10 Things You Should Know About VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)
Learn from other businesses who have already been through a VoIP roll out. Standing over someone else's shoulders, so to speak, will help you avoid their mistakes and glean tips that can make your own deployments go more smoothly.
The following 10 tips will reduce the amount of time, money and headaches that can occur during a VoIP roll out:
- BUY TIME: Anticipate problems even if it appears the VoIP deployment will be a smooth one. Things don't always happen as planned, so add a buffer into your plans. For example, one business ordered an OC-3 circuit from their carrier, which took an extra six months to install. The business had to get by with a DS-3, which was a lot less bandwidth than they wanted.
- GET EVERYBODY ON BOARD: Assign business-unit leaders to oversee the VoIP project team so they know the details and can communicate them to their employees. This reduces the switchover time as well as reduces user training.
- KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT: Educate yourself on what your business' network infrastructure consists of. Find out what hardware you have and whether it will support technology that can improve voice quality.
- TEST PHONE COMPATIBILITY: Make sure all the desktop phones have power and switching (PAS) capabilities and can be powered via standard Power over Ethernet (PoE, 802.3af is the IEEE standard). The phones also need to have built-in LAN switch ports, which will enable a single LAN cable to support a desktop PC and IP phone. If Gigabit Ethernet is also required, be sure the IP phone port has 1000Mbps.