Internet Phone Service
What is internet phone service?
How does an internet phone work?
- The voice signals you generate are converted into data packets.
- These packets travel over the network and out through the internet until they reach their destination.
- VoIP converts the packets back into voice signals for the person on the other end to understand the message.
Industry-leading internet phone service from RingCentral
Improved business communications
Level up communications and collaborations with unlimited VoIP, conferencing, and team messaging. The call routing and call forwarding functions ensure that you do not miss anything, even international calls.
Mobile and flexible internet phone service
Access your phone service from anywhere and on any device. Call, text, and fax using your business phone number from your smartphone instead of using your personal number.
Quick phone service setup and implementation
Get your online phone service up and running in less than a day. Configure and customize system settings from your online account.
Secure business internet phone system
RingCentral secures all your communications during the whole IP transmission journey. All communications go through highly encrypted networks and layers of authentication.
24/7 customer support
RingCentral is there for you from day one, helping you implement your cloud business phone system. You can contact our award-winning support team 24/7 for technical support, consultations, and best practice recommendations.
Best value plans and pricing
RingCentral gives your business an all-inclusive cloud communications system for one affordable price—no hidden or additional costs for advanced phone features. You get a single, itemized bill each month.
Features of RingCentral’s internet phone service
Voice calls
Call flip
Cloud-hosted PBX
Audio and video conference
Team messaging
Business app integrations
Virtual extensions
Internet phone vs. conventional phone
Conventional phone lines
Internet phone lines
Invest in a reliable communications and collaboration solution
- A unified communications solution – RingCentral has evolved its service from simple business VoIP calling, fax, and cloud PBX to a unified communications solution that meets most, if not all, business communications needs. Aside from a call management system with advanced features like auto-attendant and answering rules, its VoIP services also provide audio and video conferencing capabilities, which are useful for companies with mobile employees and multiple sites. Users also get a full-featured team collaboration tool that lets you create groups, set tasks, and track progress.
- A highly secure and reliable service – RingCentral has Tier 1 geographically dispersed data centers to ensure redundancy. This is to make sure that there are no service disruptions. In addition to this, data transmissions are also heavily encrypted between endpoints of the network to ensure that internet calls or other data passing through the service are safe in transit or while at rest.
- A highly mobile solution – This virtual phone system can be accessed through intuitively designed apps so users can always stay connected to the office wherever they are. Download the right app by choosing from the RingCentral desktop app for PC or Mac or the RingCentral mobile app for either Android or iOS.
- Open APIs and integrations – RingCentral also plays well with other productivity apps. The service easily integrates to popular business apps like Salesforce, Office 365, and Google for Work. Additionally, RingCentral has open APIs that will allow your own developers to integrate digital voice, team messaging, SMS and MMS, and fax into your home-grown key apps and workflows.
What you need to know about internet phone service
- Hosted VoIP providers typically don’t require setup fees.
- You don’t need to pay extra for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades.
- VoIP uses the internet, so international and long-distance calls are much cheaper.
- Bringing your own device to work? VoIP supports BYOB initiatives, which means you can use your Samsung or Apple devices to access company platforms.
- Service theft - Hackers can gain access to your VoIP service and network through VoIP phones. Once in, they can steal passwords, usernames, and personal information. They use the data they have stolen to perform all sorts of fraudulent acts, such as identity theft, phreaking (stealing of service from the provider or using it and passing the cost to another user), and intentional disruption of service.
- Denial-of-service (DoS) attack - In a DoS attack, your network or device is denied service or connectivity. Hackers choose one target at a time and consume its bandwidth or overwhelm its network until it’s forced to shut down. This is usually done to damage brand reputation, extort money, and, in some cases, just for kicks.
- Call tampering - Here, the hacker targets the communication stream with the intent of degrading call quality, dropping the call, forcing a delay in voice signaling, and other critical issues. This is done by sending a stream of data packets through the PBX network. By intercepting call signals, the hacker can change the encryption key to their own public key, causing further privacy and authentication issues.
- Malware and viruses - VoIP exists within the realm of computer networks and is therefore exposed to the same risks as computers themselves. These include malware, which takes up network bandwidth, and viruses that wreak havoc on software (softphones included) to compromise its performance. A kind of malware that has the capacity to self-propagate is called a worm. It infiltrates your VoIP network, PBX, databases, and other systems to access important data and make your business vulnerable to other attacks.
- Man-in-the-middle attacks - Hackers use sophisticated software tools to mislead customers into thinking they are accessing a genuine server. The attackers position themselves in a conversation between the client and the server in order to intercept or manipulate data. By eavesdropping or impersonating one of the parties, they can collect sensitive information.
- Vishing - If you’ve heard of phishing in email, this is its voice-based equivalent. With vishing, the attacker uses ID spoofing to pretend they are a reputable business (e.g., a government or financial institution) and trick you into giving up sensitive information.