Levels of VoIP Service

The phone services and methods for providing them differ for different groups. Residential or home phone services have always been pretty straightforward. But businesses need PBXs for switching, handing extensions and for managing multiple users and numbers over a smaller number of lines in order to be cost effective.

VoIP is no different. Residential VoIP services are straightforward but they do offer a range of features not common on regular phone systems.Small businesses typically want more lines, a level of robustness not found in residential phone services and a predictable pricing structure. Quality of service becomes an issue. Not surprisingly, a different set of vendors is typically able to satisfy these needs than the best choices in the residential arena.Scaling up again, medium businesses – in the 200 employee and up range – have a different focus for their concerns. Quality of service is more key, new features come into play including call center features like automatic transfer and queuing.

Pricing becomes more critical again and in-house options begin to look attractive now that capital costs can be amortized across so many employees.Large enterprises are clearly at the point where it is economically more sensible to bring equipment and services in house. Precise features become more critical as the need to integrate processes becomes critical to business success.At every level of these services there is considerable overlap, so a small business provider is likely to be able to satisfy the needs of many medium-sized businesses. But stretch too far and everything breaks...

The bottom line when looking for VoIP service and when finding a good fit for a service provider is to do a little due diligence. Define your absolute requirements as well as the requirements that would be very positive. Define the deal-breaker issues. Go out and find the best fits and look at the intangibles and make a decision.