Switching to a VoIP solution for your small business is a great way to reduce costs. There are also many additional VoIP services and add-ons that come with your small business VoIP solutions. Let’s take a look at some of the common ones that are offered by providers today.

Voicemail
Voicemail is a feature that answers the phone for you if you don’t take the call or are talking to another person. With a VoIP account a message can be left by the caller and saved in the account holders mailbox. This is similar to email except the messages are stored in a sound file rather than text. With VoIP voicemail multiple callers can leave messages for you at the same time. You can check for messages by dialing a number or be notified of the message via cell phone or email. Messages sent to your email are usually in the form of a .wav or .mp3 file and can be saved on your computer or forwarded to friends or colleagues within your small business. This is a more flexible solution than tradition voicemail.

Call Blocking
If you don’t want to receive calls from a specific number you can add it to a list and they will be refused access. This is a good solution for privacy protection and means you don’t need to change your phone number to avoid unsolicited calls.

Call Waiting
This feature alerts you if are on the phone and another call comes in. You have the choice to answering the call or letting it go to voicemail.

3-Way Calling
This is similar to a conferencing solution but only allows for three people to be on the call at one time. Whilst talking to someone you can call another person and invite him / her to join the conversation. This is a very useful feature for small busineses.

Local Number Portability
If you need to keep your current phone number but wish to switch to a small business VoIP solutions this feature will allow you to transfer the number over. As a small business, you won’t need to change your marketing material and your customers can continue to contact you using the number that they already know.

What is VoIP?

VoIP is an acronym for Voice over Internet Protocol. It is simply a method of transmitting voice conversations over IP networks such as the Internet and generally functions like a regular telephone service. VoIP for small businesses can be free if communicating from PC to PC through services such as Skype or cheap if you are calling from PC to Phone or through using phones on both sides. Sometimes, you may find a need to run your telecom over a business T1 line or T1 internet connection.

How is a call using VOIP made?

A person can call using a VOIP phone which will send a signal through to a VoIP device and convert the normal phone signal into a digital one that can be used over a broadband Internet connection. Once the signal reaches the destination it is converted back into a normal voice call. VoIP solutions can be used not only over the Internet but also over any private network.

Why are many small businesses switching to VoIP?

Many small businesses are switching to VoIP mainly due to cost savings but also for additional services and better manageability of systems. Calling internationally is substantially cheaper and small businesses do not need to necessarily pay per call or for the length of the call. Calls between offices, to other VoIP users and across the country can often be free. There are many VoIP service providers in todays market with compelling, inexpensive solutions well suited to small businesses.

Is VoIP reliable?

VoIP solutions are just as reliable as the Internet so yes, if your Internet service provider is dependable and you have a quality Internet connection then VoIP is reliable. On the other hand, if you have a busy, shared Internet connection then you may experience an unreliable VoIP service.

Can I use my current number?

Yes, most VoIP solutions providers allow you to transfer your existing number in the U.S or let you choose from a list of local or nationwide numbers regardless of your physical address.

What about sound quality?

Sound quality is rarely an issue due to the availability of high speed Internet access today. In fact, the quality of a VoIP call can often be better than that of a normal telephone service because it is digital. The difference in quality can be compared to the sound playback of a cassette tape versus a CD. The quality of the call all depends on the available bandwidth of your Internet connection. The higher the bandwidth, the better the sound quality.

The telecommunications technology has evolved immensely since the first network based architecture for traffic engineering that is the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) was designed. Its foundations being laid in the early 20th century by A.K Erlang the technology went on to become the world standard for telecommunications and is the most widely used telecommunication network in the world today.

PSTN provided the infrastructure for almost all the services that we ever used for communication; from being the base for fixed-line analog telephone systems it now supports the modern fixed-line systems as well as the mobile networks. However, the leading engineers from the field of electronics and telecommunications are now looking at VoIP to take the lead from PSTN here to meet the ever growing demands of residential consumers and most notably businesses. The engineers have realized the limitations in the PSTN vs. the advantages offered by VoIP to meet the requirements of corporate usage as thousands of different businesses come up each year.

These new businesses start with little cash to spend on setting up a system for managing the communication traffic and look for the cheapest solution available in the market. Despite the advent of emails and live chat technologies the best way to connect to a person is still a phone but to invest in a full-fledged PBX(Private Branch Exchange) system after spending an a considerable sum on computer systems is nothing short of over expenditure for the budding organization. This is where small business VoIP solutions come in by providing a cheap but reliable solution for establishing a PBX system compared to the PSTN. With the internet providing the springboard for budding entrepreneurs and established companies alike the need for small business VoIP solutions will never cease to grow.

Till now we have discussed about implementing small business VoIP solutions for establishing an in-house PBX but why is VoIP a better solution over PSTN. PSTN has existed for more than a century, it is reliable, has proven service providers with the facility of customer support and the network is available almost anywhere in the world then why new corporate start-ups should opt for small business VoIP solutions. We will discuss more on this in my next post!

Are you wondering if small business VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is right for you? Chances are folks, IT IS! The future is quickly gaining on the technology in the telecom world and VOIP for business is on the cutting edge. But do you really understand what small business VOIP is all about?

Voice over internet protocol basically means that your telephone calls are carried over data packets instead of over copper wires. This expands the use of your voice system meaning your calls take place over the internet (secure of course) anywhere anytime.

This is especially good if you have an office of remote workers. If you run a business where your workers are scattered around the country or the world, then small business VOIP may be the right option for you. To break it down for you, if you have an employee in Chicago and one in Atlanta and another in Los Angeles, then with small business VOIP systems they could all theoretically be dialed on their 4-digit extensions as if they were all together in the local office. In addition, with the “find me follow me” feature that many hosted small business VOIP plans offer, then the system will dial through a list looking for your employee when someone calls the local office. Once again, small business VOIP becomes a time and money saver.

The other advantage of small business VOIP solutions is the merge of data and voice into an IP computer system. This means that customer records can more easily be accessed based on phone number, for example. The best example of this would be a customer calling in and the computer system recognizes them through call ID and pulls up their records and history for the customer service rep prior to the phone being answered. This means your rep can call the customer by name when picking up the phone! Now that is cool!

Just remember, like any emerging technology, small business VOIP has a few bugs to be worked out. But it is still the best option you have for your small business voip needs!

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