Why Voice over IP?

The two top reasons for considering VoIP are expanded features and lowered costs.

Features are covered in more detail here.

Lowered costs may be experienced in the following ways.

Infrastructure Costs

When we talk about infrastructure, we are talking about the wiring, jacks and the head-end equipment that is usually found in your telephone or IT closet. If you are looking to add an office phone system to your small or medium sized office, using network-based phones (VoIP) may save you a considerable amount of money on the front end.

It is possible to add VoIP phones to a small office without adding additional wiring. If your desktop computers are wired into your network, then you have Ethernet at the desk. That means with a little research and a little planning, you may be able to add VoIP phones without re-wiring your offices. In many cases you simply plug the phone into the Ethernet port on the wall, and plug the computer’s network cable into the phone. There will be some additional hardware to add in your IT closet, but typically the setup will not require adding any wiring.

By contrast, adding traditional office phones can require re-wiring the office suite and purchasing a proprietary PBX system from a telephone hardware vendor. Installation usually requires the services of professionals in telephone systems for wiring, setup and programming. If you need to make changes in your system, you often have to schedule a service call with your telephone system vendor.

Monthly fees

It’s not just the fee for your dial tone that you have to consider. You have to pay for the features as well. Even if you purchase your own phone equipment, you will most likely have some sort of payment plan to cover the equipment cost and a service agreement with the telephone equipment vendor. Often features like voicemail and music-on-hold are not always built into the hardware, but have to be purchased as add-on modules. All in all, setting up the traditional multi-line office phone system can be expensive.

VoIP systems for small to medium businesses are relatively inexpensive. Prices vary, as do services, but generally speaking for the cost of two or more phone lines in a traditional system, you can have a complete office phone system. On top of that, you may not even have to buy any equipment at all, so the monthly service fee you pay to the VoIP provider may be the only fee you have to pay.

Equipment Costs

If you are a start-up working from various locations, or if you simply don’t need traditional style office phones, you can utilize nearly every feature of a VoIP small to medium business system using your cell phone, your laptop or desktop, or a standard phone handset. Thus it is possible to save the entire cost of equipment, and still reap the benefits of a full-featured office phone system.

If you do want a more traditional style office phone, the amount you will spend on equipment with a VoIP system is still significantly less than you would spend on traditional hardwired PBX gear.

Service Costs

Maintaining a traditional hard-wired PBX system can be expensive, unless of course you never make any changes to the system. However, most offices have staff turn-over, which often requires re-programming extensions or extension parameters and options. This frequently involves calling in the telephone vendor’s technician to make the changes.

Perhaps the most frustrating problem comes to light when your desktop phone set breaks and you discover a replacement is not available because your hardware is obsolete. This is a cost of ownership that is often overlooked when deciding on which type of phone system to use.