Business VoIP Types and Business VoIP Equipment

Deval Shah
Deval Shah

For larger businesses, business VoIP provides a tremendous cost advantage; for smaller businesses, the advantage is that high-end features become available and affordable. Call quality is equivalent to standard phone service, maintenance costs are low, and long distance is much more affordable. A Synergy Research Group report notes that VoIP is the fastest growing segment in Enterprise Voice, with nearly 70 percent of the total telephony market being IP telephony. If you haven’t gotten in on that bandwagon, then it’s time. With the technological improvements in VoIP, higher and more affordable broadband service, and other advantages, there’s no reason to put it off any longer. The only decision is what type of service to install.

The biggest decision is whether to go with a hosted or on-premises VoIP system. An on-premises VoIP system, like a conventional VoIP system, requires dedicated equipment, while the hosted option relies on a third party, off-site provider (such as Hottelecom). Both approaches have their own relative advantages, depending on the user’s situation.

Business VoIP Types

Hosted VoIP

Hosted VoIP

Hosted VoIP is a popular approach and very affordable, since it does not require any in-house equipment to purchase or maintain. Without the capital expenditure requirement, the hosted option is an excellent one for companies on a tight budget, or for smaller startups that want to have a high level of features without the expense.

A hosted service typically is available on a monthly subscription. The third party provider maintains the IP PBX at their own facility, offering much more flexibility in service and ease of expansion. The hosted option does not require the business to purchase specialized IP phones.

A big advantage for smaller businesses is that the hosted option allows for more features. In many cases, were a small business to purchase their own on-premises IP PBX, the choice would be for a smaller, less expensive one with fewer features. The hosted option allows for a greater selection of features that would normally be available only with the higher-end models, but with a low monthly tariff.

On-Premises VoIP

On-Premises VoIP

On-premises VoIP requires the installation of an IP PBX on site, and this option is used normally by companies that have the in-house staff qualified to maintain it. This approach does require up-front capital expenditures as well as more manpower, but is advantageous in some circumstances. Long-distance fees will be dramatically less expensive. While long-distance is already cheap with hosted options, it’s even less when you run your own IP PBX. In addition, the on-premises option gives companies more control over their telephony environments, and may be especially useful in environments where companies are heavy users of high-end services such as videoconferencing.

Hybrid systems

Hybrid systems

A hybrid VoIP system combines both traditional and VoIP phone systems, with an automatic decision engine that transfers long distance calls to VoIP whenever the call will be cheaper. A hybrid system may be effective for a large company that has already made a substantial investment in a traditional system that has not yet been fully depreciated. The hybrid approach allows the company to still take advantage of the legacy system, while gaining the cost advantage of VoIP at the same time. In most cases, a hybrid approach is not long-term, but a step towards eventual conversion to a dedicated VoIP system.

Conclusion

The time has come for business VoIP. The only question is one of timing. A new company will derive advantages from deploying VoIP right away, while an established company may want to consider the timing of a migration to preserve the existing investment in capital equipment.

Business VoIP Equipment

More businesses are making the move to VoIP, but before doing so, it’s necessary to consider what business VoIP equipment will be needed. There is no standard list—what you need to buy will depend on your scope of operations, and whether you plan on using an on-premises plan for VoIP, or a hosted service.

Business VoIP presents companies with big opportunities for savings. With a minimal investment in business VoIP equipment, it’s easy to deploy VoIP throughout the company, even at multiple branches. For those companies with multiple locations around the country, business VoIP is especially crucial, since calls between locations can be made by extension dialing—with no long distance tariff at all. To get an inbound voip number visit the link.

Small businesses will benefit both from additional services, and cost savings, but before moving to a VoIP solution, a small business needs to understand what sort of business VoIP equipment will be necessary.

VoIP phones

VoIP phones

It’s not always necessary to switch from your existing phone system, and this is a big advantage for companies that may already have dozens, or even hundreds of office phones already in place. However, an IP phone does offer some advantages, in that it is designed to take full advantage of all the features that VoIP calling has to offer. However, should a business wish to continue using their existing phones, it’s usually a simple matter to do so, and a low-cost VoIP phone adapter can be used to make this happen.

The IP PBX

The IP PBX

Business VoIP can be provisioned either on a hosted basis or on-premises. For companies that choose an on-premises model, the advantage is greater control, and lower cost for high-end services like videoconferencing. When a business wants to deploy on-premises VoIP however, the IP PBX will represent the most important buying decision.

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The IP PBX, like a conventional PBX, is the heart of the telephony system. It works just like a conventional PBX, except that instead of plugging into the public switched telephone network, it plugs into your business broadband connection.

The IP PBX you choose will have a big impact on what features are available to you. In a hosted model, adding features is simple and straightforward, but with an on-premises model you may be more limited. It may be tempting to purchase a lower-end PBX, but keep in mind that this will have fewer features, and may not accommodate your company’s growth. When buying an IP PBX, don’t buy for today—think about what features and what capacity you may need two or three years from now. Otherwise, you may find yourself having to purchase new equipment sooner than you planned.

Fax machine

An older fax machine is made for conventional telephony, and your VoIP system may not work with your older fax machines. Keep in mind when provisioning VoIP in your office, your list of business VoIP equipment may need to include a new IP-enabled fax machine. To keep costs down, you may be able to use a low-cost adapter to use your existing fax machine over your VoIP network, but a newer system may offer several advantages. IP-enabled fax systems may allow you to provide fax services to every desktop in the office, so your employees can send and receive faxes directly from their desks.

VoIP Glossary

VoIP Glossary

Here are some common terms that are related to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP):

  1. ATA, which means Analog Telephone Adaptor, is a device that permits the user to link to a regular telephone unit to his computer or directly to his Internet connection to allow the use of VoIP. Basically, it is a device that transforms the analog voice signal into digital format. With an ATA, connecting a regular phone to the Internet and then using VoIP technology to make phone calls is easy. You simply plug the cable for your phone to the ATA instead of plugging it into the wall socket.
  2. Codec is the shortcut for encoder/decoder and it is primarily helpful for the transmission of large files. In short, it provides a way to compress data so that it will consume less time and resources when it is transmitted.
  3. E911 is the shortcut for Enhanced 911 that extends the concept of emergency calls to include Internet voice and mobile phones. The 911 service makes use of this telephone number to make it easier for people to remember the number to call in case of emergency. It would be the dispatcher who receives the call who will alert the appropriate service to respond to the emergency.
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  4. Frame Relay is a technique that is commonly used in packet switching. It provides a fast and efficient way to transmit data over the Internet because it only makes use of precious bandwidth when it is required. This means that much more transmissions could be allowed along the thousands of data routes.
  5. Interactive Voice Response or IVR is a kind of software that transforms voice commands and touch tones from callers into computer queries. This allows the telephone system to provide responses to questions from callers without the need for human intervention.
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    For example, a caller may inquire about his bank balance. After confirming the identity of the caller, the IVR program will access the database, get the information, and use prerecorded messages along with the retrieved information to simulate the presence of a customer representative responding to a customer inquiry.

  6. Lag is the time needed for a data packet to travel from the computer of the caller to the computer of the receiver. Since voice communications have to occur in real-time, lag should be minimized as much as possible.
  7. Latency is the delay in the response of the system when a request for data transmission is made. This is usually only in nanoseconds but it is often used to evaluate the performance of the network.
  8. Router is the device that is responsible for receiving and sending data packets while they are being routed through the network until they reach their destination. In the case of VoIP, the router usually treats the packets containing voice in the same way that it treats other forms of data.
  9. Soft phone is the term used for the program that receives and transmits calls using a computer or PDA. There is no actual phone used but instead, a microphone and headset is commonly utilized.

Read More: Best VoIP service for business

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