VoIP Service Roseville

What do you need to know to implement a VoIP service in Roseville?

Over recent years, VoIP has graduated from being the way of the future for businesses to being the way of the present for businesses. Even though it does require some work to implement (and run), the combination of call savings and advanced functionality now makes VoIP a very compelling solution, especially for SMBs. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to what you need to know to implement a VoIP service in Roseville.

The best place to start is where you are now

For SMBs, there are generally two main attractions of VoIP. The first is the chance to make substantial savings on calling costs and the second is the chance to implement what were once enterprise-class features. Generally, the top priority is making cost savings and this can be achieved by implementing a straightforward, like-for-like replacement of your existing system. This keeps the initial project as small as possible, which helps to reduce both upfront costs and the possibility of expensive mistakes.

The three key components of a VoIP service are bandwidth, the SIP, and the endpoints

VoIP spent years being a consumer-only service because it was notorious for call-quality issues. Consumers were prepared to live with these for social calls, but even consumers tended to use traditional phones (including cell phones) for important calls. Businesses could only really use VoIP for internal systems and the implementation costs were usually too high to justify this. Now, even consumers can enjoy decent VoIP calls thanks to the overall improvements in internet infrastructure.

Decent, however, is not good enough for business use. You need a reliable, high-speed internet connection. Reliable means with minimal latency, jitter, and packet loss. High-speed means anything from 0.1Mbps per line for audio to 0.3Mbps per line for basic video to 1.2Mbps per line for HD video. For completeness, these speeds are upstream and downstream, so if you have an asynchronous connection (e.g. DSL) then you need to check both speeds.

You have to make this happen while still processing your existing traffic. It’s fine to do what you can to use your resources astutely. This tends to involve a combination of technical strategies (such as traffic prioritization) and basic common sense (such as seeing what activities can be scheduled and scheduling them for times when the network is likely to be quiet).

You need to understand how your VoIP service vendor routes calls

The SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is basically the VoIP equivalent of the old-school telephone exchange. It decides how the data packets are going to be moved from A to B and back again. There are basically two approaches to this task. One is called Least Cost Routing (LCR). This is exactly what it sounds like and is standard for consumer-facing VoIP services. The other is to prioritize calls based on quality and security. This is the only option businesses should be considering.

In addition to routing calls for quality and security, VoIP service vendors should be able to demonstrate high levels of service, both in terms of technical support and in terms of account management. Ideally, they’ll have a range of easy-to-use self-service options to enable you to complete regular tasks when it suits you, plus an approachable and knowledgeable in-house team.

Never underestimate the importance of good support from a VoIP service vendor. The chances are that you will need to use it a lot in the early days. Once everything is running smoothly, you’re unlikely to need it very often, perhaps not at all, but you may find it very reassuring to know that it’s there if you do.

Your choice of endpoint(s) can have a major impact on the user experience

When you’re implementing a VoIP service, it can be very easy to get caught up in the technicalities, especially the need for bandwidth, and see your choice of endpoint as an afterthought. While this is understandable, it’s worth remembering that, at the end of the day, you are implementing the VoIP service so that your staff can use it. Making their life easier will smooth over the path to adoption and, ultimately, make your life easier.

Your choice of endpoints comes down to softphones or VoIP handsets. Many companies like softphones as they free up desktop real estate. This is fine as long as you have plenty of screen real estate so your staff can see the softphone and whatever other apps they need to use alongside it. If you don’t, then buying VoIP handsets may work out a lot more practical than upgrading monitors and mobile devices.

If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced VoIP service partner in Roseville, please click here now to contact Aperio.IT.