BT

Hiya

Do any of you know of a good reliable business grade VOIP provider?

Wish to change from BT as they dont seem to offer low call rates as other providers on VOIP.

We currently have a BT Versatility system with ISDN connected of 4 lines. I know we could add broadband module but the rates dont look appealing. But would like to have just one system and keep the same number.

At present our bill for BT and 02 is 4k a year. And I believe VOIP is the way to go to reduce costs.

We have BT business broadband on one line. Would it be best to have another internet line just to carry VOIP calls?

Thanks

Dave

In reply to:

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Would it be best to have another internet line just to carry VOIP calls?

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Maybe. The limiting factor will be the upload speed of the internet connection, and therefore how many simultaneous calls it can sustain. Do you know how many simultaneous calls you would need?

VOIP might well give you cost savings, but you would need to have a good understanding of your existing usage in relation to:-

UK landlines
UK mobiles
UK premium rate (ie 0845, 0870)
International

In my own business, the lion's share of expenditure went to calls to UK mobiles, so getting the best rates for those was the principal criterion for choosing a supplier. Yours may be different.

There are many but I find Voipfone very good. Generally speaking VoIP rates are very similar and much cheaper than fixed line costs.

www.voipfone.co.uk

www.voipfoneuserforum.com

For businesses I would strongly suggest you have more than one ISP just in case one goes down. BT is quite good but Zen gets good reports for business.

You don't necessarily need a separate line for VoIP but for security at least two ADSL lines are essential for business. Others may advise it is better to keep one for VoIP but I have no strong feelings about this being necessary.

Thanks for your reply Nick,

Will have a look at those providers you have kindly provided.

Dave

Thanks for your reply medwayman.

The upload speed is roughy around 380 bps.

I have currently got skype working at the moment and testing it out on a WIFI Netgear phone. But its early days, I like how it integrates with the PC, but I assume I would have to somehow adjust our business router to adjust for QoS element if using on same network.

We only have 4 lines of ISDN into a PBX so the simultaneous calls would be 4.

Our exchange will be upgraded to 21CN in the 4th quarter of 2008 so hopefully the upload speed will increase somewhat.

Have looked a BT hosted VOIP system. But we cant port over our number.

Point taken with the call usage. Will look at bills when i get back and adjust the service to suit.

May I ask how your general setup is?

In reply to:

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Our exchange will be upgraded to 21CN in the 4th quarter of 2008 so hopefully the upload speed will increase somewhat.

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Firstly I wouldn't hold your breath on this making any difference, and while moving to ADSL2+ may increase your upstream a little, it is still going to require some fairly expensive CPE kit to quality of service the voice from your data.

As a regular voip specifier and provider, I would suggest you take a low usage office grade adsl line, or preferably an SDSL if you are in coverage (half meg is normally more than adequate) and dedicate it to your voip usage. I would also recommend getting your DSL from the same place as your VOIP then ourselves (and I suspect other providers) keep the voip traffic segregated and QOSed over separate VLANS as soon as it leaves our ADSL aggregation points ensuring you get the best from your (what is always contended) DSL service.

Of course you could take a look at what we offer too, and we can port in your existing numbers!