Top 10 Concerns of Buying a VoIP Business Phone System

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Buying a VoIP Business
Phone System
Top 10 Concerns

What you need to know before you buy your new phone system.
By: Jenny Hollingworth

Buying a Business VoIP Phone System: Top 10 Concerns
Buying a Business VoIP Phone
System: Top 10 Concerns VoIP technology is not yet perfect, but there are many misperceptions about it too. Most of these are originate from the introduction of VoIP when problems with it were frequently reported. But the technology is improving all the time and some of these early problems have already been or are rapidly being fixed. If you are thinking of investing in a VoIP business phone system, most of the remaining problems can be avoided simply by choosing both your system and your provider wisely. Below are the ten biggest concerns surrounding any VoIP business telephone purchase, and suggested ways in which you can deal with them. 1) I won't be able to send faxes Despite what you may have heard to the contrary, it is possible to send faxes using your VoIP system, but it can be frustrating when they seem to take forever to go through. There are ways, however, in which you can improve the speed and quality of your faxes: ? Make sure your VoIP provider supports T.38. This is an audio compressor/decompressor device which has been designed specifically for the purpose of sending faxes digitally, and it significantly improves the quality of the copy. ? Try turning off the Error Correction Mode on the fax machine. This invention was intended for PSTN faxes and it is not applicable to VoIP. Worse than that, it can throw the fax machine into confusion as it tries to fix problems it is not designed to solve. You are better off without it. ? Make sure your provider is actively and consistently checking the routing of your calls for problems. Poor routing can slow your faxes considerably, and is not something within your control, but your provider can ensure maximum efficiency if he has the right knowledge and experience to handle the problem. 2) I can't use VoIP with credit card dial-up modems Whereas data sent via the PSTN for credit card transactions is encrypted, digital VoIP information is normally unencrypted. This means that credit card data sent by VoIP is unsafe. As a result, there is no current VoIP system which meets the minimum PCI compliance required by the major credit card companies. Even if the desktop from which you send data is PCI compliant, once the data travels across the internet, that compliance no longer applies. Advanced VoIP providers who may offer you encryption possibilities still do not currently meet the PCI compliance standards. This issue will certainly be resolved in the near future. Widely increasing usage of VoIP is already putting the credit card companies under strong pressure to make the system work. Since it is only a question of setting up a secure SSL system, similar to the one that currently ensures the safety of credit card payments over computer terminals, this is not beyond the power of modern technological know-how.
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Buying a Business VoIP Phone
System: Top 10 Concerns However, if you process your data through an internet connection with a secure gateway, as most people do, there is no problem. Alternatively, for the time being you can continue to use the standard PSTN alternative if you choose to maintain a PSTN line. 3) VOIP won't integrate with my alarm system Currently, VoIP is incompatible with alarm systems, which are designed for analog phone lines. If an alarm system attempts to convert the information to digital in order to transmit it using VoIP, and then reconverts it back to analog when it arrives at its destination, the complexities of this process can mean that the signals arrive at the central station with errors, or not at all. Like the credit card companies, the alarm companies are currently under considerable pressure to find a solution. They are coming up with a number of possibilities, some of which are available already, such as using cellular or radio monitoring to transmit the alarm signals. This is an existing method which has always been available to back up the PSTN line in case of power outages or other telephone ... [download for more]