If your business has outgrown its old phone system – or it’s just time for an upgrade – a lot may have changed since the last time you looked at communications systems for your business.

Richard McGravie, president of PBX (News - Alert) systems provider Positron Telecom, has some tips and pointers for buying a telephone system and determining what kind of features are those that fit your business.

To McGravie the place to start is with an understanding of what Voice of Internet Protocol, or more commonly referred to as VoIP, which is voice translated into data and transmitted across an internet connection or network -- just like any other file or e-mail you might send. Upon reaching the other end, data is transformed back into its original form and emerges like a regular phone call.

“There are two things to consider when discussing VoIP – will you use it inside or outside the office,” McGravie said.

If you choose to keep VoIP inside your office there are some advantages.

“It allows you to cables once – voice and data will use the same Ethernet cabling, make cabling setup easier and cheaper,” McGravie said.

It’s a good choice for a company that doesn’t have the need to transfer large files as there is normally little or no impact on quality.

“If you do experience quality issues then you need to implement a quality of service (QOS) layout which could include putting the voice traffic on a separate Ethernet network,” he said. “There are other QOS techniques but most are really for traversing a WAN rather than dealing with local issues.”

Alternatively if you plan to use VoIP from a Service Provider or across the Internet then you can take advantage of many of the additional benefits of VoIP like low cost long distance calls, the ability to cheaply link offices together and even improve you customer service by supporting local dial numbers for all your key customer locations.

But, cautions McGravie, “You need to make sure you have a fast Internet connection. Consider that each VoIP call will take about 80Kbps and your Internet connection typically supports up to 800Kbps – so the max number of calls you could hope for is 10 calls.

“But if you’re also running your Internet surfing on the same network, then don’t push your VoIP traffic to more than 30 percent, or 3 calls.”

Because running VoIP in this case is dependent on the Internet connection, Positron doesn’t recommend running 100 percent of your business on VoIP lines but by using a hybrid approach you will get better savings and application support.

“VoIP inside the office will largely be transparent to you and will save you money, while VoIP outside can add new services and save you money too but you need to consider keeping some traditional telephone lines,” McGravie said.