Hosted VoIP?

Spamalot · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:48

Hi All,

Looking at a hosted VoIP system for my office. We're looking at about 5 handsets to get us out of the dark ages.

What providers would people recommend? Who should I stay away from?

Is there anything else I should be looking at?

#Chri5# · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:28

Speed and quality of your connectivity?
Backup plans should there be an outage?

Spamalot · 17 Jan 2011 at 23:10

#Chri5# said:
Speed and quality of your connectivity?
Backup plans should there be an outage?

BT, 3mps down and about 400kps up. I'll also be putting QOS on the line. Outage shouldn't be to much of a problem should it?

Skidilliplop · 17 Jan 2011 at 23:14

For small offices Hosted VoIP is usually fairly good as decent VoIP kit is pricey, and this way you don't have to look after it either.
Downside is you then become completely reliant on your internet connection. It's almost always imperitive to have some sort of backup.
It's also not Ideal for ADSL connections as they do tend to be worse for jitter which VoIP really hates.
But privided your connection is stable in terms of latency and has plenty of spare capacity, and the QoS is half decent on your router/LAN then it should be fine.

#Chri5# · 18 Jan 2011 at 09:00

Spamalot said:
BT, 3mps down and about 400kps up. I'll also be putting QOS on the line. Outage shouldn't be to much of a problem should it?

Are you putting your "data" (mail, browsing etc) down the same line as well?

DJMK4 · 18 Jan 2011 at 11:37

Outage will be an issue yes, unless you have a backup ISDN line, or your VoIP solution offers something like "Automatic Call Failover" where if it detects that your connection is down, you can apply a "call forward" so the call goes to a mobile.

I cant comment on what you need for your small business really, I have worked with Swyx which unfortunatly requires the system to be hosted on site.

Or a new one I am going to be leading (BT IPVS) which is a really good hosted system by BT. However this might be overkill for you as its quite expensive and isnt really a "small" solution as such. Its more for reselling on to customers.