VoIP And Your Small Business Phone System

Introduction

Are you looking for a VoIP Small Business Phone System, but confused by the number of options available, the technical jargon, and the vast array of providers in the market offering their services?

It's certainly important to choose carefully in order to maximise the benefits through cost savings and enhanced services.

To find out more about the three different types of business phone system available on the market, click here.

The article below provides an insight into three of the VoIP market's major provider of small business VoIP solutions, and examines each in turn to give you an unbiased view of the best choices for your small business.

Voip Providers Review--- Choose The Best One For Your Small Business Phone System
By Rashme Wong

Making phone calls applying a broadband Internet connection, known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), is becoming so popular with corporations of all sizes, but in particular the small business. The prospect of paying a flat fee for unlimited long-distance phone calls is attractive to companies, that have struggled to balance the want to conduct business phone calls with the cost of those calls.

Many companies are finding that the installation of a VoIP small business phone system is simpler than a traditional Private Branch eXchange (PBX) system, since the desk sets can share the Ethernet cables already in place for the desktop computers. Now, we’re going to review 3 of the most popular VoIP Service Providers who offer full service small business phone system products. Such companies typically support multi-line telephone systems, small PBX gateways and hosted VoIP.

Vonage will bring you a VoIP small business phone system without routing calls through your PC. When you sign higher for its DigitalVoice service, you are given a phone number in the area code of your choice, together with a free ashtray-size device known as an analogue telephone adapter (ATA). You simply plug the adapter into your network router and attach your phone to the adapter, and you're ready to produce calls. If you like, you are able to plug the adapter to a wall jack, connecting each phone in the home.

For corporations that want a small business phone system that is more closely matched with PBXs, as in the corporate world, Vonage is maybe not the best option. Its Microscopic Business Project is built on a single line, similar to a residential line, and does not provide facilities for multiple extensions, call transfers, administrative functions, and the many other tasks virtually all small business users take for granted from their small business phone system. There are two other vendors that are maybe better suited for the corporate environment.

Vonage Features:

TalkSwitch 48-CVA

The TalkSwitch uses your phone company's existing phone lines and phone numbers to connect to the outside world, but uses your Internet connection to connect to other TalkSwitches in your company's remote offices. This small business phone system set-up is simple to install and lets you keep your existing phone numbers and lines. It also lets you keep your existing phone bills, since your long-distance calls still travel over your phone-company lines.

Where TalkSwitch shines is in its features as a PBX, and its ability to connect remote offices and treat them as a single small business phone system. When two or more TalkSwitches connect through the Internet, the company has a virtual PBX. The offices can make calls to one another by dialing extensions that may be in the same office or at a remote office without incurring long-distance charges.

The same connection can be used to make standard calls to phone numbers that are local to the remote office but long-distance from the calling office. We found this feature worked well, but it requires the person making the call to know whether the number is local to the remote office. That's something many callers won't make the effort to deal with.

TalkSwitch 48-CVA Features:

Packet8 Virtual Office

Packet8 is a service provider. It will bring a "virtual office" by means of a hosted PBX that you are able to attach to from any broadband connection. The equipment consists of 1 DTA and 1 phone for every extension. Minimum configuration for a Packet8 system is 3 extensions, however there appears to be no upper limit to the number of extensions. Every DTA and phone combination costs $100, and there’s a $40 activation fee per line.

Because all the extensions attach to the equivalent PBX, calls to extensions and calls to outside amounts are processed just as they usually are in a corporate office. The phones have a huge LCD with soft-buttons for voicemail, don't disturb, and each feature you would expect in a corporate PBX. We personally found the system easy to use. However, we also found this small business phone system incredibly flexible. Phone functions are managed applying the phone's LCD and its buttons, while extension assignment, routing, auto-attendant, and system-related functions are managed through the PBX's Web interface.

Packet8's sound quality was very good. Calls between Packet8 VoIP lines were clear with no noticeable delay. Calls between Packet8 VoIP phones and standard phone lines were equally clear. The quality of the overall system was more than acceptable.

This is the kind of system that fits any virtual office whose employees are required to make lots of long-distance calls. The Packet8 system is particularly well suited to today's distributed virtual businesses, and as a small business phone system it offers relatively good value for money. The fact that all the extensions are sections of the equivalent system and operate as a seamless phone system puts a consolidated face on the distributed office.

Packet8 Virtual Office Features:

Rashme Wong has been an Communication and Network Analyst for 5 years whose articles on VoIP business have appeared on many major VoIP websites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rashme_Wong

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