Voip faqs, voip guide

These are the most popular questions customers ask us regarding VoIP phone systems: Q: What is an IP PBX? Q: Is my current phone system VoIP compatible? Q: Do I need to change my broadband service for VoIP phone systems? Q: What is a managed or hosted PBX? Q: What is a premise based VoIP PBX? Q: What are the benefits of a premise-based VoIP PBX vs. a hosted PBX? Q: How do I guarantee VoIP call quality? Q: Do I need extra equipment beyond the phone system? Q: What happens if my VoIP Network goes down? Q: Can I scale the phone system? Q: If I have 2 sites do I need a VoIP phone system in each location? Q. What is an IP PBX? A. An IP PBX is a complete VoIP phone system that provides telephone calls over IP data networks (the internet). All conversations are sent as data packets over the network. VoIP technology gives you advanced communication functions while providing the significant scalability and robustness that all businesses seek. The IP PBX is also able to connect to traditional PSTN lines via an optional gateway - so upgrading day-to-day business communication is quick and easy! Your company doesn’t need to disrupt your external communication infrastructure and operations. You can even keep your regular telephone numbers. This way, the IP PBX switches local calls over the data network inside your business and allows all users to share the same external phone lines. Q: Is my current phone system VoIP compatible? A: Unless your phone system is only a few years old the answer is NO. YOU can get cheap VoIP phone calls on your current system but you won’t get any of the benefits of a new VoIP phone system. Q: Do I need to change my broadband service for VoIP phone systems? A: The speed of your data service has a direct impact on the call quality. If you have a basic internet connection then VoIP phone calls will probably sound awful. Ask your data provider if your service is up to scratch for VoIP. Q: What is a managed or hosted PBX? A: This is where you do not actually have a phone system in your premises. You have VoIP handsets only. These VoIP handsets are controlled by a selected provider in their offices. You do not own, or control, this type of phone system. Q: What is a premise based VoIP PBX? A: This is where you have a normal VoIP phone system with a control box, or main equipment (ME), mounted on the wall. You then have handsets which can be digital phones, or VoIP phones, connected to this main equipment. You control this phone system, are not reliant upon a provider and you can own it. Q: What are the benefits of a premise-based VoIP PBX vs. a hosted PBX? Hosted solutions can be slightly cheaper, are managed offsite by your chosen provider, but you can’t administer your own phone system and need to rely on your provider for everything. If your provider goes down then you also have NO Operational phone system. Premise-based solutions on the other hand, allow you to administer your own phone system - you control everything. They are more reliable but can be slightly more expensive if you choose VoIP handsets with the solution. For more in-depth information please see Benefits of VoIP phone Q: How do I guarantee VoIP call quality? A: You need a high speed quality internet connection and high Quality of Service Routers (QOS) with Voice Prioritisation. Data and Voice both travel across your data network under a VoIP solution. It doesn’t matter if a data packet gets sent 1 second slower but if your voice packet is slower then your phone call will have lag and distorted sound. This effect is called VoIP “Latency”. QOS routers make sure your voice calls get delivered on time so you get the call quality you need. For the technical people, according to a white paper from Brooktrout Technology, latency starts to affect phone conversations when it exceeds 150 milliseconds each way, and is unacceptable when it exceeds 450 milliseconds (nearly half a second). Q: Do I need extra equipment beyond the phone system? A: Read the question above. You will need to check the routers you’re currently running and ensure they offer QOS. If you’ve only been using your routers for data then the odds are you will need to upgrade your routers. Q: What happens if my VoIP Network goes down? A: If you have no redundancy with your phone system then your entire phone system will be dead! You will not be able to receive or make phone calls. When you set up a VoIP phone system it is an excellent idea to have redundancy measures in place. If you keep a couple of normal phone lines active then your system will automatically switch to them in the event of a problem with your data network. This is a MUST for phone critical business. Q: Can I scale the phone system? A: Most VoIP phone systems will allow you to scale, just like a normal phone system. Make sure you let us know how much expansion you want to allow for so you get the right solution for today and tomorrow. Q: If I have 2 sites do I need a VoIP phone system in each location? A: It is up to you. YOU can: Have a VoIP phone system each site Have a VoIP phone system in site 1 and only VoIP handsets in site 2 Option 1 is the preferred solution because it is totally reliable across a VPN but it often comes down to cost for customers. Both solutions will achieve the same results. Ask us to price up both options for your business. LINK: What do I need to know before upgrading my business to VoIP? With a proper VoIP installation plan executed by professional providers, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without VoIP phone system technology. However, missing a couple of key and seemingly minor checkpoints can cause potential outages, cost you money and convince you that VoIP is a four letter word for more than one reason. By following our simple steps to prepare and plan for your new VoIP technology, you can save money, add significant features, improve call quality and reap the benefits that a strategically implemented business VoIP system can offer. Prepare for your transition to VoIP technology by focusing on 4 key areas: 1. Thorough network assessments Most businesses know that VoIP runs over the internet and that a VoIP phone system needs to be designed so that voice traffic runs as smoothly over it as it does over the traditional phone system. What many businesses don’t know, or underestimate, is that VoIP runs over a customer Lan (Local Area Network) as well. The quality of a phone call can be impacted by matters as simple as having the right type of interoffice cabling and ensuring that switches, not hubs (which serve the purpose of extending a network like an extension cord, but without repeating or strengthening the signal), are deployed within a customer’s network. Additional details can include whether a company has a firewall, and whether the ports that permit the two most common VoIP protocols SIP and MGCP ports are blocked. If any of this sound too technical to you, don’t worry, we can help you understand the finer details. We’re the experts in VoIP technology and we’ll provide a complete assessment of your individual needs, explain how to tie it in with all aspects of your existing phone system network or make recommendations to upgrade to a new IP phone system. In addition to reviewing internal network needs, a review of the Internet Access that will be used to deliver VoIP should occur. Internet connections should be over dedicated lines (as opposed to cable or DSL) or higher if more than one phone call are to be supported. In other words, it’s fine to give a worker a VoIP phone to work from home with over their broadband connection, but the shared nature of DSL and cable connections tend to cause quality issues that wouldn’t otherwise be noticed as a user surfs the internet. 2. A complete phone call flow design This is easily the most overlooked of all of the preparation items a company should consider when installing a VoIP system. It’s easy to forget to properly plan for the way that a phone call is routed to various groups within the company via an attendant, either live or automated (e.g. For sales: press 1, for service: press 2, etc.). What do you need to happen to calls that come into the company after hours? For a sales call center, do you want to route calls equitably, or have them routed to your top closer first? Or, a company may fail to plan for servicing calls that aren’t picked up by the intended recipient but should be made available to others within a work group at a company (often called a hunt group feature). Even more common is that business’ employ a VoIP phone system solution knowing that these features exist but without properly planning out each feature. Each employee’s phone should be considered for each feature that they have with their current system, and which of VoIP’s new features should be made available to them. Whatever you individual VoIP needs, we’ll help you with an effective VoIP phone system for your calls, so that they will be routed effectively throughout your business. 3. Implement a proper transition plan Making the switch to VoIP can be completely stress free if properly planned. There are however certain key things to look out for. For instance, upgrading to VoIP typically meanings porting your existing numbers from your old service provider to your new VoIP provider’s system. This process should ideally begin 7-14 days ahead of time just in case issues with the original POTS provider arise. There are two principal things to look out for when upgrading to VoIP technology: • Your internet access is turned on and ready It may seem obvious that your Internet connection needs to be live, but because many companies will elect to have an additional data line to handle increased Internet traffic, there isn’t always an established line to transition to. • 1800# porting If your company has a 1800 number, you’ll need to allow for more time in porting over. This is something that is easily accounted for with a simple forwarding plan, but it must be set up before bulk number porting. If you’re setting up new business phone lines or if you’re relocating, it’s important to purchase not only numbers to support your existing users but also to support planned growth. Otherwise, you’ll end up with numbers that are staggered versus following a simple, contiguous sequence. Finally, you need to have a contingency plan on what happens if something goes wrong. You should strongly consider a parallel conversion in which local network issues are troubleshot before you give the go-ahead to port numbers. While this all sounds complicated, don’t worry… we can take care of everything. 4. Educating staff on newly available features: Often with new technology, the key variable in the proper implementation is often not technical, but human. A proper VoIP transition plan should include educating employees about the impending transition, the new features that will be made available and providing clear training and user manuals that will make your employees excited and supportive of the change. A key feature of business VoIP is the ability for each employee to decide how each incoming call is treated. A sales rep may elect to have calls from a spouse forwarded on to his/her cell phone rather than being sent to voice mail immediately, have calls that he doesn’t recognise sent to voice mail, and calls from a top customer routed to the cell phone and then a home phone. This can be a wonderful benefit if the user is properly trained, or downright intimidating and frustrating if the user isn’t prepared. We’ll provide expert staff training to ensure you and your staff have the smoothest transition to VoIP technology and get the most out of your new system.