VoIP

Due to the explosion of broadband in recent years, more and more people have fast internet connections at their disposal. With VoIP, most calls you make can be treated as a "local" call.

Cost Savings.

As competition increases VoIP charges are being pushed down. Currently (July 2007) a business plan might include the following costings:

	Monthly service fee $50 (includes 450 untimed local or national calls)
	Local or national calls (after first 450 calls) 10c each untimed.
	Mobiles $0.18 per minute (or less depending on features of hardware system installed).
	International calls from 3.5c per minute
	Calls between multiple locations on the same service - free!

NB The above is provided as a sample - depending on various circumstances cheaper costs may be applicable. The above is a sample from one Australian provider.

Additional Features.

VoIP systems can autonomously provide full PBX functionality plus a host of other features.

As an example - one of the solutions we have for a business with up to 30 users has the following features:

	PBX for 30 users
	30 simultaneous SIP sessions
	30 individual voice mail boxes for users
	Switches and routes voice, fax, and video
	Instant Messaging, presence, and chat
	Backup telephony interfaces for PSTN connectivity
	Automatic connection lifeline analogue phone in case of ac power failure
	Dial plan can accommodate 512 entries (main and alternative routes)
	8 automated attendants with 16 levels of branching
	18 hours of voice mail
	6 simultaneous accesses by phone to voice mail or auto attendants
	Unlimited access to voice mail through client PC
	Unified messaging of voice mail, fax, and instant messaging
	Voice mail and fax delivered as an email
	attachment to multiple email addresses
	Call detail reports
	Call routing based on Caller ID, presence, date and time, day of week
	Moves, adds, and changes of users can be done in minutes
	Assignment 8 phones per user
	64 users can be assigned to a single phone
	TAPI integration with external CRM applications (for example Outlook, ACT!, and Maximizer)
	Central and local address books
	8 paging groups
	Call pickup from another phone
	Call center features with supervisory functions
	Archiving of voicemail and instant messaging for regulatory compliance
	Encryption of voice calls using 128-bit AES
	Scalable to 10,000 users through peer-to-peer connectivity

What do I need to run a VoIP system?

You will need 3 main components.