For Business - VoIP Facts

Hello, my name is Andrew Harrison, the Managing Director of Harrisontech Pty Ltd. Firstly, thank you for visiting our website and I hope it is of some assistance to you.

Since 2003 my technical team and I have been extensively trained in VoIP and perform numerous VoIP installations and integrations across Australia on a weekly basis. We still, to this day, allow set hours per week to workshop (R&R) VoIP ability. We are VoIP specialists.

Firstly, I should advise that VoIP is not for every business and a traditional Telco such as Telstra may suit your business better depending on your circumstances.

Originally, we (like most others) were interested in what VoIP could do for us as far as features offered, and had a need to reduce our telephone costs to improve the bottom line. Our business has been operating by VoIP 100% since 2004. We have one standard Telstra landline coming in from the street assigned to broadband so we can get the internet and use for failover purposes and faxing.

Harrisontech have been installing VoIP for some years now and have watched VoIP in its raw SIP state, including hardware, mature into a solid business grade product that has smarter features than the traditional phone lines and systems.

I would like to clarify a few myths which are simply not true that bug me as I still hear them regularly out in the field today:
There are many businesses such as web companies, data and cabling companies, PC and network technicians - just to name a few - who claim they can do VoIP. The facts are that most (so called VoIP sales and integrators) are capable of doing residential grade VoIP ATA installs - that's plug in a pre-configured box into a home network, plug in a home phone, and then activate an account with their nominated VSP.
WARNING - When it comes to business VoIP, many do not have the skills, training and SIP technical knowledge (although they claim they do) required to integrate an efficient business grade VoIP system. I travel Australia repairing people's VoIP issues and it saddens me to advise people to "rip it out and replace it with proper equipment" - most have just spent some serious cash to get VoIP integrated. VoIP must be installed with the correct and proven hardware and set-up correctly, otherwise you will never be satisfied.

I often hear "I have tried engin" and "I have tried ISPhone" etc... "And it was no good, it was choppy and the call quality was poor". The actual problem is you; your broadband speed/bandwidth is not good enough to carry the VoIP data packets including poor hardware choices is some cases. Good broadband is essential to get good voice quality. Specifically set-up modems and QOS routers (designed for VoIP) are also important to achieve good quality. As an example: just recently I rectified an ongoing engin issue with a highly qualified technician who kept blaming the VSP (VoIP provider). It was not the VSP, it was his structure and settings with his hardware. I sent the technician pre-configured hardware (by us) and he still is in awe to this day, but extremely grateful. The long-winded point I am making here is 99.99% of the time it is not the VSP like engin, ISphone etc... it is the configuration and hardware structure.

I have seen many businesses put in a brand new telephone system which has been sold to them as VoIP enabled or VoIP compliant. Unless you have the ability to modify the SIP rules, pull it out, as most will not work correctly and will drop calls. I am not saying all systems are like this because that is not the case - however, without mentioning names, generally the cheaper phone systems is where you should take care. I have advised and assisted many who have installed new phone systems, to send it back and install a proper business grade IP PBX unit. This seems harsh, but unfortunately it is a fact.

Don't let the internet confuse you when you are researching VoIP because it will; look into and assess live case studies. I have seen many businesses keen to visit what VoIP can offer their business, plus show impressive savings (in some cases in excess of 20K per month). Then the confusion kicks in! They start researching on the internet and reading material - some years old; read all the horror stories that non-capable so-called integrators have messed up. Cut the confusion and take note of real case studies, as this is the only way you are going to get the truth about VoIP (people who use VoIP in business daily).

The reality of how good VoIP really is today is easy to assess. For example: we install 100% VoIP into major call centres - being on the phone is their business and they can not afford to have poor phone quality or downtime. Many call centres are going to full VoIP solutions today because of the features which come with quality hardware are superior compared to their traditional PABX system. However, I should mention there are call centres whose voice quality is poor; the reason is they simply have skimped on costs too far with hardware and VSP rates - you get what you pay for.

Because we use a quality equipment rule and know our game, we don't have unhappy VoIP clients, in fact we constantly are being praised and sent more referrals. We have many case studies available from one man shows to major organisations that are all extremely happy using VoIP.

I invite you to call me on 1300 66 85 85 and discuss what VoIP can do for your business, and best of all, how to improve the bottom line. In closing, please read on about VoIP facts - we will update these facts regularly, as new accredited material is released.

Kindest regards,

Andrew Harrison - MD
Harrisontech Pty Ltd

What is VoIP?
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a protocol optimised for the transmission of voice data through the Internet or other packet-switched networks. VoIP is often used abstractly to refer to the actual transmission of voice (rather than the protocol implementing it). VoIP is also known as IP telephony, Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband. "VoIP" is pronounced voyp.

Companies providing VoIP services are commonly referred to as providers, and protocols which are used to carry voice signals over the IP network are commonly referred to as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols. Some cost savings are due to utilising a single network to carry voice and data, especially where users have existing under-utilised network capacity that can carry VoIP at no additional cost. VoIP to VoIP phone calls are sometimes free, while VoIP to public-switched telephone networks, PSTN, may have a cost that is borne by the VoIP user.

Voice over IP protocols carry telephony signals as digital audio, typically reduced in data rate using speech data compression techniques, encapsulated in a data packet stream over IP.

There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: Direct Inward Dialing (DID) and access numbers. DID will connect the caller directly to the VoIP user, while access numbers require the caller to input the extension number of the VoIP user.

Why use VoIP?
VoIP can assist to drop charges on traditional phone bills, plus facilitate tasks and provide services that may be more difficult to implement, or expensive using the more traditional PSTN. Examples include:

The ability to transmit more than one telephone call down the same broadband-connected telephone line. This can make VoIP a simple way to add an extra telephone line to a home or office.
3-way calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID; features that traditional telecommunication companies (telcos) normally charge extra for.
Secure calls using standardised protocols (such as Secure Real-time Transport Protocol.) Most of the difficulties of creating a secure phone over traditional phone lines, like digitising and digital transmission are already in place with VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt and authenticate the existing data stream.
Location independence. Only an internet connection is needed to get a connection to a VoIP provider. For instance, call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast and stable Internet connection.
Integration with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books, and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.

VoIP related terminologies here