Making The Transition To VoIP

Telecommunications technology is getting more complex by the minute, that’s why it’s no surprise that VoIP becomes the better choice these days. It is cheaper, more practical and, with the right tools with you, you can practically take it everywhere. You just need the right network access for it. If you have good connections for VoIP, it’s time to think of making the transition to it and use it as your main telecommunications service. Here are some guidelines.

First, you must have the basics. That would involve a high speed internet connection, VoIP gear, and a public telephone number. A computer with speakers and a microphone will suffice. Certainly, getting a SIP phone or using an ATA (analog telephone adapter) with your analog phone is a better choice. You must have at least DSL for an Internet connection. Bigger bandwidth, better. This hold particularly true when it comes to businesses.

Then, you must transfer your Direct Inward Dialing (DID) number. What is DID, you may ask. It is the publicly accessible number given to you by your local phone company. For home VoIP, the VoIP service provider will do such transfer. For businesses, on the other hand, particularly those with different DIDs, a company technician must coordinate with the phone company.

Afterwards, set up appropriate hardware and software. Single-user accounts, like most residential accounts, will be fine with just a softphone software for their computer systems, a SIP phone or an ATA unit for their analog phone. Businesses require much more, like temporarily going for a gateway with their legacy PBX system, or getting a new IP-PBX. Over the long haul, an IP-PBX will speed up the implementation of convergent communications within the organization.

It’s time for the usual problems faced by most VoIP users. First is the power source. In emergency power outages, you must still be in contact with family, friends and clients. Residential users can have their calls rerouted to their mobile phones in the event of these outages. On the other hand, businesses can have calls transferred to backup analog phone numbers.

VoIP service monitoring is also of the essence. This is possible via third party companies. Single line residential accounts can go for single endpoint monitoring. It’s typically free of charge. Multiple endpoints, though, have paid options.

You must see to it that you get consistent, reliable quality service. When you constantly monitor your VoIP quality, this is possible. Any issues that would arise could be remedied by you or your service provider.