5 things to consider when choosing your VoIP provider

What is the best way to find a VoIP provider that you can afford? is the question always in our mind, when selecting VoIP provider.

I know as well as anyone this can be a very daunting task. There are a number of VoIP providers to choose from, so the task of deciding should be based on which VoIP Provider offers the most real value for your money.

First: Make accurate price comparisons

As with anything, you should consider price. Monthly VoIP fees for a single user can vary from $24.95 to $59.95 depending on the VoIP provider you are considering and the VoIP Features included. The lower the monthly fee, the less likely you are to get extra features and support from the small business VoIP solutions Service Provider. For instance, some of the less expensive VoIP calling plans may not allow you to place calls outside of their network or your minutes may be capped at a certain amount every month. If you exceed your monthly cap, your calls are metered and you will be billed on a per minute basis for calls that exceed your monthly cap. This is certainly something you want to keep in mind as you consider your options.

Second: Determine the VoIP features your business must have

Make a side-by-side list comparing the VoIP Features offered by the business hosted VoIP providers you are evaluating.  VoIP Features vary widely from Provider to Provider. You should determine what VoIP Features are most important to your company and make sure they are a feature that is offered by the VoIP Provider you choose and is there an additional charge for this feature. Features like voicemail and call waiting are not universal to all VoIP plans, make a list of those features and make sure the VoIP Provider you choose offers those features.

Third: E-911 Service is critically important

Not all VoIP providers offer emergency services or E-911 access. This is a critically important factor in your choice of a voice over internet protocol services providers and one that can have a significant financial impact to your company if the VoIP Provider does not offer this feature. E-911 is the method VoIP Providers use to notify the police in the event of an emergency. If this service does not work perfectly, and this has happened, the police will not be able to respond to an emergency at your office location. You or an employee of your company could suffer great bodily harm, or even worse, if the police are unable respond to an emergency at your office location. A law suit is almost sure to result from this situation and even though it may have been the fault of your business small VoIP Provider, you can expect your company to be named in that suit.

If you plan to make your Small business pbx system the primary phone in your home, then you should try to select one that is offering E911 as a service. That is the technology that is used to determine where you are when you call 911 on your phone. If, on the other hand, you plan to use your cell phone as your primary phone and then the VoIP as a secondary line, E911 capability may not be a big deal to you.

Fourth: Technical Support

Technical support should be a primary consideration when choosing a managed VoIP solutions provider. Some companies will charge you extra for support, while others will not. Most of the companies don’t charge you for basic technical support, but most charge when support requires an on-site visit from a technician. One of the key benefits of small business VoIP is that an on-site support visit is rarely required. One of the most important support questions you should ask your VoIP Provider is “What are your hours of support?” Quality VoIP phone service provider should have live support available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Fifth: Number Portability

Lastly, check into number portability. Most businesses want to keep their current business phone number. The telecommunications Act of 1996 made the transferring of phone numbers a US Law. This law recognized that a business’s phone number is an important asset of that company and made a business’s phone number an asset of the company they can take with them even if the change phone companies. The law requires companies to transfer phones numbers to other providers when a customer makes a request to transfer a number.

AVAD’s Hosted VoIP PBX Installation allows your business be more productive and avoid the hassles and expense of buying and managing your own phone system. We allow you to push the operation and expense of your communications service to us, and we bundle together all the services you need on a single bill – including voice service and phones, VoIP telephone systems service, local and long distance calling minutes, hosted email, and hosted web services.

To learn more about AVAD Technologies VoIP for call center please call (800) 733-4136, or visit us on the web at AvadTechnologies.com

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Small Businesses Are Saving Money with VoIP

To the average small business, VoIP may seem like an esoteric technology that will be difficult to adopt. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Company telephone equipment doesn’t become obsolete. Although there are dedicated business voip phone system, the system can be used with traditional telephones. The operation of the phone system is the same as a traditional system. Customers, vendors and other incoming callers dial the number just like they did before. They won’t even realize the telephone system is changed. Outgoing calls also operate the same way and your staff won’t need to learn new technology just to make a phone call.

The only thing you need to learn is how to take voip advantages of the new found freedom and flexibility the business small business pbx phone offers. The One Number Follow Me feature that you can specify who and when people could reach you at which phone number; The Voice Mail that sent to your cell phone so you can see it and listen to it at the right time; The Auto Attendant that directs the calls to the right person at different hour of the day; Employees working from home, even at different state, etc…

What Are The Downsides to VoIP? 

There are few limitations to Small business pbx system over traditional phone systems. The biggest concern is if your internet connection goes down you lose your phone service as well. And the internet connection may have lag that isn’t noticeable in normal web surfing or downloading but makes back-and-forth conversations slow and frustrating.

To overcome the limitation, many VoIP small business provide legacy phone ports so you can still connect a few traditional phone lines to the system. The small voip phone system will automatically route the calls to the best available one according to the pre-configured rules. So when the internet connection is down, the phone service can still be available.

For businesses that cannot afford to have a dedicated IT personnel to keep their network always at its best shape, many business voice services again provide an alternative by using traditional phone network in house, and only using the Internet/network to provide voice over internet protocol services when it is necessary. – Like connecting voip phone service provider or employees work at home using IP extensions. So even the in house network connection is somehow affected by virus or malfunctioned equipment, the phone system can still function well.

Overall, software voip has far more advantages than disadvantages and some experts predict it is only a matter of time until analog phone systems go the way of the rotary dial.

AVAD Technologies specializes in the small/medium sized business market. Hosted VoIP PBX Installation is all we do. AVAD provides complete voip phone plans solutions, we provide local and toll free phone numbers, the VoIP hardware and software, plus free installation and ongoing support. If you are thinking about switching your business to VoIP or just have some questions, please feel free to call (800) 733-4136.

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