What a VoIP phone system is
In an older phone system a box in the cupboard connected your handsets to lines from the phone company. In a VoIP system the box is a server somewhere else, your handsets and apps connect to it over the internet, and your numbers live on that server rather than on a line into the building. Ours runs on a platform in Australia that we operate ourselves, which is what lets us fix a fault rather than wait on someone else to.
The practical result is that a phone can be anywhere with an internet connection. The office, a home desk, a laptop in a cafe, a mobile. They all ring on the same number.
What a small business actually needs
Most offices with one to a dozen or so extensions need the same short list.
- Your numbers kept. The number on the door, the vans and ten years of search results is the most valuable thing about the old system. It must come with you.
- A way to answer calls that fits how you work. A handset on the desk, an app on the laptop, an app on the mobile, or a mix. Most offices end up with a mix.
- Somewhere for a call to go when nobody answers. A menu for callers if you need one, a group that rings several desks, and voicemail that lands in your email so a message left after hours is waiting when you start the day.
- After-hours behaviour. The system should do something sensible at 6pm and on public holidays without anyone remembering to flick a switch.
- No lock-in. A phone system should earn its keep every month. A three-year contract is how a provider stops having to.
Things you probably do not need yet: call centre reporting, wallboards, and anything sold as a platform for a hundred seats. They can be added later if the business grows into them.
Handsets or softphone
A deskphone is still the right tool for reception, for a shared area, for anyone who is not sitting at a computer all day, and for anyone who would rather a call not depend on a laptop being awake. Modern handsets plug into the network and set themselves up; the handsets we supply are the ones we have found reliable.
A softphone is the same extension running as an app in a browser, on a laptop or on a mobile. It suits people who already work with a headset on, people who move between desks, and anyone who works from home some days. How the softphone works covers it in detail.
The honest answer for most small businesses is a few handsets where they earn their place and the app everywhere else.
What happens to your numbers
Your numbers move with you. The new provider asks the old one to transfer them, and the port happens on an agreed day with the old service staying live until it does. We will not quote a timeframe on this page, because it depends on who holds the number today, and a provider who promises a date before seeing your bill is guessing.
A 1300 or 1800 number can stay with its current provider and simply forward to the new system, so it does not have to move at all. Keeping your numbers has the detail.
What your internet connection has to do
This is the part most guides skip, and it is where most VoIP problems come from. Calls need a connection that is steady rather than fast. A call uses very little of a modern connection, but it needs that little bit without interruption, and a connection that drops for two seconds every hour will drop a call every hour.
Three things to check:
- Is the connection stable? A speed test tells you almost nothing. Ask your IT provider or your internet provider whether the connection drops, and how often.
- Can the router put voice first? A good business router gives call traffic priority over a large download. A router from a retail shelf often cannot.
- Is there a second path? If the main connection fails, a mobile broadband backup keeps the phones up. If the phones matter to the business, this is worth the small monthly cost.
Cabled handsets are more reliable than wireless ones for the same reason: the fewer things between the phone and the router, the fewer things to go wrong.
What to ask a provider
- Where does the system run, and who fixes it when it breaks?
- What is in the monthly amount, and what is quoted separately?
- What is the contract term?
- What happens to our numbers, and what happens to them if we leave you?
- What do you check, and do you find out about a fault before we do?
- Can we see what we would pay, in writing, before we commit?
We answer those questions by reading your last few bills and sizing the system properly, because that is the number that decides what you pay. How our cloud phone systems work explains the rest.