Achieving Call Quality Momentum With Cloud Communications

By: John Shepler

Are you frustrated with your decades old in-house phone system that is getting more obsolete by the minute? Or, do you have a horror story that revolves around moving to VoIP only to find the reliability bad and the call quality worse? It’s time you gained some momentum with a superior cloud communications solution… like one from Momentum. Have a look….


If you are new to IP based voice communication, you may not be aware of the pitfalls that can ruin a good network voice system or the solutions that are just bad to begin with. This is where you need a “best of breed” vendor to ensure your success.

There are a couple of competing approaches to enterprise level VoIP. The first is to have the system located and operated in-house. You treat it as part of the IT infrastructure. That’s different from traditional approaches that have kept the telephone network and IT network forever separate.

Some companies only go so far as to replace their T1 telephone lines or ISDN PRI trunks with SIP trunks in order to get a better deal from a competitive service provider. Nothing changes in-house other than a new way to connecting to the phone company.

While this is the least amount of upset to the status quo, it does nothing to modernize your phone system. You gain none of the advanced calling features that VoIP systems have to offer. For that, you need to combine voice and data.

Enterprise VoIP, as opposed to a home office or small office with one or two phones, involves making the IT network also your phone network. You can add adaptors to your current analog phones so they connect to Ethernet, but you’re probably better off upgrading to IP telephones that have the network interface built-in plus all sorts of other capabilities.

Once you get all the phones on your LAN and off the phone wiring, you reach another fork in the road. Do you buy an in-house IP PBX system and continue to run everything yourself, or do you offload the switching system and connections to the public phone system to a cloud vendor?

Cloud communication is becoming a very attractive option. You avoid the capital investment of upgrading your in-house system and the ongoing maintenance costs. You also gain the ability to include remote workers in the system so you can communicate the same way no matter where you happen to be. Being tied to a desk, especially by a phone cord, can damage both your flexibility and productivity.

Momentum, the service provider, has some very attractive pluses in cloud communications. For one thing, they offer measurable call quality. Getting network voice right can be a tricky prospect and your customers will know if your phone system degrades. You also gain mobility, cloud disaster recovery and call center features. Best of all, you may find that your next phone system upgrade can save rather than cost you money.

Is your business ready to tap the advantages of cloud hosted communications? If so, find out what Momentum and other top tier providers have to offer. You may be surprised at what you can get for the same or less than you spend now.

Converting From Regular Phone Lines to T1

Business has been good. Your small office has turned into a much bigger area as more people have joined the team. You may have the physical space to be at your most productive, but your phone service is cramping your style. Either there just aren't enough lines to go around or your telecom closet is a rats nets of phone lines and channel banks, as phone lines have accumulated over the years. Plus, look at the size of that monthly phone bill. Line service alone is costs you a fortune. Isn't there a better way?

You bet there is. Analog phone service is perfect for the one person office, the two line business phone, or the small key telephone system with 4 to 6 lines on separate buttons. But once your operation is big enough to move to an in-house PBX phone system or you need both telephone service and broadband Internet access, It's time to move up to a T1 line.

What's special about T1 phone lines? T1 is a proven digital technology developed by the phone companies to carry multiple telephone calls on a single trunk line. T1 lines use the same twisted pair copper wiring as analog phone lines, but they only need two pair to transport up to 24 separate telephone conversations. Each channel of a T1 line carries a single phone call.

Think of T1 telephone service as a way to consolidate many separate outside lines into a single line that plugs right into the T1 interface on your PBX system. Most PBX and IP PBX systems come with this capability. If you have an older system, you might need a plug-in card or a separate channel bank to provide the needed interface.

So, what do you gain by upgrading to T1 phone service? If you're running a dozen or more lines, you are almost sure to save money by consolidating all of them on a T1 line. T1 prices have come down so much in recent years, that you might only need 6 to 10 lines to see a savings.

A variation of T1 service called ISDN PRI or Primary Rate Interface gives you up to 23 phone lines on a single T1 line plus the ability to have Caller ID for your phone system. You can also have your T1 channels set up as any combination of inbound, outbound, local and long distance telephone service. Need toll free numbers? Have them included with your line service.

Smaller businesses that only need 6 to 12 phone lines plus broadband Internet access will be interested in Integrated T1 service. As the name suggests, Integrated T1 uses a single T1 line to carry both traditional phone service plus Internet service. Generally, these lines are dynamic so that any bandwidth not needed for phone calls is automatically assigned to broadband speed. Integrated T1 service can be a cost savings over separate phone lines and broadband connections. Plus it is highly reliable for both telephone and Internet service.

What does it take to convert from regular phone lines to T1? Very little effort on your part. In a few minutes, you can enter an online T1 service inquiry and get pricing for your location. If you need help deciding or want to hear about all the options available, one of our expert consultants will be happy to give you a call.