Archive for the ‘Hosted IP Voice’ Category

What is SIP Trunking?
A SIP trunk is a direct connection between your business and an Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) that allows you to consolidate your voice and data infrastructure over a single broadband connection, and allows you to extend beyond your organizations firewall without the need for an IP-PSTN gateway. SIP trunking is easier and less expensive to design, operate, maintain and reconfigure as needed than a traditional telephony system.

What does SIP Trunk stand for?
“SIP,” stands for Session Initiation Protocol, which is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard protocol for initiating an interactive user session that involves multimedia elements such as voice, chat, video, gaming and virtual reality. “Trunk” refers to a dedicated physical line that connects switching equipment, taken from “trunk” in the traditional circuit switched telecommunication, except that in SIP Trunking, the connection is a virtual one.

What is needed?
There are three components necessary to successfully deploy SIP trunks: a PBX, with a SIP-enabled trunk side, an enterprise edge device understanding SIP and an Internet telephony or SIP trunking service provider.

Will I need more Internet bandwidth when I buy SIP Trunks?
SIP Trunks are virtual circuits delivered over an Internet Access line. Depending on the number of SIP Trunks purchased, and the amount of excess Internet connectivity, a business should consider purchasing more Internet Access. However, it’s important to know that when a SIP Trunk is not being used, the bandwidth otherwise allocated to a SIP Trunk is freed up for use in less intensive applications, such as e-mail and general web use. This dynamic allocation of bandwidth is yet another feature of SIP Trunks versus more traditional technologies, such as analog or PRI circuits.

What are some of the benefits of SIP trunking for my business?
Depending on your company’s needs the benefits can be bountiful:

• Combines voice and data on a single, IP-based network and eliminates the need for expensive and inflexible voice circuits.
• SIP trunking is scalable and expands and contracts with your company’s changing needs.
• Dramatically reduces CapEx and OpEx spending, increasing your operating profit.
• Save money on toll charges and long distance costs.
• Improves the call quality of voice based IP communication due to the dedicated channel of each SIP trunk.
• Works with existing IP PBX and other systems.

As with any service it is important to first discuss your needs with an ITSP customer service representative to determine if SIP trunking would be beneficial for your business.

Myth: VoIP is unreliable, resulting in dropped calls, interruptions and unclear voice transmission.

Truth: VoIP voice quality has dramatically improved over the past few years, and is equivalent (some say better) to the Standard Telephone Lines in terms of voice clarity and reliability.

This was not always the case, but advances in technology have virtually eliminated any problems we experienced back when VoIP was first introduced to the telecommunications industry.  Initially, the need for speed was a critical factor.  Internet connections were slower years ago, and expensive T1 lines were more useful to produce the same call quality and reliability we were used to with our regular telephones.  But the T1 lines were too costly for small businesses, and the costs far outweighed the benefits.  That has all changed now with high speed broadband service providers offering faster speed each year, for less money.  The cost for T1 lines has come down in response to competition with fast DSL and Cable speeds, but unless you are a larger business and connecting many phone lines, the burning fast speeds that most people have in their homes for their personal computers is plenty of bandwidth to handle your VoIP business needs. Generally speaking, as long as there is enough bandwidth in use, the quality of service will be the same for VoIP and traditional phone service.

When considering VoIp for your business, discussing your company’s phone usage with your new VoIP provider is key to assuring that you experience the many benefits and features a VoIP phone system has to offer.  A quality VoIP provider manages and maintains the phone system, leaving you with more time to focus on your business needs.

If you’ve been thinking about taking your business to the next level in communication technology, then chances are you have read multiple times that VoIP is a simple and scalable infrastructure that combines voice, and data networks, into a single network.  But what does this mean exactly?  And how does that benefit you?

To put it simply, VoIP phone service replaces your phone line with a high-speed internet connection. Because there is no need for a separate phone line, voice and data services are combined into a single network. VoIP takes analog audio signals like the kind you hear when talking on the phone and converts them into digital data that can be transmitted over the internet.  The digital signals are then reconverted back to analog, utilizing a traditional telephone network to route the call to the number dialed.

VoIP scalability refers to the agility of VoIP technology to follow the needs of your growing business by easily adding and moving phones and features with a few clicks on a computer, from any location that has an internet connection. Unlike with traditional telephone systems, the number of phones is not restricted by call switching equipment, so adding a new employee to the system takes a matter of minutes.

Using VoIP technology, phone calls can me made with IP phones, which look like standard handsets but have RJ-45 Ethernet connectors, instead of RJ-11 phone connectors.  You will still have standard calling features with IP Phones like call waiting and caller ID, along with a host of extra features that are unavailable on traditional phones and PBX systems.  The real benefit of the IP phones is the mobility they provide because you can take these phones anywhere and use them wherever there is an internet connection.  Once the installation process for VoIP is completed, the system is highly mobile.

If you decide to upgrade your business to VoIP, you will have a state-of-the-art communication infrastructure that is scalable and cost-effective as your business grows, and will continue to add value into the future through lowered operational and maintenance costs.  By consolidating communications into a single network, overhead costs are reduced, simply by eliminating a costly monthly phone bill.  Additionally, maintenance costs are lowered because a data network is more flexible and cheaper to maintain, than traditional phone lines.  Finally, a VoIP telephone system does not require a big investment, or a crystal ball to determine what your business needs might be, years down the road.

Lets talk about the real benefits of VoIP services for business usage. VoIP, especially a Hosted VoIP, makes it possible for companies of all sizes to increase productivity and improve customer satisfaction and flexibility, while reducing overhead.  One of the biggest advantages of a VoIP phone is the expansive range of productivity features and options that are literally at your fingertips.