Commonwealth Day 2019. What does this have to do with VoIP? Well, VoIP is, above all, about enabling communication, including communication on a global scale. In fact, the theme for Commonwealth Day 2019 is A Connected Commonwealth.

It is encouraging collaboration across the Commonwealth, bringing people around the world together to protect the environment and the planet’s natural resources. You cannot have collaboration without first having communication. With VoIP, the world is at your fingertips, more easily and cost-effectively than ever before.

 How VoIP Calling Works

The technology behind VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, means that you place your telephone call over via an internet connection, rather than the standard telephone landline network. VoIP takes analogue audio signals and converts them into digital data, to transmit them through the internet, essentially turning a standard internet connection into a means of making telephone calls. In many VoIP applications, this is much cheaper than using a landline, even when calling long distances. This is revolutionising how people make international calls.

Making an International Call Using VoIP

As with a landline phone, making an international call using VoIP requires an international dialling prefix, plus country code, area code and local number. The physical means of making an international call this way will depend on the type of VoIP service you have: whether it means using a regular phone connected to a VoIP router, or with a headset microphone directly through your computer. Generally, making international calls using VoIP should be significantly cheaper than using a standard network.

Simpler International Calling for Business

For businesses, now it is easier than ever before to reach customers and suppliers internationally. International calling is also much more affordable. At one time, to set themselves up for international calls and communications, businesses would have needed the right technology set up both for themselves and in those countries they wished to target. They might, therefore, have to deal with different equipment suppliers in different countries, and ensure they had all the necessary equipment and office space for their own purposes. Then there would be the question of negotiating calling rates from country to country.

Now, however, with VoIP, routing long-distance calls through the internet removes the hassle, and keeps international calling affordable. Cloud-hosted VoIP solutions mean that businesses can manage their numbers and extensions from anywhere. The potential is here for streamlining international communications, connecting customers who are globally distributed, ensuring that prospects overseas can easily get in touch without the daunting possibility of facing high international call charges.

VoIP make it possible for businesses to set up international toll-free numbers, for example. These are virtual numbers, which means they are not associated with any physical telephone line. Because of this, businesses can forward them to any other phone number or device, including mobile phones, landlines and cloud PBX.

Connecting the Commonwealth

VoIP can make international co-operation that much simpler and more economic. This technology puts more people in more countries in easy, accessible reach of cutting edge communications.

The implications are wide open, when it comes to international collaboration across the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth consists of 53 member countries and a total population of around 2.4 billion. There is a Connectivity Agenda for Trade and Investment, which aims to promote a multilateral trading system throughout the Commonwealth, in response to the rising threat of increased protectionism. Commonwealth leaders have committed themselves to increasing trade between their countries to 2 trillion US dollars by 2030.

One key aspect of this is to encourage member countries to exchange best practices, approaches and experiences around trade. Obviously then, communication will be extremely important here. In fact, two of the six points of the Connectivity Agenda’s declaration are to do with digital connectivity and business to business connectivity. The advancements in accessible technology represented by VoIP should help make transform these declarations into practical realities for a great many people and businesses across the Commonwealth.

 Protecting the Planet

Another key declaration of the Commonwealth’s Connectivity Agenda focuses on inclusive and sustainable trade, which ties in with the theme of protecting the planet through better connectivity and collaboration. The Commonwealth Blue Charter provides the underlying principles to developing a sustainable approach to development and protection of the oceans. Again, making this a success will largely depend on how different member countries communicate as well as work together. The Commonwealth is moving with the times and committing itself to forward-thinking actions that will benefit people around the world. It is also committed to adopting an inclusive approach to digital communications. VoIP will have a prominent part to play in this.

Who Are You Calling Around the World?

Is your business prepared to be truly international? What opportunities can you seize if you are in the best possible position to increase the global reach of your communications?

Talk to us about VoIP solutions and unlocking your international potential.

Call us on 03300 881 182, email sales@vipvoip.co.uk, or complete our online enquiry form, and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.