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VoIP Switch - Winnipeg to Telecom: We're Going with VoIP Whether You Like It or Not
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Winnipeg to Telecom: We're Going with VoIP Whether You Like It or Not

 
November 27, 2013
By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor
 

Is it fiscally irresponsible for cities not to use VoIP instead of traditional phone service? Winnipeg thought so. Over the objection of the city’s phone provider, MTS (News - Alert), the executive policy committee of Winnipeg mandated that the city transition to VoIP.


The city is expected to save $1.5 million in the next five years, according to VoIP Review.

The new deal involves changing more than 4,000 landline phones to VoIP service. MTS worried that such a large transition would cause the city big headaches, but government was unmoved; it went with VoIP provider, FlexITy, a cloud provider of both voice and data solutions.

VoIP first made gains in the enterprise, as businesses discovered that they could get more features and better call quality for far less than traditional landlines. Small businesses and consumers then followed, largely for the same reason. The next migration is government; cities, municipalities and public agencies are beginning the switch to VoIP.

Winnipeg isn’t the only city making the switch.

 South Bend, Michigan also recently switched, moving the entire city government to a VoIP system in 2012.

The system is still working on paying for itself, but once it does it is estimated that it will save South Bend roughly $240,000 per year. That’s a good chunk of change!

With the economy a challenge in many areas of the U.S. right now, ignoring the low-hanging fruit that VoIP represents is something that government just can’t afford to miss.

In addition to cost savings, VoIP also adds additional advanced features and brings greater versatility in how phone systems can be used.

Among the features that VoIP typically brings is find-me call routing, voicemail to e-mail transcription, call screening, hold music, auto attendant, do not disturb functionality, and conferencing.

In a few years time, the move to VoIP will not even be worth mentioning; the telephone networks themselves will have abandoned traditional TDM calling in favor of calls that leverage IP. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) is currently working with telephone companies on the transition, and cellular providers are starting to roll out voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) now that mobile bandwidth has been expanded through the use of 4G LTE (News - Alert).




Edited by Blaise McNamee
 
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