atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX VoIP & Cloud Phones, Hosted PBX, General IP Phones What's all this VoIP stuff anyway?

Ooookay...where did I put that...

Ah! Here it is!



As Hal said, VOIP over the public Internet is a crap shoot. There is a reason that manufacturers do not support it (they want a point-to-point T1 if you are talking remote locations).

It has been over-hyped and many times in the end, is not really a cost-effective solution.

I have been to several locations where an unscrupulous salesperson has sold such a system without offering the proper support and leaving the customer in the lurch (I have had to deal with that more than once...)

We have some VOIP customers, and unlike the above situations we do not just blame the ISP or their network and walk away. We don't sell a VOIP system to customers where a TDM system will do just fine either.

But as Dexman said, VOIP isn't going to go away. And as Avalon said, we are going to have to adapt sooner or later. Here in Michigan (where competition is pretty stiff in this economic climate), we are looking into a package to sell with SIP trunks. Hence why we are looking into the ISPBX. We do not see it as replacing the TDM systems, just another thing we sell.

The thing is that it is as if we are arguing religion or something. It is just a phone for crying out loud!

One of the common places that like our hosted system is smaller sales or other offices where everyone wants their own external telephone number and if they are on their phone would like callers to get to voice mail or show up as another call on their telephone - without using telco voice mail.

If you have an office like this with 4 people in it you are looking at 8 POTS lines to achieve what they are asking for. Depending on which set of features you are looking for my local monopoly charges $30-40/month/line.

Our hosted system is $35/phone/month and depending on the phone they chose lets them have between 2-4 call appearances.

It's really a wash if you have a customer that wants enough features that they would need a PRI or fractional PRI and they are still looking at getting a new system and telephones to support that circuit. If you have a $500/month PRI or even 6 $40/month POTS lines you can get more features from the hosted system.

We won't sell it to anyone that's not on our IP network because we don't have enough control over the QoS once it leaves.

This brings up another point- the inequity in pricing between VoIP and cable company telephone dial tone providers and real telephone companies. We know that the difference in pricing is because real telephone companies are hammered by government imposed taxes and surcharges that are not levied on their competition. How long do you think this is going to last?

In my area Verizon is losing customers by the dozens daily because Cablevision can offer unlimited service for the fixed rate of $19.95 per month. This is unfair competition in my book and you can bet it won't last long.

-Hal

Perhaps, but Verizon is beating a path to follow suit with FIOS and at&t is doing the same with their "U-Verse" product. Both of which are unregulated products and not subject to the ridiculous taxation that has been levied upon phone lines forever.

Personally, I think that the reason that Verizon is destroying existing copper drop facilities upon completion of a FIOS install is to distance themselves from being a regulated utility. By having no formal facilities connecting the customer to the "old" network, they are not subject to such tight regulation, scrutiny and taxation. With these new service packages, they are regulated in much the same way at that point that CATV and Satellite providers are.

They are already delighted to lose customers to CLECs. They are more than happy to provide a T1 and let their competition deal with the end-user headaches. We've known that for years.

There will eventually be an end to this. For now, Verizon and at&t have enough money to keep the regulators at-bay, but at some point when the funded offsets start running out of money, like TDD/TTY programs, someone will bring everyone to the bar. I'm not so sure that I'll live long enough to see that happen.

One disadvantage of a pure voip setup using polycom phones in a small business is that they are not very user friendly to somebody who has been used to parking calls & having line appearance on their old key/pbx system.

The people who do better working in small business's with this new gear are the people who used to work in a $billion company & are at ease with having a DID & not having to announce calls to other workers.

Ed, unless you come to an untimely death, I'll bet you've got 15-20 years before you meet your reward. (And we won't go there!) That said, the 'playing field' is going to get leveled in .... oh...say...5 years, or less! When the yahoos inside the Beltway, and their cohorts (Or is that cowhores) outside the beltway, figure out there is a specific group making serious $$$$$$$$$$ and the government is not getting at LEAST 35% of it, THINGS WILL CHANGE!!!! John C.

I agree with you John that this will happen sooner the the demise of Ed. With the ISP's now trying to limit the amount of upload. What's going to happen to those people when they get cut off and can't make a simple phone call because the reach a plateau?

Big Brother will step in to placate the misfortunate. Taxes will be added, as well as some type of regulation. After which, we won't be able to trade in our old light bulbs for new. LOL

So, we will be back to square one? Why must we keep trying to reinvent the wheel instead of improving upon the ones we have used for centuries?

What's the saying, "Those who fail to pay attention to history are doomed to repeat it." John C.

Edit:
Decided to delete the rest, off topic and would start a 'situation'.

Speaking of light bulbs, whose hoarding? Wish I had paid attention when the feds in their wise and wily way, modified toilets to require 2 flushes. My water bill would be lower! John C.