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VOIP services

Started by wds, July 22, 2011, 09:18:15 AM

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wds

Our small company is going through a transition, and we will now have two locations, although probably temporary.  We are exploring true VOIP phone services because of a couple of the features it offers.  We will subscribe for two lines, and have two two line phones, one at each location.  We need to have the main line ring into both locations at the same time, and must have the ability to transfer calls back and forth, hence the two phone lines.  I know there are some expensive systems out there that will handle these requirements very well, but I'm looking for a very economical solution until we are comfortable with the VOIP and have located to a more permanent location.  I've stumbled on a company called Nextiva (.com) that offers some very reasonable solutions.  For about $30 per month, per line, they will provide the VOIP service, and even better yet, they offer a virtual PBX system, so the only equipment I have to buy are the two phones.  The phones are not proprietary, so i can move the phones to another more advanced system down the road, so no money lost.  

My question is, does anyone out there have any suggestions for what I'm trying to do, and does this virtual PBX really work?  They say that I can take the phone with me while on travel, plug it in to an ethernet connection, make and receive all calls through my business line just as if I was back at the office.  Can I program my laptop to do the same thing as my phone so I don't have to drag my phone around with me?  

Since I've grown up with POTS, and am really comfortable with it, I've never explored VOIP, so when dealing with these companies I'm not sure what questions to even ask.  Any suggestions?
Dave

NorthernMan

With VOIP .... do you have service during a power failure ? Is that an issue ?

With VOIP .... is the quality of service (ability to hear and be heard) good enough for your business?

With VOIP .... who services the equipment and how fast does it get repaired ?

I used to work on this stuff at the turn of the century and problems with QOS was a big deal, i am sure they have fixed it by now.

wds

My internet goes down most of the time during power outages, so my voip would also go down.  I only lose power about once a month, so that shouldn't be much of an issue.  I'm planning on testing the service for a month for quality of signal before I transfer over the main phone number.  Maybe someone who already uses VOIP could help answer those questions?
Dave

wds

Well I subscribed to a VOIP service today.  If it does what they say, this will be the coolest phone service I've ever had.  My IP phone can be plugged into an ethernet jack anywhere in the world, and I can receive and dial out using my phone line.  I can send my phone to someone in India and have them answer my phones for me (for a $1 a day), then have them transfer the calls to me just like they were in the room next to me.  Also, I downloaded software to my laptop, and turned my laptop into a "soft phone".  I can make and received phone calls on my laptop anywhere I can get a wi-fi connection.  No extra charge for long distance or international calls. 

Of course I'll have to get an adapter to convert the signal from digital to analog so I can use my 151 al .  Might be kind of cool to plug my candlestick into my laptop to make outgoing calls from the hotel room. 
Dave

bellsystemproperty

If you make your own Asterisk VoIP PBX you can do a lot of the same functionality for free such as transferring calls for free. Also, The Incredible PBX, an Asterisk variant, allows you to make free calls to the US & Canada using Google Voice. You also can use your laptop as a phone. I use a combination of Trixbox for C*NET calls and The Incredible PBX for Google Voice Calls.

Setting up Asterisk may be a little tricky, but it is free and all you really need is an old computer. For a business though it might not be your best choice because it has a learning curve which I am still learning, but you might enjoy playing with it. And of course, you can use rotary phones using an ATA!  ;D
C*NET # 794-5953 (KYLE)

AE_Collector

Quote from: NorthernMan on July 22, 2011, 09:59:49 AM
problems with QOS was a big deal, i am sure they have fixed it by now.


Uuhh, not so much.....

QoS is just like it sounds, Quality of Service and without it phone conversations can sound like real bad cell phone calls.

Terry

Stephen Furley

#6
Quote from: wds on July 22, 2011, 10:05:28 AM
My internet goes down most of the time during power outages, so my voip would also go down.  I only lose power about once a month, so that shouldn't be much of an issue.  I'm planning on testing the service for a month for quality of signal before I transfer over the main phone number.  Maybe someone who already uses VOIP could help answer those questions?

Only once a month?  Where do you live?

In the past I would say that we lost power about once every 10 years, though recently this has probably been somewhat worse, maybe five years or so.  At home we have lost power twice in the 11 years that I have been there.  At work the power has been shut off several times during the last few years, but that was for planned work including new high-Voltage supply, re-equipped substation etc. connected with major building works.  If my power was going off once a month I'd have something to say about it.

wds

The city I live in apparently has better things to do than maintain reliable electrical service to it's residents.  Two years ago I was without electricity for 6 days.  Usually though it's only for 6 or 8 hours.  And yes, I live in the middle of a major metropolitan area. 

On my VOIP service, I've had a chance to play around with it.  It's actually a pretty nice service, and love the feature of being able to answer my phone remotely from my laptop.  Unfortunately, my VOIP provider only allows one phone per line.  So if you want to have, say, 10 phones hooked up at your house, or business, you have to buy 10 lines.  So, I'm back to the drawing board.  Luckily they offered a 30 day money back guarantee. 



Dave

rdelius

you could run that one line to a Panasonic system to expand the number of telephones.It could do the pulse to tone also.
Robby

wds

My current provider ties the phone signal to the MAC address of the  phone itself.  That's how you can take the phone to other locations and still be able to answer the phone and make calls.  If I try to attach other phones, even through the Panasonic system, I don't think it will work.  I need to find another provider that will supply just the phone line, without being tied to the a MAC address so I can use my own PBX.  Maybe Vonage will work?
Dave

AE_Collector

So you are talking 100% VOIP service, no ATA to convert to analog phone sets?

Terry

wds

Dave