So you’ve decided to entertain the notion of VoIP (Voice over IP). Now comes the difficult part – the decision making. From a phone vendor’s point of view, their goal is to make a sale. With that being said, we unfortunately live in a world where you come across phone vendors who will say whatever they need to say in order to achieve that goal. Here are some of the things you need to be aware of so you don’t get hoodwinked into making the decisions that don’t work best for your company.

Coax VS Fiber: Fiber is considered best practice. While coax may save you money, you’ll find later on that the speed fluctuation of the service can be detrimental to your usage.  VoIP needs priority over the internet in order to ensure a clean jitter free connection.  Be sure to check out internet speeds and access covered in our previous blog The Ping: Will The Cloud Still Be Your Friend On A Rainy Day?

Number of Users: Be aware of the amount of users on your network can increase demand of your VoIP system.  That also includes making sure you consider the future growth of your company. Your phone vendor may try and sell you something that fits your needs currently, but with any growth, it may be something far less efficient to make a quick sale.  You may find that by preparing for future growth may cost less upfront in a product bundle versus purchasing on the fly later on down the road.

Network Stability: Aside from the connection, the network needs to be stable and configured properly for your current status and future needs. Sometimes it is also cheaper (similar to phone systems) to have the system preconfigured and tested.  One scenario to avoid is working to have VLAN’s (separate LAN’s for phone and your network) built same day or close to your VoIP deployment.  Having a well set plan in place is vital to any successful deployment.

Remember if something is too good to be true, chances are it just might be!  While many hosted VoIP services have a lower advertised rate than your local telecom service and maintenance contracts from the phone vendor, there are other non-monetary costs to consider like quality, reliability, and implementation issues that can be a drain on your efficiency and productivity. 

Your UniVista Team
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