IP POS Terminals will be over taking the Dial-up POS Terminal in Canada

IP POS Terminals are becoming the new credit card terminal to use in Canada. The dial-up used to me the only POS terminal available and when IP (Internet Protocol) POS terminals hit initially hit the market place just like most new technologies it was expensive for most small business owners.

However, now most IP units are the same price as a Dial-up but have 2 major benefits over the older dial-up.

1. Speed
2. Security

The IP terminal can process transactions in 3-5 seconds and can run multiple units off one broadband connection.

The security is as good as internet merchant accounts with SSL (secure socket layered) prevents millions of dollars of fraud through online processing. When transactions pass through a SSL connection it is converted into a secret code that only the correct companies can understand. Yet Dial-up terminals, offer no transaction security for data in transit, based on the assumption that somebody would have to tap a phone line to intercept the data.

Soon Visa and MasterCard is also going to charge more to merchant's who still use old unsecured technology. So with IP POS Terminals being faster, safer and soon to be cheaper... what is keeping merchants from making the switch to IP credit card machines...?

What is the big benefit of using a IP Point-of-Sale Terminal over a Dial-up Point-of-Sale Terminal?

There are many benefits to use a IP Point-of-Sale Terminal over the old Dial-up Point-of-Sale Terminals.

However, before we get into the benefits let's just make sure we clear on the the basic terminology. IP means connecting through your High-speed internet connection, sometimes referred to as DSL, Broadband, and IP. From this point forward we will refer Point-of-Sale to "POS".

The three major benefits are:

1. Does not tie up your existing phone line(s)

2. Can add many terminals to one IP connection

3. High Speed Internet POS Terminals can process transactions in 4-5 seconds

If you currently have both high speed internet at you place of work and your current POS is connected to you phone line causing it to be not usable while you do debit and credit card transactions then you will find it huge convenience to upgrade your old Dial-up POS terminal into an IP POS Terminal because you will not have to worry about tying of your phone line anymore.

With an IP connection you can be on your computer surfing the net and still processing your sales through your POS machine, in fact, you could also have serveral POS terminals all running off one IP connection.

Therefore, if you are one of those merchants who has multi-check out stations with each their own POS Terminal and with each POS Terminal on it's own dedicated phone line then this will save you a ton in phone line expenses, for with IP connection you can run as many devices off one IP connection. Less cost then than paying for a second phone line.

You will also notice that IP POS Terminals can process transactions in about 3 seconds, which can really decrease lines ups at your checkout or if you run a business like a restaurant/bar you would be able to turn tables faster, etc. This usually makes both customers and staff happier.

This usually means more money for everyone too!