If you are considering investing in a new phone system for your small to medium-sized business, a VoIP system (such as the Avaya IP Office) may just be the system for you. A VoIP system can provide a myriad of benefits that can meet all your voice and data needs.

Reduced Call Costs – VoIP systems are often much cheaper than traditional telephone lines since it eliminates long distance charges and remote offices and employees are connected through the same phone network. In fact, most employees can be reached through a three- or four-digit extension from the main phone number no matter where they are located.

Reduced Maintenance – Combining data and voice into one network allows you to simplify your communications management and do it all from one location. You can also easily perform tasks such as adding or changing extensions without any hefty maintenance costs or technical know-how.

Enhanced Customer Service – A VoIP system allows you to answer calls and respond to customer inquiries quickly, keeping customers happy and encouraging patron loyalty. It also enables you to efficiently route calls and offers customer service-rich features such as auto attendant, call forwarding, and conferencing capabilities.

Enhance Existing Equipment – One of the most convenient and cost-efficient things about a VoIP system is there are a handful of different ways to get the system up and running, apt for business and budgets of all sizes. Many VoIP providers can provide phones (both IP and digital) and hardware that can be integrated with your existing technology which means you don’t have to invest in entirely new equipment.

ADSL broadband utilised BT landline connections and as such is the most popular and widely available. There are many different providers on offer and speeds vary between a maximum of 8Mbps and 24Mbps depending on where you live and which provider you choose. Big names such as BT and Tiscali occupy the mainstream market and offer additional services such as digital TV and home phone tacked on as part of broadband bundles.

Cable Broadband is available in over 50% of UK households and the sole consumer provider is Virgin Media. Cable broadband can achieve speeds of up to 50Mbps, but cheaper, more modestly priced packages offering slower speeds of between 2Mbps-20Mbps are available from Virgin Media. Fibre optic underground cable networks provide the service and like ADSL you will need to pay line rental on top of your monthly broadband package costs.

Mobile broadband is the most recent addition to the list of broadband services available in the UK. It utilises 3G mobile networks and requires no fixed line connection. As such you can use a mobile broadband connection anywhere in the country which is well-serviced by 3G networks. All of the major mobile phone operators provide mobile broadband services, as well as BT and Virgin Media. Speeds vary depending on the package you choose and the technology available, but theoretical maximums of between 3.6Mpbs to 7.2Mpbs are common. This is the first truly wireless broadband solution and is suitable for students, those living in rented accommodation, travelling businesspersons and light broadband users who will not be limited by the monthly data allowances which most packages have in place.

Current customers of Callvantage or Voicewing, who are going to need new internet phone service, or who are switching back to land line service, should visit Calling-Plans.com’s Internet Phone Service and Local Phone Service pages.

You can read the story at FierceTelecom.com.

Companies that have been around a long time, and have enough money and customers to stay afloat, are companies like Lingo, Packet8 and even Vonage; though they still make me nervous. Like I said, do your research, see who has enough operating capital for the next year, and only sign up for a month to month plan. (You don’t want to end up paying $199.00 for a year’s worth of service, only to have the company go bankrupt the next week)

If you’ve been thinking about trying VoIP to save money on your phone bill, then this is a great deal for you. Just sign up for Phonepower VoIP service and try it out without cancelling your current land line sevice. If you like it, then around month two, you can fill out the paperwork to have your current phone number transfered to your Phonepower account. You will then be able to cancel your expensive local and long distance plans and just keep the phone service from Phonepower.

Remember, you can hook your VoIP router from your high speed modem to your home telephone wiring system. Just plug the phone line from the router into a phone jack in the wall, and then plug your regular telephones into the phone jacks in your house. (If you plug into the house system though, the one thing you need to remember to do is go out to the grey box on the side of your house and disconect the wires that run into your house from the pole or phone box.)

If you think about this small school district in Texas, bringing in the technology to replace the phone service to 12 schools, serving 6,100 students,  think of what’s happening around the country in larger metropolitian areas. I remember seeing a small piece in the Oregonian a few years back that said that Oregon has lost 3% of their land lines in 2002 alone. Those kinds of numbers really make you sit up and pay attention.

Check out Verizon’s Internet Phone Service if you live in one of the areas they service and would like to get rid of your land line and start saving money too.

I’ll also be posting videos on how to wire your new VoIP adapter into your existing home telephone or office system. This will make it so that your VoIP system works just like a hard-wired phone system. Once you get the router wired in to your current phone system, and find out just how good VoIP can be, you’ll wonder why you didn’t switch to VoIP 2 years ago and put that extra $2,000.00 in your retirement account instead of sending it to Ma Bell. LOL

Stay tuned, and thanks for dropping by.