3 types of VoIP technology as they relate to businesses

1. IP Telephones

    IP Telephones allow you to use any LAN/WAN/INTERNET connection to connect to your phone system. LAN connections are those network locations within your office. WAN connections include connecting through linked multi-office systems. Internet connections include any hi-speed internet connection anywhere in the world.

LAN (Local Area Network)

    When setup for your LAN, you can place your phone at any computer location in your office. This can be a bit of a waste, because a conventional phone can do the same thing for a fraction of the price.

WAN (Wide Area Network)

    IP Phones on your WAN (i.e. a satellite office with a linked computer network to the main office) is pretty cost effective for very small applications. However, once you go above a handful of IP phones in the satellite office, you will probably have to increase your internet bandwidth in both locations, which means a bigger monthly bill. Bigger applications have a better solution: "Networking Phone Systems" (See #2 below). Also consider that if that satellite office wishes to make an outside call, that call will use the main office's phone lines to call out.

INTERNET

    When using the internet, you can place your phone at any external location with high-speed internet. It is easy to see the advantage of being able to travel around the world, plug in your phone, and talk to your main office via intercom and place telephone calls from your main office.

Affordable Telephone Systems offers this technology. It can be added to our current line of telephone systems. At Affordable Telephone Systems, we strongly believe that having a conventional phone system with IP phones added as an option is the best balance of price and reliability.

2. Networking Phone Systems

For years, telecommunications manufacturers have found ways to network multiple phone systems together. The basic technology is not new. Only recently has VoIP been used to extend the distances and reduce the costs. In the same way Wide Area Networks (WAN) link computer servers together, VoIP can be used to link phone systems together. For example, a main office is located in San Diego, and a satellite office is located in Las Vegas. In San Diego(SD), there is a conventional phone system with 150 phones and 72 telephone lines, and in Las Vegas(LV) there is a smaller system with 30 phones and 14 telephone lines. The advantages are:

• A single, centralized voicemail system is located in SD. It is not necessary to have another one in the LV office because they can share the San Diego one. Remember, voicemail systems are an expensive addition.
• Employees can intercom back and forth from SD and LV. These calls are free.
• SD office can transfer outside calls to LV and vice-versa, with no additional charges.
• Both SD and LV can place calls to San Diego locations and to Las Vegas locations, and these calls are all charged as local calls on the phone bill.

The only disadvantage is price, but in most cases, this can be fully offset by the advantages listed above.

Affordable Telephone Systems offers this technology. It can be added to our current line of Toshiba, Samsung, and Nortel telephone systems. It is recommended for any company that has multiple sites (or even multiple buildings on a single site that have no wired connection).

3. VoIP Phone Calls

    VoIP phone calls are a way to make cheap, long-distance phone calls. Using a messenger system (like AOL Instant Messenger and Microsoft Messenger/NetMeeting) you can setup a point-to-point call. Alternately, you can also use an internet phone calling service (such as Vonage). You use a headset hooked into your computer, and you can also add a camera for a "video-phone".

    The major drawback to this technology is that it is not yet practical for business applications. Since you depend on both the internet provider's equipment and that of the VoIP provider, reliability is an issue. Scalability also has limitations.

Because we are not a provider of telephone service, Affordable Telephone Systems does not offer this technology to our customers.

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