VoIP / SIP
Phones

Cloud VoIP - The No Expensive Onsite Equipment PBX

In the second half of the 20th Century the introduction of the PBX revolutionized Enterprise communications by allowing automated sharing of landlines and routing of calls. Previously the only way to accomplish this in a business was to have a human operator (employee) making the connections via a switchboard. Voice Mail and Auto Attendants ushered in 24/7 calling capability and features like 3-way calling (conferencing) created  new efficiencies.

Now, shortly into the 21st Century ‘Cloud’ VoIP is having an even faster impact on business communications. Today you can have the same PBX features and functionality without the hassle and expense that comes from maintaining onsite equipment and being tied to physical telephone lines.

A few Benefits:

Save money

• No more land lines. Save immediately on monthly phone bills.
• Remote workforce. Real estate and overhead costs can be reduced with remote workers who can appear to be sitting in your office.
• Equipment Costs. Cloud VoIP doesn’t require you to purchase a big expensive box of electronics (that will eventually need to be replaced) or require you to replace failed cards or modules in order to work.
• No Special Talent required to reprogram the system every time a change is needed. And no bringing it down to do upgrades and backups.
• There’s no hardware maintenance required (with cloud, there’s no equipment aside from desk phones and even these are optional). And when there is a problem VoIP troubleshooting can often be handled remotely, without a pricey service call.

Portability and Accessibility

• VoIP phones work the same everywhere. All you need is an internet connection and that can be ‘wireless’. Your number follows you, so there’s no need to give out your mobile or home numbers. Calls work the same whether you’re at home, in an airport, or on a beach!
• Need to relocate the office? Easy! Just unplug the phones in one location and plug them in at the other. Done! No arranging for new service, waiting, forwarding #’s and then cancelling service ever again.

Call Quality

• With a good internet connection and adequate bandwidth, VoIP calls sound as good – or better – than landline phones. Have network concerns beforehand? Our IT team can diagnose and repair any problem you may have.

Flexibility

• Need to bring in temporary workers to make calls? With VoIP you can add as many users as you want. The only limitation is your network bandwidth (we can readily assist).

Video calls and conferencing

• Video capability is built in to VoIP. You don’t need any special equipment or 3rd party services. Meet face to face with staff or a client anytime.  

What about Security?

VoIP is inherently more secure than traditional analog calls because it is digital. It is a stream of 1’s and 0’s the same as any other data on your network and cannot be easily distinguished or tapped. Contrast this to traditional analog phone lines where all one need do is clip the 2 wires from a 2nd phone onto any 2 wires that make up a phone line on the wiring block. Sometimes these wires are in a separate locked room and sometimes they are fairly public in an open closet, breakroom or basement.

VoIP calls go over the data network. There are no real exposed wires and even if there were, simply clipping onto them with another phone doesn't allow you to hear a voice.

SIP (trunks)

What if you have a PBX that isn't that old or you prefer to manage the PBX equipment and connections onsite but would like to take advantage of lower cost Internet calling? Enter SIP.

SIP or more specifically SIP Trunks are the Internet equivalent of landline telephone numbers and can be plugged right into the traditional analog phone line ports on the back of your PBX. The difference is these lines don't require physical [phone] lines into your space. The only requirement is an existing Internet connection. Like Cloud VoIP, they can go anywhere you go as long as there is Internet service.