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VoIP Services & Equipment

One piece of technology that we are often asked about is VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol. VoIP is a way of using your existing broadband or high-speed internet connection for your voice and fax communications needs.

Many of our small and medium sized businesses are interested in VoIP for its cost-effectiveness and the want to move away from large, immobile, and over-priced telephone companies.

There are many facets to the VoIP technology, but this article will be mainly covering what is possible and how it can work for your small business, not how it works or particular end-user features. It will also try to give you an idea of what is possible and the diverse scalability offered.

VoIP phone lines work nearly identical to traditional lines. You can have a phone number with the same area code as your existing traditional phone lines, and/or add additional lines of different area codes, as well as toll-free numbers. You can even keep your current phone numbers and have them transferred to your new VoIP phone system or lines.

One question that is often asked is will you still have access to emergency services, such as 911. The answer is yes, you will, although you or your provider will have to register with emergency services to let them know the physical location of the virtual phone lines you are using.

In order to take full advantage of the services offered by the VoIP technology, you should consider either a PC-based software package or hardware VoIP dedicated phones.

For small businesses, the biggest reason to consider VoIP services is to save money. There are many reasons that you can save with VoIP:
1. You can purchase only the services you need at the time.
2. You do not have to purchase costly equipment.
3. Your business can save money by having unlimited local and long-distance calling.
4. You can set up an Auto Attendant for a professional image.
5. You can manage your extensions for multiple locations from an on-line control panel.
6. VoIP services are expandable. Add services and equipment as you need them.
7. Low cost on equipment and virtually no maintenance.

For us, we would be best served by using an auto-attendant to route or callers, saving the expense of a dedicated staff member for answering and directing calls. Also, the fact that we can use our existing Ethernet broadband infrastructure makes the cost of this change negligible. Also, we could use our existing business-class phones along with a broadband adapter. Also, Outlook integration is a must-have.

If you are interested in exploring your VoIP options, small business phone systems are available, along with more in-depth information, from Packet8.

For many small businesses, the low initial start-up costs, and the opportunity to only buy the products and features you need, make VoIP a real attractive option.

Check back later for more articles on VoIP and the features available to the end-user and administrator.