A quick guide to working from home with VoIP

Get the connection right first

Voice calls need a stable, low-latency connection more than they need raw speed. A wired Ethernet connection to the router beats Wi-Fi every time, and if Wi-Fi is unavoidable, keep the router close and avoid peak-hour congestion on a shared household connection.

Choose the right device

• A softphone app on a laptop works well for most roles and needs nothing extra to buy
• A dedicated USB or Bluetooth headset with noise cancellation makes a bigger difference to call quality than almost anything else
• A desk IP phone is worth it for anyone on calls most of the day, since it is more reliable than a laptop that sleeps or updates mid-call

Keep the business number, not a personal mobile

Route business calls through your cloud phone system's mobile or softphone app so your business number, not a personal mobile number, appears to callers, and calls are still recorded, reported and covered by the same features as the office.

Set up call handling for a home environment

• Use presence status to show when you are on a call or unavailable, so colleagues do not double up
• Set overflow rules so a missed call goes to a colleague, not straight to voicemail
• Use voicemail-to-email so messages are not missed during genuinely offline periods

Sound professional

Take calls somewhere with minimal background noise, mute when not speaking on group calls, and check your headset microphone rather than relying on a laptop's built-in one, which usually picks up far more room noise than expected.

Test before you need it

Do a test call with a colleague before a first day working from home, checking audio quality, call transfer and access to any shared voicemail or queue. Fixing a problem in a five-minute test beats discovering it on a call with a customer.