If you are changing your small business telephone system from a traditional dedicated fixed landline to the newer VoIP technology, there are some things you need to have in place to change successfully.
1. Internet Connection
To route your calls over the Internet instead of over the existing telephone fixed landlines, you need to have a powerful Internet connection and equipment to connect and communicate with.
If your small business is using a DSL or cable modem for your Internet connectivity, you need to research the bandwidth needed for of VoIP communications (Voice over Internet Protocol).
If you are one of 1-2 employees, then DSL or cable should work fine to meet your needs. DSL and cable modems are not ideal for VoIP, but they do work acceptably well for a very small office of just one or two people.
If your office grows to more than 2 users, your small business telephone system needs to grow also. It is time to consider a more robust Internet connection.
The standard DSL and cable modems offer you a quicker download than upload speed. This generally works fine for general computer usage, but it won’t work so well for voice communication.
So, you will need to make sure that your Internet connection can support both the upload and download speeds that you need to have clear and consistent voice communication.
2. How Much Bandwidth?
The industry standard is enough bandwidth for about 1/3 rd of your employees to be on the telephone at the same time … so if you have 30 lines, you should then have enough bandwidth for 10 to be used at any one time. With a business of this size, your small business telephone system will usually require a T1 connection to the Internet.
One of the best things you can do is to work with a provider who can support both your VoIP and Internet connection needs. This will insure that you have the bandwidth necessary to get both your calls and data needs taken care of.
3. Hub vs. Switch
In addition to bandwidth to the Internet, internally you should be using switches on your network rather than hubs. While hubs are fine for electronic data transmission, the transmission of voice over your network necessitates the need for switches to be used.
4. Media Gateways
If you already have a small business telephone system in place, such as a small PBX system, you can purchase a device called a “media gateway” to connect your existing phone system to the Internet without having to replace all of your phones and equipment.
This will save you money from the equipment that would have to be replaced to upgrade to VoIP services.
Moving your small business telephone system over to VoIP requires some pre-planning and consultation with an Internet provider. An experienced provider can offer the equipment and the know-how to make your move to VoIP quickly and without any inconvenience for your employees.
By: Andrew Stratton
Posts Tagged ‘Landline’
Small Business Telephone System with VoIP
March 28th, 2010VoIP vs PBX – VoIP is Winning the Battle
March 23rd, 2010
PBX phone systems were the standard in recent years. These were needed to handle the huge telephony needs of big business. But a PBX is expensive, high
maintenance, and difficult to upgrade when the company needs change.
With the ubiquitous Internet availability, businesses of all sizes have another option for their demanding telephony needs. This is a VoIP system.
What is VoIP?
VoIP is the acronym for “Voice Over Internet Protocol.”
Protocols are the policies for how all things related to the Internet should work. These rules are in place to make sure that people around the globe are working with
the same rules which will help the Internet work best.
So, VoIP is the international standards for how the human voice can be transmitted over the Internet.
Traditional Communications
Consider the fixed landline in your home. Your home phone has a physical wire which is connected to a local telephone pole. That wire then connects to a group of
others at the telephone company’s central office. And finally, the utility has lines to all of their other central offices where lines exist.
When call from your home, the utility sends your call over the lines to the line of the person you are calling using the central office locations.
To make this happen, the phone company uses a Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN. This process uses dedicated lines and is relatively costly because of the
need for all of the physical wiring and equipment.
PBX System
An office business has physical lines which come into the building from the utility company, and then physical lines which connect each phone within the building to the
main wired control panel as well.
Traditionally, the business’ PBX or “Private Branch Exchange” would route the calls that come into the building for the different extensions in the system.
While this set up is certainly effective and has its place in certain operations, a small business owner may consider this larger system more complicated to administer.
In addition, PBX is often cost prohibitive for medium or small businesses to purchase, leaving a small business owner without many options.
VoIP Phone Systems
Many offices of all sizes are now moving away from PBX, and embracing VoIP technology.
Businesses can use this newer technology to address their telephony needs with ease of administration, the relatively easy ability to upgrade their systems, as well as
the number one advantage … reduced costs.
This advanced technology allow large, medium, and small business communication to operate over their existing data network.
Where in the past, each phone and each computer had to have its own line to connect to the central network of the building, now only one is necessary.
Just as your computer sends out digital data over the corporate Ethernet network, your voice over IP phone can turn your voice into digital data and send it the same
way and over the same cable.
Also, when wireless networks are available, the transmissions can use the wireless network as well. Cellular phones are one example of this wireless technology.
When you look at VoIP vs. PBX, it is easy to see that VoIP is the technology being adopted now, and large PBX systems are an effective traditional communications
method, but a cumbersome one.
Just as how, fax machines were the way to pass documents from one location to another, but now, we use e-mail … PBX has been the way to route calls but now
VoIP is taking over our telephony needs.
By: Andrew Stratton
VOIP Telephony – The Benefits and Limitations
January 25th, 2010
Previously we explored the history and technology that gave
rise to VOIP Telephone service (*see footnotes). Today we will examine
some of the benefits and also the drawbacks of this new opportunity.
In previous articles we discovered that traditional “Landline” type
phone service is set up much like a “Toll Highway”. Billing starts
when the “Circuit” is opened, and continues until it is closed.
Just like travelling down a Tollway, the longer you stay on, and the
farther you travel, the more “Toll Booths” you pass through. These
toll booths are the phone company’s switches, and you get charged
for every one that you pass through.
In contrast, VOIP phones use “Packet” switching. As the broadband
Internet connection is always open, digitized voice signals are
sent to the receiver in discrete packets. The result is that no
“dead air” exists on the line, as no traffic is sent when there is
a lull or pause in the conversation. This allows several two-way
conversations to use the same “bandwidth”, or space that previously
was tied up by ONE call.
This has resulted in great economy for VOIP providers who in turn
pass along the savings to the end user. Most top VOIP plans run
around 30 dollars a month, and the best include International calls
to many countries worldwide within that base fee along with a host
of features like Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Three-way
Calling, Online Access, Etc.
While most major traditional carriers have an “all inclusive” plan,
none that I know of include International calling, and most of their
“basic” plans are double the cost of VOIP. In my experience, the most
coveted features are also charged extra for. Add in the taxes and fees,
and all of a sudden you’re talking REAL money!
The other great benefit of VOIP is the ability to take your device
anywhere and make calls just like you were at home. The best services
are fully find-me, follow-me capable. This means that wherever you
happen to be, your phone number will find you and ring at THAT location.
I use mine with a Laptop, a cheap cigarette lighter a/c converter,
a wireless card, and an old “princess” phone in my truck parked outside
of hotspots all the time. That’s huge. You can have your office in
whatever hotel or airport or Starbucks you happen to be in at the moment.
Having covered most of the benefits of VOIP, let’s examine some of
the drawbacks. The major one is spotty 911 service availability. As
the device is portable, any call to 911 will result in emergency
crews being sent to the device’s address of record, which is set up
when you activate the VOIP device and service. Obviously this doesn’t
do you much good if you are in a hotel in Montana but live in Ohio.
One way around this is to change your address with your provider when
you travel, and then change it back when you return home. Of course,
this only works with domestic addresses, and you must remember to do it.
A better way is to ignore the issue entirely, and keep a very basic,
cheap, no frills service plan with your local phone provider. This will
still be cheaper by far than a full blown plan. Also, you avoid the other
main issue with VOIP- Power Outages. If power goes out, or you lose your
Internet Connection, you lose your phone service. Of course, you run
that risk with today’s cordless phones too, so it’s always a good idea
to have an old hardwired phone around the house, or at least a cell
phone available.
By: Glenn Grundberg
