WhichVoIP Blog

Fed up paying a fortune for your business phone service?  May be worth taking a look at a business hosted VoIP service: 

Here is a summary of the important benefits and advantages of a hosted VoIP model. Think of these not just at face value, but how they are additive to what VoIP brings on its own. It is the combined set of benefits that leads us to conclude that hosted VoIP is an ideal solution for micro businesses looking to move beyond conventional telephony.

Benefits of Hosted VoIP
Only a one-time expense for IP-enabled telephones to support VoIP service and features. No capital expense is required and you are not locked into an asset with a long depreciation cycle.

Ideal For Multiple Locations
Hosted VoIP is very flexible for supporting branch offices, remote workers, and new sites as the business expands. All that’s needed is to add handsets as you go when setting up a new office or adding more locations to your network.

Business Continuity
Hosted supports the 24/7, mobile, on the road realities of today’s business world. Business continuity is a core element of hosted VoIP, as the network services are housed in rock solid data centers. This also includes disaster recovery, a capability that no premises–based system can provide. In the event of a natural disaster or malicious network attacks, your messages and directories are never lost, and the business can carry on under all conditions.

Reliable Service
Regardless of how busy your phone lines get, hosted VoIP always works. Your customers and employees will always be able to get dial tone, and they’ll never get a busy signal, even during peak periods.

Future Proof
VoIP is still a new technology, and we are just beginning to see what is possible. With hosted VoIP, you will always have the latest features and services, and will never need to worry about implementing them with your telephone system. For the first time, micro businesses have a solution not only to match what bigger competitors can do today, but to keep pace as technology advances.

If this is of interest to you for your business phone service, submit a request for a free quote NOW!

Andy

Have you ever walked into work on a Monday morning and found this fancy new digital phone on your desk? Well if you have (and the odds are increasing fast), then I am guessing that it is unlikely that you stopped for a second to think about what was actually involved in getting it there. Hopefully you have not begun your Business VoIP experience by cursing the phone because you are having trouble using all the features. As such I hope you received proper training as to how to use the nifty new features that a Business VoIP system can provide.

Having installed a bunch of these systems in various sized organizations across the country, I thought that someone may be interested in the high level process of what is involved in transitioning a business from a legacy analog phone system to a new VoIP system. Who the heck does these installations anyway? Well it is extremely unlikely that a Cisco or an Avaya will actually do the installation for you. These companies will fight tooth and nail to convince you to purchase its voip solution, but after that, there is very little involvement from them. Unless of course you are part of a large enterprise which can demand and receive direct support.

So in the majority of cases a partner of these companies will actually perform the installation and manage the entire VoIP project. These partners are more commonly known as VARs or Value Added Resellers and are pretty much made up of a bunch a sales guys and a group of engineers specializing in various technologies such as telephony, security, wireless, etc. It is these engineers that actually do the installation.

To find ou how much a business VoIP solution could save you simply request a free business VoIP quote. 

Tony

Ready for what you may ask. Well if you have seen the news today Vonage lost another lawsuit possibly putting them closer to being out of business. Several months ago Sunrocket ran out of money effectively ending their VoIP service, suddenly there were 200,000 Sunrocket customers looking for a new VoIP service. This put a significant strain on the likes of Viatalk with a huge influx of customers. The strain didn’t manifest itself in a lack of quality in their service but on their ability to provide, in a timely manner, all these new customers with equipment.

At last count Vonage had over 2 million customers, ten times as many as Sunrocket. If Vonage were to go out of business then the influx of customers to the likes of Viatalk would be an order of magnitude greater than when Sunrocket went under. I’m sure they have learned their lesson and have contingency plans particularly as the Vonage demise is being played out in the media whereas with Sunrocket being a privately funded company could conceal its problems until the bitter end.

Over the next few weeks we’ll monitor traffic and see if there is an increase in customers moving to the likes of Viatalk, VoIP.com, VoIPYourLife, etc check back for updates.

Technorati Tags: Vonage lawsuit, Vonage VoIP, Viatalk VoIP, VoIP.com, VoIPYourLife

In the past 6 months Vonage has lost two patent infringement lawsuits. The first in March of this year Vonage was ordered to pay Verizon $58 million plus 5.5% of any future revenue. The second was today with them being ordered to pay Sprint Nextel $69.5 million as well as 5% of any future revenues.  Shares of Vonage holdings Corp plummeted by over 30% on the news.

Vonage said in a written statement that it would appeal the decision but also would begin developing workarounds so it won’t need to use the disputed technology.

“We are disappointed that the jury did not recognize that our technology differs from that of Sprint’s patents,” said Sharon O’Leary, chief legal officer for Vonage. “Our top priority is to provide high-quality, reliable digital phone service to our customers.”

Vonage have the money to pay but the bigger issue is the 10% of lost future revenue. It is going to be extremely difficult for them to invest in technology and push VoIP further into the mainstream. So what does this mean for existing customers – probably nothing for now. Vonage certainly are not going to disappear overnight and customers are not going to loose their service, however without the required investment it’s difficult to see Vonage continue to grow and add to its customer base.  They are starting to look cheap now for a take over by the likes of Verizon who could pick up a couple of million customers for not a lot.

Technorati Tags: Vonage Lawsuit, Verizon lawsuit, Sprint Nextel Lawsuit, Vonage VoIP, Verizon VoIP

There’s a brand spanking new version of Skype available now for download. To take advantage of all the latest features and improvements simply upgrade to the new version for free. Skype offers an easy way to test out a VoIP service, all you need is a PC and a Broadband connection.

According to Skype the new softphone delivers the following:

• Improved sound quality.
• Updated and user-friendly interface.
• Many more features to help you to stay in touch more easily, share ideas, thoughts and express yourself.

It’s easy to update Skype: 

• It’s free to download and easy to install.
• You don’t have to uninstall your old version first.
• All your settings will remain like your contacts and Skype Credit balance. 

Before purchasing a VoIP service I used Skype a lot to call friends and family abroad. Sound quality was good and it was easy to use however now that I have Lingo VoIP with free calls to Europe I no longer use Skype, so if anyone has comments about the new release please leave them here or write a review.

Calum

Came across a good blog today from Tom at TMCNet. 

There are a couple of good reasons for moving to T1 for your broadband data and voice needs.  The first of course is the Quality of Service (QoS) you get from T1 service providers.  The second is symmetrical uplink and downlink speeds of 1.544Mb/s.

Tom recently moved to T1 and had some fun getting full bandwidth on his uplink.  Turned out his Linksys router had QoS turned on and even when he did not have his VoIP ATA connected the router was still throttling his high speed data path.

For a full report check tom’s blog out at http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/covad-t1-speed-and-latency-test-plus-overview.asp

Interested in leasing a T1 line?  Read all about it on our site and request a free T1 quote.

http://www.whichvoip.com/index_business.html

Andy

Lingo have just announced their own PC Softphone. A softphone is simply a software application that can be downloaded to your PC and it gives you the freedom to make and receive phone calls from your desktop or laptop. Softphones genarlly give you the same features you would get with a VoIP or Broadband phone like caller ID and call waiting.

There has been some debate recently on the state of Vonage. Will Vonage survive? Will Verizon put Vonage out of business? A little bit of recent history will let you know where these questions come from.

Shortly after Vonage went public in mid 2006, Verizon sued Vonage for infringement on seven patents Verizon own, technology for completing phone calls between VoIP users and people using phones on the traditional public switched network, authenticating VoIP callers, validating VoIP callers’ accounts, fraud protection, providing enhanced features, using Wi-Fi handsets with VoIP services and monitoring VoIP caller usage. Vonage obviously denies this and has defended it vigorously, however so far the courts have swayed towards Verizon. Vonage publically state they have workaounds in development or developed in the event Verizon win.

So what does this mean for you as a customer or a potential customer. The worst that could happen is that Verizon win and Vonage have to spend millions of dollars implementing workarounds they have developed. Alternatively Vonage could go out of business and file for bankruptcy then immediately come back into the VoIP market or Vonage could win and continue to be the largest VoIP service provider out there. If you are a current Vonage customer and you are happy with the service they are providing then there is no real reason to move, however for new customers this law suit is no doubt causing concern for Vonage. It is difficult to market with the specter of patent infringements hanging over you.

Vonage are by far the largest VoIP provider with 2.5 million subscribers, in terms of experience in the VoIP market no other provider can match it. Vonage have a both residential plans and business plans boasting a vast array of features from call waiting to Enhanced 911, from Fax to toll free numbers and many more. Vonage certainly have enough features to keep the average phone user happy regardless of whether it’s for a small business or for a residential phone.

If you are in doubt read the Vonage reviews from current customers or click here to see providers that have at least the same features as Vonage. As you will see there are not many providers competing with Vonage in terms of features however their reviews are not the best.

Technorati Tags: Vonage, Verizon, Voicewing, Vonage patent, Broadband Phone, VoIP,  Digital Voice

SKYPE have just announced a special promotion allowing users to have free VoIP calls to anywhere and to any phone worldwide.  It is for only one day unfortunately, mothers day the 13th of May. It does exclude satellite phones and premium numbers if you read the fine print. However it is a perfect opportunity for you to try a VoIP service and besides free calls to just about anywhere in the world can’t be all bad.

Calum

So who is the cheapest VoIP phone provider out there? Well assuming we are looking at residential VoIP plans and not calling card plans, softphones/PC phones or business VoIP solutions then Lingo wins that battle with their basic plan costing $7.95 per month. So what do you get from Lingo for that price? You’ll get the typical features for free, Voicemail, call waiting, call forwarding and Caller ID with name. You’ll also get some advanced features like 3-way calling, anonymous call rejection, do not disturb and all calls to other Lingo users are free. With this basic plan you also get the Emergency calling service (911). This isn’t a bad deal at all.

You also get more than just the features and the price, there are a few intangible benefits related to Lingo. Lingo is a subsidiary of Primus Telecommunications Group, joining the VoIP phone service market in 1999, so they have been around for a while and have a mature product, which should relate to fewer problems for the customer. Lingo have been reviewed by customers over fifty five times on our site. This gives 55 completely independent opinions about the same service, more than enough for you to judge the quality of their service.

What don’t you get? Well every minute costs 3 cents regardless of where you are calling to in the US or Canada. Still not a bad deal but then if you have a teenage daughter on the phone for 3 hours every night them maybe this is not the VoIP plan for you. The cheapest plan that has unlimited minutes to all of the US and Canada is Viatalk. At $15.95 per month you get unlimited calling in the US and Canada and at present they have a special deal of 1 Year free. Less than $10 a month for unlimited calls and a whole bunch of features thrown in, that’s an exceptional deal that won’t last long.

Cost should not be the only consideration when choosing a VoIP service, customer VoIP reviews give you an excellent insight into a company, friends and relatives recommendations are also useful and your own experience of a provider should all be weighed. Many customer choose to go with their broadband carrier for example Verizon have DSL and they have their Voicewing or Comcast broadband have their Comcast Digital Voice service.

VoIP is an inexpensive, reliable alternative to your traditional phone. Have a read at our How To Select a VoIP Provider article for tips on how to select the best VoIP provider that suits you and your families calling habits.

Technorati Tags: Lingo, Viatalk, Broadband Phone, VoIP, Cheap Phone, Digital Voice, Verizon, Voicewing

Following on from the earlier blog on the problems that Vonage is having with the Verizon patent dispute, it appears that the situation may get much worse before it gets better. Since we posted, the Vonage CEO has stepped down and it is becoming apparent that Vonage does not have a work-around for the Verizon Patents.

One of these stories is here….

All we can say is continue to do your due diligence at WhichVoip

Technorati Tags: Sunrocket, Viatalk, Broadband Phone, VoIP, Vonage, Digital Voice

The two biggest, and most anticipated, keynotes of VoiceCon happened today, Cisco and Microsoft, and they both met the expectations.

First Charles Giancarlo (Cisco’s Senior VP and Chief Development Office) took the stage. Somewhat of a departure for Cisco, Charles focused on the benefits software can bring to VoIP and Unified Communications by using his collage-age daughter as an example of user needs that are provided by software - such as mashups and social networking.

Using this as a background, Charles provided some slick demos, showing not only a mobile & Mac communications client, but also how a mashup with Google maps can help locate other users. In addition Charles demonstrated the Telepresence system that was announced last year, and I have to say I am impressed. Though it is expensive, and probably only going to be available to corporate VPs, it is an extremely compelling set of functionality, and does solve the traditional problems that exist with video conferencing.

Following Cisco was Microsoft, with Jeff Raikes (President of Microsoft’s Business Division), who unsuprisingly was discussing the benefits of software for the voice and unified communications space. Using a word processor as an example, and the fact that Microsoft employees back in the 80s used to hand write documents before giving them to another employee to type, he expressed that people at that time would of been shocked and never imagined that every Information Worker now has their own word processor on their desk.

Using this as an analogy to convey that even though today some people may be somewhat skeptical of Microsoft’s ability to deliver a voice solution, Raikes made the following prediction - “In the next three years, the average voice over IP solution will cost half what it does today”, and that enterprises will be moving to a software model.

It is early to tell, but Cisco obviously has a lot to be worried about by Microsoft’s entry into the market and it’s push to reduce the overall cost of voice. Cisco though does have some amazing technology and products available, so the next few years will be an interesting time.

Technorati Tags: Cisco, Microsoft, VoIP, Voice Over IP, Unified Communications

Here at VoiceCon 2007, the keynotes have been the typical executives presenting the merits of their vision, while making subtle jabs at their competitors. However one refreshing and extremely earth shattering keynote was from Johan Krebbers (Group IT Architect of Royal Dutch Shell).

In this keynote, Johan presented Shell’s vision and plans for deploying Unified Communications across their complete environment. This involves switching from an existing TDM, via a phased roll out, to a IP Unified Communications solution.

So far, nothing earth shattering. As part of this migration, Johan discussed that the initial phase would involve utilizing Nortel’s IP-PBX for the telephony functionality, and would also include Microsoft’s Office Communication Server for IM & Presence. Additional slides then showed Microsoft Office Communication Server becoming more pervasive, with the Nortel IP-PBX eventually being totally replaced by Microsoft’s solution.

When asked later if this was correct, Johan confirmed that it is their plan to switch all 140,000 users within Shell to the Microsoft voice solution.

This has the whole conference attendees a buzz (quote from Eric Krapf - “when Johan Krebbers, …, took the stage for the afternoon keynote … something changed in the industry”), as it was never believed that a Fortune 500 company would take a bet on Microsoft’s solution.

Look forward to other future updates in the next few days

Technorati Tags: VoiceCon, Nortel, Royal Dutch Shell, Microsoft, Voice over IP, VoIP

Voice over Wireless LAN, or VoWLAN as it is referred to, has been getting a lot of publicity recently.

What is VoWLAN?  In simplistic terms this is VoIP but over WiFi or Wireless IP.  Many households have WiFi these days just due to the convenience of accessing the Internet, especially those with laptops.  Sit in the living room watching the basketball game on the TV and surfing the web and with no CAT5 Ethernet cable or the likes getting tangled up with your bottle of beer.

How nice would it be if you had the same flexibility with your telephone.  Yes with cordless phones we have this already….well kind of.  You still need to have the base connected to the VoIP ATA or the POTS line if you have the old fashioned form of telephony   Yes the technology up until now has definitely been of the wired variety.

VoWLAN gives you additional freedom.  Here your WiFi enabled VoIP phone will talk directly do your WiFi router wirelessly.  Many providers are now releasing such phones in the marketplace or frantically designing one to release imminently as this is likely to be a huge market over the next year.

However, there are some technical drawbacks with this technology that should be brought to your attention.  All of these can be overcome but may be of interest to you.

The fundamental problem is the way that the packets are handled.  The beauty of Internet Protocol is that the packets sent over the Internet backbone can be voice, video or data.  It does not matter, they are made up of packets of digital bits and sent across the Internet to their destination.  However, all packets are not the same.  Data packets such as web browsing tend to be large packets often over 1000 bytes at a time.  Voice packets tend to be significantly smaller, often as small as 30 bytes depending on the codec used for the voice compression.

Now with the various OSI stack layers used to send data and voice over the Internet, each layer adds overhead packets that define protocols, source and destination addressing, checksums for error correction and the likes.  When the actual voice packets are so small to begin with this ends up making the data transmission very inefficient due to the extra overhead, often as bad as 30% (e.g. 100 byte packet but only 30 bytes of actual voice information). 

Why is this such a bad thing?  Well, the WiFi Media Access layer tries to give each station on the network equal access and gives no consideration to the time each station has during its access time.  Therefore, because the voice packets are so small compared to the data packets a lot of time is spent by the VoWLAN phones backing off and waiting to transmit the next voice packet.  Now VoIP is very much reliant on low latency and low jitter.  This environment does not suit it well at all especially when many Data nodes are trying to access the WLAN at the same time.  The result, if not managed properly, is reduced system capacity and poor voice quality.

Another issue is the distance from the WiFi access point.  The further away you are the lower the signal strength and the lower the transmission rate needs to be otherwise the signal to noise ratio takes a serious hit and some of the voice packets can be lost.  The lower the transmission rate the longer it takes to send the packet and the more hold-offs required by the stations on the WLAN.  Again the voice quality can suffer and of course the system capacity.

It’s not all bad news.  The VoWLAN providers have worked hard at resolving these issues or at least limiting their effects.  The upside is the lack of wires and equipment needed in your home and the portability of your voice and data network.

I hope this has given you some insight into the world of VoWLAN. 

Interested in buying a WiFi VoIP phone, check out our hardware section for more details:

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/voip_business_hardware.htm

Any of you using this technology at home or at work now - we would love to hear about your experiences, please add a comment below?

Andy

Technorati Tags: VoWLAN, Wireless IP, Wireless VoIP, VoIP

The big buzz today at the announcement of free directory assistance calls. The cost for this service is typically 75 cents to a $1.50, however dial this number 1-800-FREE411 and they are free - well almost. When you phone you are greeted by an automatic attendant and short audio ad. This ad is how they can offer a “free” service. The ad when I called was no more than 10 seconds so not a big headache when it can save you a buck or two. So don’t worry about your VoIP service provider no longer having directory assistance - you don’t need it!!

Calum

http://www.whichvoip.com/