VOIP & IP Phone Systems

VOIP (Voice over IP) describes anything where voice communications (Voice) are carried over standard computer networks (IP) including the Internet. 

 

When discussing VOIP we are usually referring to one of two distinct functions: 

  1. IP Phone Systems (PBXs) with Phones that run over computer networks (IP Phone Systems or IP PBXs)
  2. Dial tone that is delivered over the Internet to a PBX

IP Phone Systems

In the past, phone systems were completely separate from computer networks with dedicated,  proprietary PBX hardware and duplicate cabling.  A PBX (Private Branch Exchange) is the “brains” of a phone system very much like a server is for a computer network.  VOIP Phone Systems eliminate the separation and redundancy between the two systems:  Phones and computers share the same cabling, the PBX is just software loaded on a server, and the phones communicate with the server just like the computers do.  So how does this make things better?

  • Cost! –  IP Phone Systems are much less expensive than traditional systems and usually have better features.  The cost savings come from a number of areas:
  • PBX – An IP PBX is just software loaded on a computer. 
  • Phones –IP Phones are widely available and can work with almost any IP Phone system.  High quality desktop phones can be purchased for under $200 and “soft phones” which are software that load onto a Windows PC are often free.
  • Cabling – Only one set of standard data cables handles both phones and computers.
  • Labor –Most IP Phone Systems are configured from a Web Browser or Windows PC via easy to navigate menus.  You will probably still have a professional do it but it should take less time than for a traditional system and you can do basic configuration changes yourself.
  • Features – Most IP based phone systems (even the very inexpensive ones) have better features than traditional systems:
  • Phones Everywhere!  - IP phones can communicate over the internet or over VPNs (Virtual Private networks).  This means you can put phones anywhere you want.  Remote offices, employee homes, soft phones on laptops that will work from anywhere.  Some even provide “soft phones” for cell phones like the iPhone or Droids.
  • Windows Call Management – Most of the better IP Phone Systems provide software that manages your calls allowing you to place, transfer, park, and record calls all with drag and drop ease on your Windows desktop.  With TAPI integration you can place calls by right clicking in Outlook or any other TAPI capable software.  You can also see the status of all phones in your system and initiate chat sessions between users.
  • Voicemail, Voicemail to Email, and Unified Messaging
  • Auto Attendant / Digital Receptionist – (Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Service, etc…)
  • Follow Me / Find Me
  • Music On Hold
  • Ring Groups and Call Queuing
  • Dial by Name
  • Conference Calling / Conference Rooms
  • Call Recording, Logging and Reporting
  • And much more….

 

Lower cost and better features make IP Phone Systems a must for any small business.  

VOIP Dial Tone

Every phone system (PBX) must have “dial tone” available for the system to use for actually placing the phone calls.  Although it is often “packaged” together with the phone system in vendor’s quotes, the dial tone is actually a separate piece from the phone system. 

 

Traditional phone systems primarily use POTS or T1 lines.  POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines are traditional analog phone lines from the local phone company.   T1 is a higher end digital line that can be less expensive than POTS for large numbers of lines.  POTS and T1 Lines are often still a good solution but they can be very expensive.

 

Most IP Phone Systems can use POTS or T1 for dial tone but they also add support for VOIP dial tone. 

 

VOIP dial tone (sometimes referred to as VOIP trunks or SIP trunks) is simply phone service provided over the Internet.  VOIP dial tone is provided via SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) which is a standard way for voice communications to be moved over computer networks.  SIP is also the way IP Phones communicate with IP Phone Systems.  This is pretty technical and you don’t need to worry about it too much.  Just be aware that SIP and VOIP are pretty much just different ways of saying the same thing.

 

The two big advantages of VOIP dial tone are price and flexibility:

  • Price – VOIP phone service (dial tone) is becoming more commonplace every day and is provided by many different companies, at many different price points. 
  • Flexibility – VOIP phone service is easily redirected to different locations.  This means you can move your phone system to other locations.  In hurricane affected areas like Houston this is a very convenient feature.  You can simply take your IP Phone System to another location with Internet access and easily redirect your phone calls to be delivered over the new Internet connection.  Most VOIP providers offer a Web based console for managing your phone number where you can make this change within a couple of minutes.

VOIP Phone service is not always the best choice and there are many technical factors that go into this decision.   For many small businesses VOIP dial tone combined with an IP Phone System provides a cost and feature combination that blows the doors off traditional systems.  

 

 

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