VOIP

VOIP

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for users:

what was the setup/scoping required

has it saved significant operating costs, and what was investment level[s] required

are there any noticeable changes to the way you use telecoms now, or new features you can now use  / or cannot use ? 

been asked to look into this especially as the business is about to move premises[small staff =5], so any guidance or comments greatly appreciated

Replies (10)

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By apacarada
05th Oct 2009 15:43

It is much cheaper than land line but quality of sound may not be as good.

I am with the company called Soho 66 (https://soho66.co.uk) and it worked perfectly for us. If you have a high volumes of calls then the quality of the sound is compromised and you need to invest in the technology.
 

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
06th Oct 2009 18:57

Skype

To get a feel for the possibilities sign up for Skype, the basic version is free between Skype users and you pay lower than standard charges to call non Skype phones.  There are also good chat, file transfer & SMS facilities plus good & cheap all inclusive charges for extra facilities (like a Skypein phone number ie a standard landline number for unskyped people to call you on Skype).

As already mentioned the quality is not always great but with key clients plus one of our "home workers" fully Skyped it's been a great addition to landline/mobiles/email.  Wherever possible we make all outgoing calls on Skype enabling us to have one landline for incoming, this has saved us cost.  You can even receive/hold calls & tranfer/share to your colleague or, in fact anyone else online at the time.

One of my clients has offices in 7-8 countries and relies on Skype for all internal comms, including conference calls and chats and it's saved them a fortune.

As I say it gives you a cheap way to start the voip process so that you can better judge what you'd need from a more sophisticated system.  I said that 4 years ago and am still just Skyped.

Good luck

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By pauljohnston
08th Oct 2009 13:25

We have used it for 4 years

We use voxhub www.voxhub.com

We originally set it up so that we had portabillity as the phone number we had was in the service office switchboard.

Quality has never been an issue indeed the BT line in our current location often has a poorer signal.

The benefits for you are that if you move office Voxhub can take over your old number and issue you with a new number (s) as required.  It dioes not matter where in the country you old number is the client will get thru on you new phone line at no cost to you.

We can receive texts to the same landline number and we receive these as email.

Phone costs are much lower and as each user can have an internet control panel, calls can be directed to others if that person is out or to mobiles etc.  One of the best features is that you can use the phone wherever there is a broad band connection so if you work from home your business calls are seamlessly delivered there.  Even abroad.

Costs:  with an adapter one can use BT phones particularly those that are handsfree or special voip phones can be bought.

I would suggest that for 5 you will need a dedicated broadband connection to avold obvious problems with Computers and phones.  Setting up was done by our IT guy and took about an hour.

Whilst Paul recommends you try skype I dont feel you comparing like with like

 

 

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By RogerNeale
08th Oct 2009 13:42

Many options available - I hope this helps

There are a variety of options available for IP telephony.

A simple one for people working from home is available from http://www.sipgate.co.uk
Here, you can sign up FREE for a local, 0845 or 0870 number.
Download the FREE "softphone" and use your computer to handle calls, either with a USB handset or just by using the audio system in your PC with a headset/microphone.

The actual sign up and software is free, it's only if you make calls that you have to pay anything and even then the rates are very cheap, 1.1p per minute depending who and where you are calling.

You have options like call forwarding to landline or mobile numbers (you get charged for these forwarded calls) or free voicemail, so that when your computer is switched off or you've closed the softphone client, incoming calls get directed to your customisable ansa-phone. Voice messages can then can be delivered to you as an email or you can call into the system and retrieve them with a username and password.
It is similar to Skype but I think the call quality is much better.

Another alternative, for practices of 5 or more staff, is something like Swyx. http://www.swyx.com
This is a fully functional network based replacement for your old style telephone switchboard.
It has too many features to describe them all here but some important ones are:

VoicemailConferencingCall recording (for all calls in and out or by group or initiated by each individual user)CTIGraphical Extended Call RoutingPBX features for mobile phones

Swyx features are completely customisable. The call routing feature is really clever but very easy to use. You can do things like this example:
A call comes in, Swyx checks what time and day it is, if it's between 9am and 5pm Monday - Friday route the call to the original destination (DDI or calling group).  If it's a DDI number, is the user logged onto the system? If not, offer the caller a voicemail or to be transferred to the user's mobile phone, without giving the caller their number. If the user is logged on, is the number busy? If so, offer the caller options to go to voicemail or speak to another member of staff. 

There are lots of very simple but very useful feature like different recorded messages at different times of day, Christmas break etc. 
Importantly, it allows users to work from remote offices and still be part of the telephone exchange.

Avaya and others offer similar systems.

If I can help anyone with any questions, please feel free to contact me.
I'm not a pushy salesman, I'm a technician. If you want to ask advice, I will talk to you for free
If you want to try or buy I can help, but I still won't pester you, I promise.

Roger Neale

Business Systems Consultant
Perkeo Computer Systems Ltd
Tel 01623 857972 (sipgate phone)
Mob 07714 670789

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By Richard Lees
08th Oct 2009 14:20

Definately Cheaper

I work within finance for an IT company.  We both use and supply VOIP solutions (among a few other types of IT solutions) although our solutions may be bigger than you require, you could have a look at the website - www.ansgroup.co.uk.

 

Hope it's some use.

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By graham@foxhall
10th Oct 2009 09:17

VoIP for an accountancy firm

My Accountant suggested I respond to this article - as we have implemented VoIP for him when he moved himself and 4 staff into a business unit recently. In terms of scoping the job ... He needed a server to run accounts software, misc. business software and e-mail. We up'd the spec. on the server slightly, and installed a Windows based IP-PBX platform on that same machine. The IP-PBX just became a background business application on the Small Business Server. 

However, this did mean that the server became mission critical and therefore, hardware was chosen that gave plenty of redundancy (dual disk drives, dual hot-swap PSU's etc.), and had plenty of processing power (top rated quad-core Xeon's). We also put a UPS on the server of course.

Since we were moving him into a new site, we also had the brief for providing the network to support his PC's and laptops. With VoIP in mind, we installed a network switch capable of providing priority to the VoIP packets - and also used an Internet router that was able to do the same.

So - in brief, although the server and network seem to be 'over-spec'd for 5 people, the total package is cheaper than an approach where you put in IT and telecom's as separate entities. Some advantages in this approach were:

1) My accountant moved out of a home based office with a well established phone number that was known to his client base. We simply 'ported' this number to the new Internet based SIP Trunk system, so that he retained that number. His new office could have been anywhere in the county, country or world and this would have been the case. This removed the need to educate his clients regarding new contact details.

2) We used Internet based SIP Trunks to provide a non-blocking system (i.e. there are actually more lines available than there are extensions!), yet there is not a single BT line into the business unit (broadband is delivered via in-house ethernet). My accountant pays no line rentals. Even if we had needed a BT line, a single line and broadband service could have supported up to ten simultaneous calls.

3) The business unit landlord rents telephones and bills call tariffs quite heavily! This system has enabled my Accountant to have telephones at a one-off fixed implementation cost, and calls at around half the price offered by the landlord.

4) The staff work in the office, in customer premises, and in their own home offices. Remote access is needed both to access the IT side of the business, as well as telephony. Staff can use desk-phones, or software phones on their PC's / laptops to make a call using the office IP-PBX from anywhere they can access the Internet. This is different to Skype, because the remote phone is a system extension - and as such, it participates in the call plans assigned to the PBX (e.g. your remote extension can ring in conjunction with your desk-phone back at the office). A remote extension also is included in billing plans for outgoing calls - keeping the billing under a single platform. All calls between system extensions, remote or local, are free of charge of course.

5) A user portal is available to access the phone system either at the office, or remotely. This allows staff to change the way that their phone operates on the fly ... e.g. Today I'm travelling, so it would be better if calls were diverted directly to my mobile ...

6) Moving a desk along with its PC and phone is easy, because there is no issue about re-patching network cables. All network ports are live in the office, and will accept either a phone or a PC. So no need to call in the IT man to reconnect everything. Just plug it in.

Call quality is good on this system, because we have engineered the network to make it so. When you put a VoIP system together, you must consider your network as the foundation ... If your foundations are weak, your building falls flat! VoIP voice quality really does depend on how your ICT supplier uses the tools available to provide a good - and consistent - Quality of Service.

You must also look at VoIP as being an inside and outside thing ... What I mean by that is you can have a VoIP based local network solution, with 'traditional' PSTN connections such as analogue lines or ISDN - or, you can go the whole-hog and have VoIP out via the Internet. But you need to make sure that if you are using the Internet, you have an ISP that is capable of providing a VoIP capable service. Most 'cheap' ISP's are set up to contend data downloads, and that's not ideal for VoIP ...

Best of luck in your implementation ... I hope the above is helpful ... Please feel free to contact us if you need more info.

Graham Hill

Director of Operations

Foxhall Solutions Ltd.    http://www.foxhallsolutions.com/voip-pbx

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By RogerNeale
10th Oct 2009 14:31

Good information

I totally agree with Graham on everything he has said.

A very useful description Graham!

Roger Neale
Business Systems Consultant.
Perkeo Computer Systems Ltd
Tel   01623 857 972
Mob 07714 670 789

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By User deleted
11th Oct 2009 08:42

posters update

 

thank you all for responses so far

just shows the sorts of technologies now avaialble and ways that we can invest in our businesses/practices both from setup [ presumably no we do hold need the expensive pbx + phones systems of old with the call out costs fo you want to do alomost  anything ] and ongoing call uk rates.   there are of course means now to get the 1.xp/m uk+local rates through carrier pre select, but again that is not that straigtforward

what is the position with calls/ + call costs to mobiles and the ever frequent 0870/0845 and new equivalents through VOIP. are these equally as expensive as per oridnary comms

 

to the corporate voip posters - many thanks have started to go through your respective websites and th other sites noted by respondants.  certainly an interesting topic

the thought at present erring towards a move to serviced offices where the charge like wounded bulls So i guess VOIP in these circumstances - through the serviced office lines [?] WOULD  /  WOULD NOT work ?

 

have a good week all

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By jeremy1952
11th Oct 2009 11:08

VOIP and serviced offices

As Graham posted (see above) he set up my VOIP system in serviced offices and it works brilliantly. It also means that I can avoid the heavy telecomms charges that my service office provider would otherwise have charged.

All the best

Jeremy

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By graham@foxhall
11th Oct 2009 16:51

Call costs, GSM and VoIP systems

 VoIP only incorporates low cost telecom's, if you choose to use a connection to Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which is based on something like SIP Trunks (i.e. virtual lines within a broadband service). Depending on how the provider is set up, they will give you a good rate, or a not so good rate - but generally better than traditional analogue lines and/or ISDN. 

The reason for this, is that you are attaching to a 'Server' on the Internet, that has interconnects off to the likes of BT, Cable & Wireless, Verizon, Vodafone, O2 etc. etc. and agregates traffic on those links ... The 'Server' owner then negotiates rates with those interconnect partners for traffic. But the other half of the equation, is that depending on how well the service provider is set up, he'll have invested in infrastructure to provide this service. With the way VoIP is going, it is possible to provide this service on bare-bones infrastructure ... but ... the downside is the resilience and reliability of that provider. You get what you pay for - and this is especially true for Internet related services! So - my advice is don't always go for the cheapest - and - where possible, go for more than one SIP Trunk provider ... You will find that you can reconfigure your system on the fly, to prioritise trunk groups to get the best rates on national or international destinations. To answer your question ... 08 series numbers are still charged much the same as for landline calls ...

In regard to mobiles ... VoIP Interconnect rates to mobiles are still not the best - but there are good alternatives ... You can run a GSM Gateway off your IP-PBX, which allows you to route traffic commencing '07...' out via a device that makes a call to the mobile networks, using a SIM card and the mobile wireless network. This is exactly like making a call from a mobile - but you can use your desk-phone. You can then use your mobile agreement to your advantage e.g. free minutes, or a call plan that allows free calls to mobiles in your group. These gateway devices are now cheap enough to see ROI well under 12 months!

In regard to Serviced offices - two choices ...

1) Have a good look at how they deliver their broadband services. If it's un-contended and a very big leased-service pipe that is partitioned off for each user, then OK ... If you are one of many fighting for access to a common ADSL service then it can be a nightmare!

2) In the later case, you would need to get your own broadband service into the office, then 'carefully' [i.e. put Quality of Service in place] use that to cover your voice and data needs.

In general, the serviced office is wanting you to use extensions off their PBX system, which is totally no-go for VoIP - but I've not seen many places that won't allow a company to put their own ADSL into a unit.

Flexibility is king with this type of system ... the choices are so varied that it sometimes makes it very complicated to work out the best way to put your system together ...

Best regards

Graham Hill - Foxhall Solutions Ltd.

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