VoIP service, also known as Internet telephony, uses a service provider to send your external calls over the Internet, allowing for extremely cheap long-distance and international calls. VoIP phone systems, in contrast, use equipment installed at your business to route internal calls over your computer network, uniting multiple offices on a single phone system.
Installation is generally fairly quick, but if you need new network cabling or improvements, it can take weeks. If you must have your VoIP phone system in place by a certain date, make sure potential suppliers are aware of that requirement.
To determine the number of calls you need the phone system to handle at once, start with at least one call for each employee who uses the phone full-time -- customer service, support, and phone salespeople -- and add 1-2 extra calls for some callers to be on hold. For general office staff, one call for every 10 employees is a good estimate. Be sure to consider your plans for growth: some VoIP phone systems are more expandable than others.Note: Each ongoing call, including people in queue or on hold, uses a "line." Business VoIP phone systems typically start at a minimum of four lines or simultaneous calls.
Extensions are required for each device in your company that connects to the phone system. Allow one for every employee's desk phone, as well as one per fax machine, credit card terminal, modem, and any other piece equipment that requires a phone connection. Don’t forget to count phones for conference rooms and common areas. Again, plan for the future: it's much better to pay a little extra now for a system that can handle more extensions than you need than to run into the system's limitations later. Note: This question indicates the number of "extensions" you need the phone system to accommodate. It is essentially a tally of the number of users the system will have.
VoIP systems depend on high-capacity local area networks (LANs). If you have a network in place, our suppliers will evaluate it and provide options for expanding or improving it if necessary; if you do not have a LAN in place, our suppliers will providing pricing and installation options as part of their response. Note: If you do not have a high speed LAN, our partners will provide pricing and installation options. If you do have a data network, our partners will help to determine your bandwidth requirements and advise of reconfiguration options if necessary.
A VoIP phone system service contract specifies how quickly your dealer will respond if you have a problem – within 4 hours is fairly typical during business hours. If your business depends on a smoothly-functioning phone system, it may be worth upgrading to 24 x 7 coverage and shorter guaranteed response times.
What is your office ZIP code?
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What is your e-mail address?
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Please describe in detail any additional requirements you may have for your VoIP phone system. [?]
NOTE: This form is for U.S. businesses.
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(e.g. note if you need a T1 line, or if replacing a phone system please indicate the type and number of lines). Are you using T1 lines for voice? Are you connecting to standard phone lines, or a VoIP service? If you're replacing an existing system, what do you have now – how many lines and extensions are you using? What are your calling patterns like?
