Noble Solutions - the network and VOIP experts Noble Solutions - the network and VOIP experts
the network and VOIP experts
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Noble Solutions - the network and VOIP experts
 
 

VoIP

a Fast Payback

a FAQ on VOIP

a The Business case for  VOIP

 

What is VoIP?

Many businesses are faced with spiraling phone bills or simply don’t know that huge savings can be achieved. One way of reducing your bills is to use your IT network for phone calls between branches and use the Internet for external calls. This is known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).  It is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line.  In addition, you can route inbound calls as well.  The big benefit here, is that you can significantly reduce the number of phone lines you need, saving around 45 pounds per line, per quarter, year on year.

How does it work?

The telephone call is compressed and converted into data (similar to what an MP3 players does, only it's optimised for voice) and then sent along a piece of wire (commonly a kilostream) connecting two sites. The call is then reconnected at the other end and changed back into a voice call and the two persons can talk to one another. The sites can also be connected using the Internet using a broadband connection, instead of a fixed link such as a kilostream.  In addition PSTN termination services are available that let people dial a regular phone number to call you, and of course you can dial other PSTN numbers

Benefits of VoIP

Reducing your business phone bills and line rental is only one benefit of VoIP, albeit an important one.  VoIP can also dramatically improve the way you work.  If you switch your phone calls to your IT Network you can merge voice and data, boosting staff productivity and enhancing customer service

As voice is converted into data, only one link between two sites is required. This is because the voice and data can now be sent together. This provides multi-site businesses the advantage of saving money on leased line rental.

With a growing number of companies employing remote workers, this technology can have advantages for remote staff working at home or out of the office, as they can become remote virtual extensions on the telephone system. The remote worker will normally connect using the Internet via a technology called ADSL.

Some key features of VoIP

  • Interactive voice response

  • Flexible routing of calls

  • Call queuing in real time

  • Call statistics for daily monitoring

  • Remote numbering e.g. a London number for Devon-based business

  • Real-time billing

  • Music on hold

  • Voice mail

Who will benefit from VoIP?

Does your company:

  • Make and receive a lot of calls?

  • Have at least 5 phone lines and extensions (can be multiple offices)?

  • Strive to increase productivity?

  • Put customer care as a top priority?

  • Lose potentially important calls?

  • Have a desire to achieve cost savings on your calls

If you can answer ‘yes’ to at least one of these questions, it could be the right time for you to be considering VoIP. With the price of high speed Internet connections coming down, it’s well worth taking a fresh look at your long term plans for your phone and IT Network.

 

Fast payback VoIP system now available

As a leading Southwest VoIP specialist, Noble Solutions is proud to announce the availability of our entry point VoIP system, NDM004.  With huge cost savings available via this system, payback on your investment can be as little as 9 months!

The NDM004system provides the following technical features:

  • One Linux based server with VoIP PBX system fully installed

  • Digital/Analogue card allowing the connection of two PSTN phone lines

  • 4 Grandstream 102 IP phones, with an in-built two-port switch that connects to PC's LAN cable, so no extra wiring

  • Basic configuration of system which includes ring groups, voicemail and extension configuration

  • 3 months initial provision of a call termination service for up to 4 simultaneous VoIP calls, where you can pick any inbound geographical number you like within the UK

  • Licenses for the patented voice compression software (Codec), which gives near PSTN quality, but only uses 31kps per call, of your bandwidth. (Typical broadband provides 256kps up-link speed)

  • Noble Solutions will also provide 1 hour's free customisation to your business requirements.

For a VoIP Business Needs Analysis or more information, call us on 01626 832423.

  

 FAQs

 

Q: Does VoIP work?

A: Yes, of course VoIP works – many companies run their businesses on a VoIP service.  The caveat is that VoIP is currently a "new" technology and in order to get best results from it, it is essential to ensure that it is set-up and configured correctly. This is where you can trust Noble Solutions.

 Q: Is this the same as Skype?

A. Yes and no.  Yes in that Skype uses VOIP, but no in that it's not a Skype based service.  Skype is primarily a point to point system (though Skypeout to PSTN is now available)  Skype also uses a propriety wide bandwidth protocol which consumes a huge amount of bandwidth for just one call.  Great if you're at home. but using it on your company network would bog it down very quickly.  Noble's solutions use the open SIP protocol, widely adopted by many phone manufacturers.  Nokia for instance use the SIP protocol for their new E60 mobile phone.

Q: What about call quality?

A: We find that when customers have sufficient bandwidth to operate the service correctly, they experience excellent call quality.

When a call is made, the voice stream is encoded into a digital signal using a codec. There are two commonly used codecs, g711a and g729a. With a g711a call, the quality achieved is identical, if not better than a normal phone call on the public network, but the bandwidth used in each direction is approximately 80Kbps.

With the g729a codec, the quality is almost as good (the call sounds slightly muffled to a trained ear), and the bandwidth is 31Kbps. We recommend everyone uses g711a where possible for best quality. If you find that the call breaks up occasionally, try changing down to the g729a codec.

 

Q: How important is bandwidth?

A: It is important to check how much bandwidth is available on your internet service.

With ADSL, the circuit speed is asymmetric, which means that whilst you may have two megabits (or similar) going downstream (from the Internet to you), you typically get much less (~256k) going upstream (from you to the Internet). This is fine for an office of up to four people.

Noble can provide solutions that let you 'bond' multiple ADSL lines giving you 1 megabytes upstream.  With the imminent arrival of ADSL+ this can be boosted to 2 megabytes, providing in theory, over 30 simultaneous phone calls using the g729a protocol!

 

Q: How many calls can my business make?

A: Most UK ADSL subscribers have 256Kbps upstream, so that means that you can fit 2 to 3 concurrent phone calls when using the g711a codec , as long as you don't use the Internet connection for anything else, and around 6 using g729a with some room for data

When using our service in a busy office of up to 10 people, customers typically dedicate one broadband service to their phone provision.

The only other issues that arise are typically to do with your equipment and connection to the Internet. It is important to ensure you have a good quality ADSL router - which we can help ensure you are set-up correctly. Noble recommend Cisco routers.

 

Q: How reliable is the service?

A: We find that VoIP servers are as, if not more, reliable as email servers, but we have to do more updates and maintenance than we do for more well established services - so there can be interruptions.  However, we keep these to the evenings, so, we have a permanently running service during the business day.

We also have intelligent monitoring and "instant re-boot" systems, so that if anything does go wrong, it is automatically detected and fixed within a few seconds, which helps ensure no down time.

 

Q: Do the telephones themselves affect reliability?

A: Most VoIP phones have been developed by new manufacturers and the phones themselves can contain bugs and audio issues etc. However, we only work with manufacturers who produce good quality phones, so these problems are increasingly rare.

Q: Do I need to have my computer on to receive calls?

A: No, VoIP phones, apart from the cheaper USB phones, are self contained, they simply plug into the network, so you can do away with those telephone points.

Q: Can I move my existing land line numbers to VOIP?

A: Yes, though there is not 100% national coverage at the moment. Call us to find out if your area code is covered

The Business case for VOIP

The fact that you can phone just about any landline in the world for 1p/minute, any time of day, is not the only reason for considering VoIP.

Line rental is a charge you pay month after month, whether you use it or not.  Further, if the number of callers exceeds the lines you have, you miss the call.  With VoIP, provided you have the bandwidth, it’s not an issue.  One of the reasons why deploying VoIP is so quick to recoup the cost of investment, is that you can dramatically reduce your fixed costs in the form of redundant fixed lines.

The Anywhere Phone System

One of the implicit capabilities of VoIP is that your employees’ physical location is no longer an issue.  Provided you have internet access, the phone will register with the system, and it will treat it as a standard extension.  For instance, home workers simply plug the phone into their home broadband, and it’s as if they were in your office sat at a desk.

 For those who work in a number of locations, or are mobile, there is find me, follow me functionality. This is where the system will ring numerous designated phones, be they office phones or mobiles.  Which ever one you answer, will have the call transferred seamlessly.

 Packed with Functionality

Because the system is ‘soft’, you can tailor the system to work the way you and your company want to work. The system has all the capabilities of the top of the line legacy systems out there and more.  The difference is, you’re in control and as an added bonus, there’s no supplier lock in.

Let’s face it, you probably already own 98% of your new VoIP system in the form of network infrastructure, Noble can help with the missing 2%

The fact is, that in the next four years, virtually all calls will be made using VoIP according to OFCOM. 

Steal a march on your competition, and begin to realize the benefits early.

Call Noble today, for an initial free, no obligation analysis of your needs.

 

For more information, please call us now on 0845 868 5140 or email sales@noblesolutions.co.uk

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