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

The best fit for hosted solutions is outfits like Norvergence, that way they can be location independant. Therefore keeping one step ahead of the law.

Also is good for small start ups that have no capital and are destined for failure.

JMHO

Private message to Avalon:

It's "xenophobia" not "zenaphobia."

It's "foreigners" not "forigners."

Some people who are xenophobes have become that way because foreigners have messed with their language.

That's exactly the case with a customer I have to see later today -- Currently two POTS lines, two separate phones on the main counter, one connected directly to each line, a fax/phone on one of those lines in the small office area at the rear, plus DSL on that same line. The DSL has only been in place a couple of years, but the basic phone setup has been the same for 10 years or more.

We're only now just looking at installing a small PBX as they're taking over an adjoining unit next door.

VoIP is coming into the picture, because on their two POTS lines at the moment they're paying over £300 ($600) per month for line rental plus calls (all calls are chargeable here, including local). By ordering a VoIP number from BT they can get all outgoing calls (local & long-distance) for £20 ($40) per month inclusive, so it will certainly be a money-saver to have the PBX route all outgoing calls on the VoIP service.

But to install a full-blown VoIP phone system for what will end up being at most two POTS lines, two VoIP numbers, and probably about eight extensions (including fax & credit-card dialer) would be crazy in my mind in a very simple installation such as this.

Contrary to what some slick salesman tried to get them to sign up to last year, there is also no way I would ever suggest that they have their existing main numbers ported away from the POTS lines. With the POTS numbers left as they are and the PBX in place, at least if the DSL goes down they can still receive all incoming calls properly and the PBX can revert to sending outgoing calls via POTS.

My thought is that VoIP is perfectly fine to connect remote sites/users to a main/central location.

Small companies, mom & pops and most churches really do not need the complexities of a VoIP or hybrid system. T1 loop charges alone would be enough of a deterrent.

Trouble is, many manufacturers are now focusing on the medium to large players and leaving the little guys to fend for themselves.

I know the following points have been stated before, but I thought I would bring them up again.

1) People now entering the work force were born after the breakup of Ma Bell and they really don't care about Western Electric or what the telephone company was like prior to 1984.

2) They have, for the most part, grown up with a computer in their homes, some form of Internet access and are comfortable in that environment.

3) Many homes no longer have land line service. In an attempt to save money, people are going 100% cellular. Even the kids have their own cell phones. In exchange for lower rates and bundled features, they accept the fact that the audio quality of their calls will not be 100%.

4) After adding taxes, fees and options, POTS lines are not cheap. Before the breakup, long distance calls were very expensive and basic dial tone was just about given away. Maybe the telephone rental fees helped offset the price of local dial tone. Then again, some of the features we take for granted today (Caller ID/Call Waiting ID) did not exist. If all of the goodies were around, who knows what prices would have been?

VoIP is here to stay. While it is an option, it is not (nor should it) be the only option.

Well put Dexman!

Just another thing to Add, 3 years ago I started using skypee to chat to a friend of mine in Australia.

3 yrs ago it was very jittery and the connection would drop out every 10 to 15 minutes or so.

But this last yr it has improved 10 fold, i can have uninterupted conversations for hours, and the other party sound's like HD quality when played over my PC speakers.

The other day I had to call someone in Australia via my conventional phone connection, the call sounded like we were under water, I could not believe I was actually paying MCI for this call it was so bad..............

My thought is that VoIP is perfectly fine to connect remote sites/users to a main/central location...3 yrs ago it was very jittery and the connection would drop out every 10 to 15 minutes or so... this last year it improved 10 fold. I can have uninterupted conversations for hours and the other party sound's like HD quality when played over my PC speakers.

I can assure you nothing has changed with the internet. I have always said that voice traffic over the public internet is a crap shoot. The public internet was never intended for real time, only data. What works for one person, one call, one time, one location may not be the case for anybody else. The only way you can have any assurance of reliability and QOS is with a private network connecting all locations.

So no, VoIP over the public internet to connect remote sites/users to a main/central location is not something that I would recommend as a business solution.

-Hal

johnp, don't you have trouble typing with your tongue jammed that tightly in your cheek! I'd think the pain would be very distracting. John C.

Just an observation. This particular section "VoIP" has gotten VERY few posts over the last month. Now someone has posted about how VoIP is most assuredly Satanic and will probably lead to warts and there more posts then in an entire month. What do you think this means?

Halloween is coming?

-Hal