Is VoIP Really Worth the Trouble?
Get answers to your biggest voice over IP FAQ and hear how VoIP can improve communications and flexibility in your business. (1:54 min)
Voice over IP FAQ provides answers to questions that small businesses frequently ask about Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) and unified communications. Our Voice over IP FAQ explains the differences between VoIP and unified communications, the benefits for small businesses, and the equipment you'll need.
Voice over IP FAQ: What is VoIP?
VoIP technology enables you to make and receive telephone calls over a broadband Internet connection instead of over a traditional phone line.
Voice over IP FAQ: How Does it Work?
With VoIP, voice traffic is converted into data packets and transmitted over the public Internet and/or over a private IP network. When you call a landline or cell phone number, the data packets are converted to a regular telephone signal before they reach the party you're calling.
Voice over IP FAQ: How is it Different from Unified Communications?
VoIP refers to a basic Internet-based telephony system. Unified communications is more advanced. Among unified communications' many advantages are sophisticated call center features; conferencing that combines voice, data, video and desktop sharing; and presence—the ability to instantly determine the availability of others within your company.
Voice over IP FAQ: What Equipment Do I Need?
For a basic VoIP system, all you need are a broadband Internet connection and a VoIP-enabled phone; a traditional phone connected to an adapter; or a computer with VoIP software.
Many businesses are now using VoIP and unified communications on their own private networks. Telephony systems residing on private networks have better security and quality than those that operate strictly over the public Internet. With VoIP or unified communications on a private network, you can prioritize voice over other types of traffic on your network, to ensure the best possible audio quality.
Voice over IP FAQ: What Are the Benefits?
Reduced local and long-distance charges
One network to manage for both voice and data, instead of two
Reduced travel costs--thanks to online conferencing—easy-to-use video calls, and other collaboration tools
Easily make adds, moves, and changes to the small business phone system as needed
Employees have more ways to stay connected and customers can reach them more easily
Take all of your phone system's features with you for use at home, at the office, or on the road
Source: Cisco small business VoIP FAQ
Showing posts with label ip-pbx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ip-pbx. Show all posts
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Selecting the Right Hosted VoIP Service
Hosted VoIP Service
If you’re looking to make the switch to VoIP you are going to come across a myriad of different solutions. One of the most popular being hosted VoIP.
What is Hosted VoIP?
Hosted VoIP is a service provided by a third party that gives you all of your phone system features and voice calling capabilities without having an actual VoIP phone system at your office. The only part of the system that you actual see are your VoIP Phones at your desk.
The hosted VoIP service provider, as they are commonly called, hosts your phone system functionality from their data center (or one that they lease from a data center provider). You are able to access your Hosted VoIP service via the internet, where you can configure users, extensions, menu’s, etc. The type of features you can get and the rates you pay, depend on the service provider.
Who Uses Hosted VoIP?
Hosted VoIP service from companies like Nextiva is used by companies of all sizes and industries, but is most popular with the small or micro-enterprise, typically 25 seats and under. Hosted VoIP service is a popular option for these companies because of the low up-front capital investment and predictable monthly billing.
If your company is looking to make the switch to VoIP with a limited budget, hosted VoIP would make great sense. Also, if your company lacks the staff or current knowledge required to manage your own VoIP system, hosted VoIP is probably they best thing for you!
How to Select Hosted VoIP Service?
Going about selecting hosted VoIP service for your company can get a little confusing. Today there are literally hundreds of different hosted VoIP providers who all look, sound and feel the same.
That’s because of a little known secret that most of these hosted VoIP services are running off of the same platform! That’s right, they may have different names, colors, packages and locations, but they are probably running off one of three popular platforms.
What does this mean for you? Well, to start, it means that things like price, features and VoIP phone choices should be pretty much the same across the board.
(Hence the confusing part of choice a provider.)
This makes the customer experience, the sign-up process, support systems, service level agreements and customer reviews the most important aspects of choosing a hosted VoIP provider.
Customer Experience – Before selecting any hosted VoIP provider you should take the time to call into their office. Be prepared with questions about the companies history, expertise, service level agreements and levels of support. Get a feel for how the sales professional answers the questions by listening to his tone of voice, directness of answer and other clues that might expose a weakness in your experience as a customer.
Support Systems – Things do go wrong and when they do, what matters most is quick, transparent assistance from technical support. Before purchasing hosted VoIP services make sure you find out what standard turnaround times are for support, local availability and even TEST OUT THEIR SYSTEM by submitting a ticket.
Service Level Agreements (SLA) – Like support systems, your hosted provider’s service level agreement is a commitment to ensuring you have a great service experience. Every hosted VoIP provider should have an SLA in place, typically something that guarantees the service will be up more than 99% of the time.
Customer Reviews – Most of the major hosted VoIP providers have a number of reviews of their service on various websites. In addition to this or if your provider is not large enough to have online reviews, ask for customer references. Then call them. Seriously, you can very often avoid disasters by speaking with real customers who have real experience with a company.
The Next Steps
After reading this, if you are ready to take the next steps in purchasing hosted VoIP service, you best bet is to write down everything you think you need, then contact up to five providers of hosted VoIP service. Once they contact you back, use the advice above to evaluate the best option for your company and then follow that providers lead.
(via Garrett Smith)
If you’re looking to make the switch to VoIP you are going to come across a myriad of different solutions. One of the most popular being hosted VoIP.
What is Hosted VoIP?
Hosted VoIP is a service provided by a third party that gives you all of your phone system features and voice calling capabilities without having an actual VoIP phone system at your office. The only part of the system that you actual see are your VoIP Phones at your desk.
The hosted VoIP service provider, as they are commonly called, hosts your phone system functionality from their data center (or one that they lease from a data center provider). You are able to access your Hosted VoIP service via the internet, where you can configure users, extensions, menu’s, etc. The type of features you can get and the rates you pay, depend on the service provider.
Who Uses Hosted VoIP?
Hosted VoIP service from companies like Nextiva is used by companies of all sizes and industries, but is most popular with the small or micro-enterprise, typically 25 seats and under. Hosted VoIP service is a popular option for these companies because of the low up-front capital investment and predictable monthly billing.
If your company is looking to make the switch to VoIP with a limited budget, hosted VoIP would make great sense. Also, if your company lacks the staff or current knowledge required to manage your own VoIP system, hosted VoIP is probably they best thing for you!
How to Select Hosted VoIP Service?
Going about selecting hosted VoIP service for your company can get a little confusing. Today there are literally hundreds of different hosted VoIP providers who all look, sound and feel the same.
That’s because of a little known secret that most of these hosted VoIP services are running off of the same platform! That’s right, they may have different names, colors, packages and locations, but they are probably running off one of three popular platforms.
What does this mean for you? Well, to start, it means that things like price, features and VoIP phone choices should be pretty much the same across the board.
(Hence the confusing part of choice a provider.)
This makes the customer experience, the sign-up process, support systems, service level agreements and customer reviews the most important aspects of choosing a hosted VoIP provider.
Customer Experience – Before selecting any hosted VoIP provider you should take the time to call into their office. Be prepared with questions about the companies history, expertise, service level agreements and levels of support. Get a feel for how the sales professional answers the questions by listening to his tone of voice, directness of answer and other clues that might expose a weakness in your experience as a customer.
Support Systems – Things do go wrong and when they do, what matters most is quick, transparent assistance from technical support. Before purchasing hosted VoIP services make sure you find out what standard turnaround times are for support, local availability and even TEST OUT THEIR SYSTEM by submitting a ticket.
Service Level Agreements (SLA) – Like support systems, your hosted provider’s service level agreement is a commitment to ensuring you have a great service experience. Every hosted VoIP provider should have an SLA in place, typically something that guarantees the service will be up more than 99% of the time.
Customer Reviews – Most of the major hosted VoIP providers have a number of reviews of their service on various websites. In addition to this or if your provider is not large enough to have online reviews, ask for customer references. Then call them. Seriously, you can very often avoid disasters by speaking with real customers who have real experience with a company.
The Next Steps
After reading this, if you are ready to take the next steps in purchasing hosted VoIP service, you best bet is to write down everything you think you need, then contact up to five providers of hosted VoIP service. Once they contact you back, use the advice above to evaluate the best option for your company and then follow that providers lead.
(via Garrett Smith)
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Wholesale Polycom SIP Phones for your IP-PBX or Softswitch!
Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 Phone
The Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 is a premium SIP desktop phone with color display!
Have you invested in a Hosted IP-PBX or Softswitch telephone platform? When adding SIP phones to your network, look no further than Telephone Magic for wholesale Polycom IP phones!
The Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 is a six-line SIP desktop phone with color display that brings lifelike richness and voice quality to phone calls.
Your teams need reliable communication devices. They prefer deskphones that come with multiple lines but without complicated features.
The Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 combines state-of-the-art hardware with proven Polycom UC software designed for executive users and busy professionals.
SoundPoint IP 670 Offers:
- Unparalleled voice quality and clarity that makes every call efficient and productive
- A color interface platform for accessing applications, including the Polycom Productivity Suite and third-party applications
- Advanced SIP functionality, including shared lines, busy lamp field, and presence indicator
- Expandability, with up to three expansion modules into a call attendant console
The SoundPoint IP 670 is a premium, six-line, SIP desktop phone with a color display. It delivers crystal-clear HD voice quality that meets the voice communication needs of even the most discerning users.
The Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 combines a large, backlit color display that gives users a rich visual experience with a menu of options that are simple for users to navigate. In addition, through its vibrant color user interface, the Polycom SoundPoint IP 670 is ideal for accessing applications, such as the Polycom Productivity Suite. This device also delivers a significantly augmented and visually pleasing user experience when running productivity-enhancing third-party applications developed with Polycom XML API.
SoundPoint IP 670 Features:
- Six line keys, as well as several soft keys for custom applications
- A backlit 320 x 160 pixel color display that delivers a rich visual experience
- Engineering that makes installation, configuration, and upgrades as simple and efficient as possible
- Integrated GigE support
- Broad and robust interoperability with a broad array of SIP call-control Hosted IP-PBX and Softswitch platforms for open choices and simplified provisioning and support
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