Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, desktop and mobile, are popular options for businesses looking to cut communications costs, since they can help get rid of a lot of telephony expenses. This helps companies build a more global presence, among other advantages, such as the ability to make voice calls via a handset from remote locations.
It’s a growing trend: In-Stat (News - Alert) said it is expecting the number of subscribers to triple in the 2011 business year. Senior Analyst Amy Cravens said the market is still in its infancy but there are "significant opportunities" for companies within it.
Industry observer Patrick Nelson, cited in a recent blog post from Telappliant, remarked that Android (News - Alert) devices are pretty good options for this purpose.
Abandon your “lackluster cellphone signal,” and route calls over Wi-Fi and through the Internet, Nelson says, outlining steps towards running mobile VoIP successfully and efficiently.
Step Number One, sign up with a provider.
Then gather the settings you want to use to make the most of the technology. He notes that this happens before setting up the tool you’re going to run.
Finally, Nelson says, bosses “must then obtain an incoming number for their devices,” and test that the product is running correctly.
Tone Software (News - Alert), a provider of voice management technology, offers great features for those that do go the VoIP route, particularly when it comes to voice management. All those wonderful benefits of VoIP, IP Telephony and Unified Communications (News - Alert) are lost when the VoIP network is plagued by poor voice quality and negative user experiences, so the company offers its solution ReliaTel VoIP Quality of Service (QoS) Assurance, a vendor agnostic product to manage VoIP QoS in real-time throughout converged voice environments.
According to Tone officials, ReliaTel will determine if the current network can support VoIP traffic with high levels of call quality, enable VoIP support teams to identify and resolve the correct VoIP quality issues before service degrades, provide the tools to rapidly resolve both IPT Quality Issues and the underlying network issues and deliver VoIP quality trending reports and service level metrics that help to improve ongoing voice quality and network performance as usage grows
ReliaTel also provides what Tone officials characterize as “deep dive metric analysis and integrated remediation tools to monitor, analyze, and resolve quality issues that negatively impact user service levels.”
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.Edited by Carrie Schmelkin