Thanks to ever-increasing Internet speeds and bandwidth limits, traditional land-line phone systems are falling out of favor as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony dominates the landscape. VoIP phone systems route phone calls through the Internet instead of using the inefficient and outdated copper wiring that makes up land-based phone lines, and put simply, results in a better phone system for less money. Of course, there are hundreds of providers of VoIP services, and choosing the right provider – as well as the right package – can be difficult.
Before choosing a VoIP solution, it's important to consider what position you're starting from. This guide on My Business Voice is a great place to start, as it provides a short checklist of the essentials. For example, it asks what VoIP protocols are supported by your current ISP, and since VoIP is dependent on existing Internet connection speeds, it is also important to take careful note of your current speeds. Additionally, it asks readers to inventory their current phone equipment. Several VoIP providers will offer adapters to convert traditional analog phones into high-tech VoIP phones for cheap or even for free.
Another piece of equipment worth noting is the absence or presence of a Private Branch Exchange (PBX (News - Alert)). A PBX routes phone calls to their appropriate extensions, and manages phone lines to make sure that incoming calls are always received. By upgrading to an IP PBX system, your business can take advantage of SIP trunking, which optimizes incoming and outgoing calls for their greatest efficiency. SIP trunking makes it so that a business only needs as many phone calls as they use during their peak calling hours, so a business with 50 phone lines would only need 10 SIP trunks if their call traffic never exceeds 10 simultaneous calls.
Businesses without a PBX can still take advantage of hosted PBX services, which circumvent the need to buy an IP PBX capable of supporting VoIP (a several thousand dollar expense). For prices as low as $10-15 per month per phone line, businesses can remotely access a VoIP provider's PBX system, and have access to all of the features provided by it.
Edited by Alisen Downey