atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX VoIP & Cloud Phones, Hosted PBX, General IP Phones Hosted VOIP

Kumba - I was thinking it HAS to depend on the provider and how good there service is. Who know's with any provider these days really. Hosted VOIP seems like a crap shoot to me. To depend only on the provider for a very essential part of your business seems very risky.
Thanks for everyone's info.

It always depends upon the provider and how good their service is. What difference does TDM or VoIP or Hosted VoIP matter when you cant get someone to pick up the phone and fix your problem?

I think the real problem is that you need to find a way to figure out who's service is good and who's is bad. For that I can only tell you the same thing everyone else will on this board. Ask for references. Ask people's opinions. See how many complains they have with the BBB (if they are registered). Do your homework. That doesn't change regardless of what you are doing.

The primary advantages of Hosted VoIP is primarily what I listed. I'm sure there are other's but I just cant think of more off the top of my head.

One problem I have with our voip service is I work in a 856 exchange. Sometimes I have to dial 856 or 1-856 or just the number. I find myself many times dialing 3 times before I find right pattern. I also have the same problem with 609 and 1-609. What a pain in the %&$.

Other problems is many more dropped calls vs. a digital phone system.

TK:

Area codes and exchanges are two completely different animals. The need for 1+ or not really has nothing to do with the system or service provider. It has to do with rate centers (billing zones) that are established by the incumbent LEC and your state's utility authority. These boundaries are currently managed by www.NANPA.com .

In most areas with overlay area codes (yours being 609/856), service providers require ten digits minimum. Others allow the calls to go through with eleven digits when the 1+ even if it isn't required. They just strip it away.

What you are encountering is indicative of the hosted IP service provider being located in a city far away. They may not have full comprehension of your local area's dialing plan, so they are sticking with the old 7/10/11 digit dialing plans and assuming that you will know which one is correct.

In these environments, it is usually up to the system installer to know the local dialing plan and program the system accordingly. I agree with you that it is confusing.

Now i found out who was snoring in class. And keeping me awake thanks Kumba

I have been offering Hosted for about 2 years now, still do TDM and IP systems. Works great but yes you have to know what you are doing.

Do you do your own hosting or are you privatily branded?

OK, I'm no phone guru, infact, I stumble thru the Inter-Tel DB programming to get things done.

We have an Axxess and are looking at upgrading our 35-40 users to a VOIP solution with the Inter-tel 5000. We got a quote for installation and call center reporting for less than $25k

my boss says that a friend of his said that a hosted soltuion is the way to go and a whole lot cheaper. Keep in mind that we average 15-20 calls at any time that are online.

not being a phone guru and not knowing anything about hosted solutions, I'm hoping to get some PRO Inter-Tel feedback that I can provide to my supervisor to continue with the 5000.

I would also be expecting an add of 10-20 headcount by th e end of 2010.

Please feel free to PM me.

Doing the math..at 32k per call(g.729)x 30 calls, you would need 960Kbps. That's closing in on a full T-1 or equivalent dedicated just for the phones. At ~80k per call(g.711) x 30 calls, you would need 2.4Mbps dedicated for the phones. Again, closing in on 2 bonded T-1's or equivalent worth of bandwidth. These are things that MUST be considered.

99% of the time hosted solutions are pure trash. I get three calls a week with the same story... some guy promised me the sun and the moon on hosted.. my t1 goes down every other day and my phone is reduced to the worlds most expensive paper weight.. hosted is great if you sell it.. it sucks if you buy it. You never own anything except the phones and eventually you will get pissed enough to give up and then you have to look for something that can run your polycom or cisco endpoints..... if you are a interconnect and you're even remotely considering hosted DON'T DO IT!.. the easy revenue from the carrier is sexy at first.. but you will get the pissed off end user call eventually and he's not going to blame the carrier.. he's got your neck to choke.... the ONLY time hosted really works for is those customers who are in a distributed system and only plan on using the phones in any given location for a temporary time (contract work).. great for commercial builders who move their offices every two years to a new job.. this technology can work great.. but you need a bulletproof T-1 and QoS to even begin to think about deploying something like this..