To Voip or not to Voip!

RDPF

I've just moved my business to a new outlet and am considering Voip. Can anyone set me right as to what provider is best?

Only contact I've made so far is with Magnet. I like what they are offering but really don't have much experience in assessing what their package is offering me for versatility and value.

Any advice welcome
RDPF

Mr. G

How many lines do you need?
How many phones?
What broadband is available?
Do you have a phone system?
Are you looking for a cloud hosted phone system?
What are your requirements? E.g call recording etc

RDPF

Thanks for response Mr.G!

We'll need a few lines to cope with incoming traffic, but I understand if you set this in the cloud then the one line will do?
In our new premises we plan to have a restaurant and would need the phone system to be able to cope with telephone ordering, and it could get busy.

Handsets about 5.....

No, don't have a phone system, and again I understand if you host this in the cloud then no phone system is reqiured?

We really want to be where it is at technologywise and be able to avail of inovative stuff as it comes along in relation to telephony, call recording, call transferring etc... My, albeit layman's, understanding of Voip is that this is where you want to be. Is this true?
And if this is the solution for us then are Magnet good to go with?

RDPF

Mr. G

RDPF wrote: »

Thanks for response Mr.G!

We'll need a few lines to cope with incoming traffic, but I understand if you set this in the cloud then the one line will do?
In our new premises we plan to have a restaurant and would need the phone system to be able to cope with telephone ordering, and it could get busy.

Handsets about 5.....

No, don't have a phone system, and again I understand if you host this in the cloud then no phone system is reqiured?

We really want to be where it is at technologywise and be able to avail of inovative stuff as it comes along in relation to telephony, call recording, call transferring etc... My, albeit layman's, understanding of Voip is that this is where you want to be. Is this true?
And if this is the solution for us then are Magnet good to go with?

RDPF

If you want to future-proof the system I would purchase your own SIP Phones, rather than rent them from a company. VoIP will allow you to do whatever you want.

You have 2 options:
1) Host a PBX yourself in your office - or get it hosted
2) Get a "cloud" PBX

If you don't want the hassle of having a PBX and taking care of it, I suggest you get a cloud PBX, such as from Goldfish. For the record I don't use/work for Goldfish but they are known to be reliable, they also support Call Recording and IVR. You can configure this with your phones and can move as you like.

Magnet don't have an excellent reputation and I would not be pushed as they supply equipment to you and so you don't have the freedom to switch away from them in the future.

Every provider will do call transfer, music on hold etc. I think Goldfish and some others will allow you to specify your own music on hold, so something from onhold.ie might be an idea if you want to sell to callers while they wait. I know some that have done that, but it depends on the kind of restaurant as it may not be suitable for every business.

If you have any questions throw them at us, Hope this helps. Whatever provider you go with, you will see the benefits. Being able to see call history instantly, divert remotely (even if electricity is down) etc can be very handy.

RDPF

Thanks Mr. G!

Going to give Goldfish a call and see what they have to say.

I don't think that Magnet were pushing any equipment when we spoke, could be wrong, but I'll go back to them as well, now that I'm armed with a bit more info on the topic........... be back to you when I've got this bit if research done......

They seemed to be offering fairly serious download speeds for broadband; said they have their own broadband, this make any sense to you?

RDPF

domeld

I would go with on site PBX not hosted - reason failover (not necessary to another bb line).
I would go with Digiweb/viatel - reason 24/7 support (im not working in viatel/digiweb)

RDPF

Thanks Domeld, I'll have a look at that as well, but favouring the voip route. We'll see where that brings us!

Mr. G

domeld wrote: »

I would go with on site PBX not hosted - reason failover (not necessary to another bb line).
I would go with Digiweb/viatel - reason 24/7 support (im not working in viatel/digiweb)

+1 for Digiweb. Though I think they charge a €300 set up fee?, their NOC support team are sound.

For businesses with multiple locations a hosted/cloud/whatever PBX might be more suitable depending on broadband connections/infrastructure etc.

Same goes if the OP is not comfortable setting up a PBX/getting someone to set it up, then a hosted solution might make more sense. My 1st preference would be Digiweb though. Their rates are much better then the others.

RDPF

Ok, so I'll give Digiweb a shout and see what they have to say!
Getting a bit confused now, as originally I strarted out looking for the voip preferences, but it seems that both yourself and Domeld are favouring an on site PBX?
Sorry to press the issue (I'm totally clueless on eitehr of these solutions), but how does the onsite PBX stack up against the hosted PBX. I would have thought that hosted would be the way forward?

SpaceTime

If you've got decent, reliable broadband it's absolutely brilliant. We've been using Blueface for about 3 years now without a single hitch.

If you have poor quality broadband though, don't even think about it!

VoIP is just completely flexible. You can add, remove extensions at a whim. The hosted PBX has all the usual services, I can even direct transfer calls to *any* phone number, not just my extensions.

So, for example, if someone's working at home (even if they're not on the PBX) I can transfer a call direct to their mobile. The caller gets hold music, and 'ring ring'... and off it goes.

Blueface is less flexible than it used to be, but it's still pretty solid. Goldfish is getting great reviews.

Mr. G

RDPF wrote: »

Ok, so I'll give Digiweb a shout and see what they have to say!
Getting a bit confused now, as originally I strarted out looking for the voip preferences, but it seems that both yourself and Domeld are favouring an on site PBX?
Sorry to press the issue (I'm totally clueless on eitehr of these solutions), but how does the onsite PBX stack up against the hosted PBX. I would have thought that hosted would be the way forward?

If you host it yourself:

• You have complete control over the system
• You can easily and seamlessly move provider without any hassle
• Have multiple providers, e.g. one for mobiles and one for international calls etc
• Maintain regular features, for instance Music on Hold, Call Transfer
• You will need to solid connection if you host your own system as calls waiting in queues, on hold, transferred etc all through that system hang on your bandwidth.

If you go the "cloud"/hosted route:

• You have little control
• You have support and someone to ring if something goes wrong
• If you transfer a call it uses the Providers' bandwidth and the caller that is transferred is not using your connection to make that call
• If the provider goes down, you're basically in limbo
• You don't have the hassle of updating the system, getting hacked etc
• You will need a good connection, but doesn't need to be excellent (100kbps up and down per concurrent calls will do). The better the connection is the better the quality of the call and speed of dialing. An Eircom eFibre/VDSL connection works brilliantly.
• You can move provider but phones need to be reconfigured etc
• Some providers lock their phones to their network. I.e. Blueface
• Features are not as full as if you host it yourself, and can be limited but Goldfish should have all that you need (except for Call Conferencing)
• Better if you have no on-site IT Department and spread over multiple locations with lots of extensions.

Again, it depends on your connection, your requirements and what you want to get out of the system. I would go with a self-hosted pbx, but I can see the benefits of getting it hosted such as by Goldfish.

Shop around, do your research and plan it before jumping is my advice. Make sure you are not in a contract with your current provider, port over after you have the phones in place and working.

You should give the phones/pbx priority over everything else on the network using QoS. This is relatively simple to do with 99% of routers.

domeld

SpaceTime wrote: »

If you've got decent, reliable broadband it's absolutely brilliant. We've been using Blueface for about 3 years now without a single hitch.

If you have poor quality broadband though, don't even think about it!

VoIP is just completely flexible. You can add, remove extensions at a whim. The hosted PBX has all the usual services, I can even direct transfer calls to *any* phone number, not just my extensions.

So, for example, if someone's working at home (even if they're not on the PBX) I can transfer a call direct to their mobile. The caller gets hold music, and 'ring ring'... and off it goes.

Blueface is less flexible than it used to be, but it's still pretty solid. Goldfish is getting great reviews.

Blueface was absolutely terrible during migration to freeswitch. Their CTO just to hate me

RDPF

Thanks guys, I'm going to do a bit of research and shop around, and I'll be back to let you know how I get on!
RDPF