Best VoIP Providers For Business

Have you been thinking about making the move from multi-line analog or PRI trunk phone service to VoIP, but unsure about how well it will work? Here are some ideas and recommendations about what you can achieve and how to proceed successfully.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is also called “network voice” to distinguish it from traditional wireline phone service. The key word is “network.” VoIP is designed to run on computer networks rather than the proprietary telephone technologies we’ve been using for the last century. In fact, on the network, voice is just another service running along with data, video and streaming audio. Every service generates packets that are transported from source to destination using routers and switches on the network.

This presents a huge cost savings opportunity for larger businesses. Having one network to carry all traffic saves over having to maintain separate telephone and data networks. It’s less of an issue for smaller companies, although there are also cost savings in having one service provider connection instead of different telephone and broadband lines.

Where VoIP has gotten a dicey reputation is from using the Internet as both a telephone line and a broadband data service. The Internet wasn’t designed for high quality two-way voice conversations, so it’s a hit and miss proposition as to how good the voice quality of your conversations will be. Some calls may sound as good or better than the best analog line. Others will sound distorted and slightly delayed so that you and the other party cut off each other’s conversations. Residential users may not find this variable performance all that annoying, so they’re happy with the savings they get from dumping their analog landlines in favor of using their broadband Internet connection for both phone and computer service.

Business users who want clear conversations with their customers at all times have some better performing options available. Medium and larger companies will opt for a private line or MPLS network connection to their phone system provider. This is also called a SIP Trunk after the Session Initiation Protocol standard used for VoIP switching. A SIP trunk can support multiple simultaneous phone conversations, similar to an ISDN PRI trunk that is used with in-house PBX telephone systems.

Note that the type of VoIP service we’re talking about here is remotely hosted telephone switching at a service provider’s location. This is also known as Hosted VoIP, Hosted PBX, or communications in the cloud.

Small companies can also benefit from Hosted PBX service even if they have only a few to a few dozen telephones. In this case, the SIP Trunking provider supplies your business with an Integrated Access Device (IAD) that uses the SIP trunk to deliver both telephone and broadband Internet service. Unlike residential broadband phone service, the SIP trunk keeps the voice and data packets from interfering with each other. That maintains your voice quality on telephone calls. The phones have priority. Any bandwidth they are not using is automatically assigned as broadband Internet bandwidth. With some providers, you may also elect to plug existing analog phones into the IAD. This is called an analog handoff.

Another service that can provide both Internet and telephone service is Cable business broadband and telephone bundled service. You have one line coming into your office in the form of a coaxial cable. This cable carries telephone, broadband Internet and even television. Quality of service is maintained by keeping the telephone, television and Internet services in their own channels on the cable. Your phone service is VoIP technology, but your phone calls never touch the Internet. They just ride their own channel of the cable to a switching system that connects to the public telephone system. Note that to make this work, you need to get both your business broadband and phone service from the same Cable provider, like Comcast.

Are you interested in learning more about the advanced features and quality of service protections for VoIP service? Get features and pricing from the best VoIP providers for business telephone service now.

Integrated Access Using Ethernet over Copper

T1 lines are generally set up as either broadband data pipes or digital telephone trunks. Having to buy separate T1 lines for voice and data proved to be too pricey for many smaller businesses that wanted the robustness of T1 line services but didn’t really need all the capability of a two line arrangement. The solution was Integrated T1. It’s a combination of voice and data on a single T1 line. Integrated T1 has been a problem solver for small businesses over the years, but now there’s an even more cost effective service available. It’s Integrated access using Ethernet over Copper.

Ethernet over Copper, or EoC, is coming on strong as a competitor for the same needs as T1 lines. Both services are provisioned on common twisted pair copper telco wiring that is likely already in place for most businesses. Both are highly reliable telecom services with dedicated, not shared, bandwidth. So, why would you pick one solution over another?

In many markets you’ll find that T1 and EoC now cost roughly the same. But look closer and you’ll see that for the same price T1 is giving you 1.5 Mbps and Ethernet over Copper is delivering 2 Mbps and sometimes 3 Mbps. You can trade up for more bandwidth on both T1 and EoC by bonding-in additional copper pair. But the cost of those extra T1 lines goes up a lot faster than Ethernet bandwidth increases.

Now, let’s look at how Integrated voice and data is achieved. Dynamic integrated T1 lines are the latest incarnation of the T1 Integrated service. Bandwidth is assigned by default to broadband access. Anytime a phone line is requested, the bandwidth needed for that phone call takes priority and is protected for the duration of the call. This is the dynamic nature of the service. The bandwidth you have available for broadband is a function of what’s left over after all the telephone calls in progress are taken care of. When someone hangs up, that bandwidth is immediately put back in the broadband bandwidth pool.

In practice, Integrated T1 is a good service if you need 12 or fewer outside phone lines. More than this and your broadband Internet service will be creeping along at less than 750 Kbps. But integrated Access using Ethernet over Copper offers more phone lines and higher broadband speeds. A common EoC service running at 10 Mbps has lots of bandwidth for both. You may be able to get as many as 46 phone lines on EoC, which is equivalent to two full ISDN PRI trunks. In fact, this service delivers its phone lines with a PRI handoff to your PBX telephone system. You may also be able to choose an analog handoff for smaller phone systems or SIP handoff to your newer IP PBX in-house telephone system.

How much of your 10 Mbps will 46 phone lines eat up? That depends on what CODEC you are using, but let’s say it is G.711, the international standard. Figuring on 80 Kbps per call with overhead, a figure used by many SIP bandwidth calculators (Cisco uses 87.2 Kbps), that adds up to around 4 Mbps. That leaves you over 6 Mbps for broadband access, similar to what many companies are using now.

No need to stop there, though. Ethernet over Copper is often available in the same locations at bandwidths of 15 Mbps and 20 Mbps. This is far higher than is practical or even affordable with T1 lines. Are you running a larger company network or a call center that needs much higher capacity? It’s likely time to consider Ethernet over Fiber, or EoF. At this point you are probably running a converged voice and data network and can benefit from SIP trunking based on SIP switching for enterprise VoIP telephone systems.

What voice and data bandwidth solutions are best for your operation? There is a wide range of service suitable for the smallest mom and pop grocery stores right on up to Fortune 500 corporations. Why not let an expert telecom service broker get a complete list of services and pricing to meet your particular needs? Request a voice and data bandwidth quote now to see what’s available for your business locations.