Internet Phone Service

VoIP phone systems can connect multiple offices anywhere to the same phone system and eliminate long distance calling charges between them saving business owners a lot of money. Though it will not replace your current phone service for connection to the outside world, but can offer benefits for small or large business operations.

The businesses that will see the largest benefit from Voip phone systems are businesses that operate out of multiple locations. Any offices on a WAN or LAN will get benefits of being connected by a common phone system. These benefits include call transfers, and extension dialing. Your employees can truly communicate and collaborate as if they were in the same location. Take a moment and peruse your latest phone bill for the current cost of calls made between all your different office locations. Connecting all these offices can reduce labor costs as you can share a common receptionist and voice mail system. If you send your employees on business travel you can connect them remotely to the same system so they can make calls on the road at no additional charge. There are a variety of useful features similar to traditional phone service available such as call forwarding and caller id available with VoIP phone systems.

The high bandwidth demands of VoIP is a potential drawback if you are not using a compatible computer network. If this is an issue your network may need boosting with a QOS application which is a Quality of Service application. This program gives the needed amount of bandwidth for voice calls throughout the network. A QOS application may be included in your VoIP system but if not it is available for purchase. VoIP phone systems do require a little more attention than a regular phone system which are basically set up and forgotten until there is a problem. VoIP phones will not operate in the case of a power outage and may go down if there is a server crash or network problem. If you have a capable IT staff, most problems can be anticipated and fixed quickly.

A total package of 16 phones including all the features you would want in a typical phone system will generally run from $10,000 or more including installation. If you deduct the savings from interoffice long distance calls and administrative cost reductions, you can still see a considerable value. Remember to be specific about the features you want. The system may promise “everything” but “everything” can mean different things to different vendors. Be clear to your vendor about the specific needs of your offices like credit card processors, security systems or fax machines so that all your needs can be addressed.

Decide now if making an investment now for extra capacity makes sense for your growing business. It is cheaper to do this up front and not down the road when you may need it. Carefully investigate any vendor and make sure they are licensed and reputable.