Substantially lower cost or long distance call and local service are the most benefit for the companies and customers alike. Cutting out dedicated telephone networks not only reduces those charges, but also sidesteps the taxes on traditional telephone service. Observers point out, however, that the untaxed status of VOIP could disappear once legislatures begin seeing significant reductions in tax revenues from traditional telephone service.
Another significant savings comes from the elimination of separate service lines for voice and data. For example, most businesses with 20 or more lines on a PBX lease a T1 line for that voice network, as well as a separate T1 for Internet access. With VOIP, one costly T1 lease can be eliminated. Smaller locations could retain whatever broadband service they currently use and eliminate all or most of their phone service.
“We cut our long-distance charges in half, eliminated one T1 line in larger locations and reduced local-service charges even in the smaller locations without T1 service,” Scott says. American West's initial investment in VOIP hardware was $75,000, giving it an ROI of less than a year on service charges alone.
The key to cost reductions of that magnitude is long-distance use. In fact, at least two fleets that investigated VOIP found that most voice traffic at their terminals was largely local and that they couldn't cost-justify the switch at this point.
