Hosted Phone Service
A Hosted Service provides similar functions to a traditional hardware solution and phone systems are a great example.
A small or medium sized business now has an interesting choice: purchase and keep a phone system in the office space or rent phones and features from a service provider? The service provider, also known as a Hosted Solutions or Hosted IP provider, is the one who delivers phones to the business customer.
The service provider “hosts” the phone system back in their own secure facility. The customer gains access to the system remotely through a secure internet or VPN connection. Calls are made possible via an IP telephone system connected to the VPN. The call is then routed to the final destination. All of this is pre-programmed and works automatically.
If designed properly, the service will function in much the same manner as a traditional phone system. By renting or subscribing the phone system, your business has leveraged technology and economies of scale. The business customer only subscribes for as many users as it needs. Voicemail, auto attendant greetings, and call management are all hosted and supported by the remote IP Phone System.
For businesses short on technical expertise and budget, this can be a cost-effective, professional method of managing its telecommunications. The provider charges a flat, monthly rate for all the components. Voicemail, handsets, local and long-distance calls, internet use and email are all billed on the same invoice.
The Benefits of a Hosted Phone Service
Here are a few key benefits that a hosted phone service offers:
Improves Technology
By renting or subscribing the phone system, your business has leveraged technology and economies of scale.
Reduces Costs
For businesses short on technical expertise and budget, this can be a cost-effective, professional method of managing its telecommunications.
Easy Installation and Maintenance
A hosted phone service requires less time, money, and effort to set up and operate. Hosted phone service providers also operate and maintain the service, making it a great option for small businesses and remote workers.
Increases Communication and Productivity
Hosted technology allows corporate users to communicate with each other on more devices than ever before allowing more convenience and productivity.
Update Accessible
As needs change organizations can update their services and tools without the burden of offloading legacy equipment – the service provider swaps out services and equipment without additional financial burden on the customer.
Better Scalability
When designed correctly, hosted telephony services provide management tools the client can leverage for moves, changes and troubleshooting. It also provides superior redundancy and stability over legacy phone systems.
The Disadvantage of a Hosted Phone System
Service Bundles
Part of the convenience is due to the fact all the services are bundled with one vendor in one place, so It is critical to choose the appropriate vendor to ensure proper performance and support when changes or challenges arise.
Which Phone Service is Best for Your Business?
Good voice performance requires a stable, dedicated connection.
But, what does stable mean?
The connection cannot drop packets, lose signal or experience long delays in packet delivery. Additionally, there needs to be a minimum bandwidth dedicated to voice service. In VoIP, each call needs about 80k off dedicated bandwidth for acceptable performance. Here’s what happens to a voice call using stand-alone cable or public access. When a public-access circuit experiences high usage, performance suffers.
If the speed slows down and data packets drop off, the resulting call will lose audio and create signal delay.
What RAM Communications recommends today is a hybrid approach using dedicated broadband connections. Service costs have dropped to the point most small businesses can’t afford to have two connections.
In this example, we use SD Internet to combine voice and internet usage.
Voice service now has dedicated, stable bandwidth while the internet and cloud applications can use broadband for better performance.
In the rare event, your dedicated bandwidth goes down, the SD service uses broadband as a back-up with little if any interruption.
If the broadband connection goes down, SD service also uses dedicated access as a back-up.
Understand What You’re Buying
Integrated Services
In the late 90s, integrated Services saved businesses money and started simplifying their telecommunications with a deliverance of voice and data on one T1 circuit.
As router technology advanced, so did integrated services. The same phone companies who supply PRI, POTS and DSL, also supplied this new service. The best packages were compatible with analog and digital types of phone services.
This limited the number of calls and the speed available on the T1. This limitation made it difficult for growing businesses to stick with these services for more than a few years.
‘Dynamic IP’ Services
Today’s routers make it possible to provide IP calling, hosted firewalls and faster Internet performance. QoS, or, ‘Quality of Service’ programming allows voice and data to transmit over the same circuit efficiently. The router is the key.
Its internal computer is the ‘traffic cop’ responsible for which requests get bandwidth and how much bandwidth is allowed. In fact, routers have made it possible for phone companies to do much more than provide a better service package. Carriers, sometimes known as ILECS and CLECS, run their network services more economically and efficiently than ever before.
As more and more applications are written in the language of IP, it becomes increasingly easier to provide all business with services that were cost prohibitive in the recent past.
Finding Compatibility with the Latest Telecommunications Technology
A professional IP solution should be compatible with existing firewalls and network servers. This will ensure your technology needs are met without replacing your existing infrastructure. The quality of the administrative software is also key. Not all hosted solutions provide the same level of detail or ease-of-use. Insist on live demos with all your candidates. The more you play with the tools the easier it will be to decide on the right solution for your business.
Finding the Right Vendor
The best solutions will require the best vendor – industry experts who understands the needs of a variety of businesses. With nearly 20 years of industry experience in solutions-based networking infrastructure development, RAM Communications can assist you in vendor research, acquisition, and support of business phone solutions.
For more information or to get started with us, contact us today!