Planning for a telephony upgrade: All you need to know.

If you are planning to make an upgrade for your phone system to a Hosted VoIP platform, there are a few things you should consider. Addition of a VoIP telephone system, particularly if you are moving from a legacy system can have some consequences for your internet lines. It is therefore important that you take the time to consider the implications of a move, and make use of the expertise of your VoIP provider.

If you are looking to upgrade your telephony, VoIP could be the answer. Learn more about what common business problems it solves here >>

If you are moving from a legacy phone system (one that uses analogue phone lines) you should expect a surge in activity once your phones move over to using the internet. How large that surge will be will depend on the frequency that your staff make and receive calls, as well as the number of phones on your network.

If you do not conduct adequate planning and risk-assessments before making the switch, you could find yourself surprised by throttled internet connections and jumpy, incoherent phone calls. It is important that you assess the strength of your current internet connections to ensure you get the best possible results after your move to VoIP telephony.

There is no hard and fast rule for exactly how capable your internet speeds should be, it depends on the demand you are likely to place on your connections. You should get a feel for how many phone calls are made and received in an average day, and how many of your staff are online on their phones at any one time. Compare that with the speed of your internet connection to predict the impact. You should ensure that your premises has a fibre internet connection in order to get the best results.

It is also important to logically plan the way your internet connections are managed. It is good practice to segregate bandwidth between voice and data, with some left over to provide extra resilience. Failure to segregate your bandwidth can mean that the actions of a few on your network can impact everyone. For example, if an individual were to download a video or stream music at a time of heavy use on your network, their actions could cause you to drop calls. However, if your connections are segregated, a bottleneck on your data network will not affect the quality of your phone calls.

If you are looking to make the switch to VoIP, do not let this blog put you off! The benefits of VoIP over analogue connections are plentiful. However, as with any infrastructure change, it pays to take some careful consideration before acting. Using a Managed Service Provider such as entrustIT to help you make a smooth transition to a new VoIP environment is of paramount importance if you need to minimise disruption.

Adopters of entrustIT’s Cloud VoIP platform enjoy access to a friendly service team which will support your VoIP infrastructure. At the beginning of your contract, entrustIT engineers will conduct an assessment of your internet connection, using their experience of countless VoIP installations to spot potential issues. We will work to iron out any problems you may have before they impact your business. Furthermore, we will logically segregate your connections between voice and data to ensure that your voice performance is not impacted by activity on your data connections.

If you would like to learn more about Cloud VoIP, download our brochure here.