Home workers depending on VOIP over the residential broadband network for work purposes could get a big shock when the quality of their voice calls is compromised because their children, or children in the local area, are socialising on Facebook to alleviate the boredom of being off sick or to pass the time if their schools are closed.

Back in June of this year I voiced my concern over this very same issue.

What this means is that for those people who will assume that they can effectively work from home using VOIP, they will seriously need to re-consider their strategy. The PSTN network will of course remain consistently reliable and available and companies should consider re-routing their incoming calls home rather than relying on mobile or VOIP networks which could be over-loaded. Also if work is not able to be conducted via email communication there will need to be a far heavier reliance on the voice network and surely organisations would prefer to pay PSTN call charges rather than mobile charges?

This week Gartner have issued an article suggesting three possible alternatives to improve internet bandwidth for home working:

1. Using WOC (Wan Optimisation Controller) software to ensure that applications use the least amount of bandwidth possible,

2. Use client applets which work with data centre based WOCs to optimise browser speed.

3. Bypass the last mile altogether and switch to a wireless connection such as 3G, WiMax or satellite (which may fix the connectivity problem but not necessarily the data ‘congestion’ issue)

The threat is real, the residential broadband network has its limits and when all else fails we will inevitably be relying on our old friend PSTN to help us continue to work and socialise during times of mass absence from schools and work.

Remote working should not be seen as a ‘fad’ but as the 21st century way of doing business, for those jobs which are able to be conducted wherever a broadband or wifi connection is available. There seems to be an assumption that there are only two ways of working, office based or home based. I beg to differ, flexible working should be the norm, allowing employees and employers alike the choice on a day by day basis where work should be performed, be it 2 days in the office and 3 at home, or 1 day at a remote, satellite office and the rest of the week elsewhere.

Making it easy, and accesible for business to get done in a time and cost effective manner is the key here, not simply just a way of saving a few pounds in the short term!