When your business phone system relies on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), it uses your internet connection to make and receive calls instead of traditional phone lines. If your internet connection goes down, your VoIP phones won't be able to connect to the service, which means calls can't be placed or received until the connection is restored.
Why this matters for Canadian SMBs
For small and mid-sized businesses in Canada, losing your VoIP service can disrupt daily operations significantly. Without phone access, your team may miss important client calls, delay customer support, or fail to communicate internally. This downtime can hurt productivity, damage customer trust, and potentially lead to lost revenue. Additionally, if your VoIP system handles emergency calls or compliance-related communications, an outage could expose you to regulatory risks.
A common scenario
Consider a typical Canadian company with 50 employees using a cloud-based VoIP system. One day, their internet provider experiences an outage affecting their office. Suddenly, no one can make or receive calls. Customers calling in hear silence or a busy signal, causing frustration. Meanwhile, staff scramble to use personal mobile phones, which is inefficient and may expose sensitive business information. A managed IT provider familiar with their setup quickly switches calls to a backup number or mobile forwarding, minimizing disruption until the internet is restored.
What you can do now
- Ask your IT provider: Do you have failover options for VoIP during internet outages? How quickly can calls be rerouted?
- Review your service level agreement (SLA): Does it cover uptime guarantees and response times for outages?
- Check for backup internet: Is there a secondary internet connection or mobile hotspot ready to activate?
- Test call forwarding: Can calls be automatically forwarded to mobile phones or another location?
- Train staff: Ensure employees know what to do if the phone system goes down, including alternative contact methods.
- Evaluate your VoIP provider: Do they offer on-premises fallback options or hybrid systems that maintain some local calling capability?
- Monitor your network: Use tools or services that alert you immediately if your internet or VoIP service goes offline.
Moving forward
Planning for internet outages is essential when using VoIP. A trusted managed IT provider can help you assess risks, implement backup solutions, and create a clear response plan tailored to your business needs. This preparation reduces downtime, protects customer relationships, and keeps your team productive even when connectivity issues arise.
Talk with your IT advisor about your current VoIP setup and what contingency measures are in place. Taking these steps now can help your business stay connected and resilient in the face of internet interruptions.