VOIP - What is it, and will it really save me money?

VOIP - What is it, and will it really save me money?

by Rob Parker

Whether in a business or personal context, odds are good that you have heard of VOIP. The idea of VOIP is very appealing and many companies suggest that using this technology will save you money. In this article we take a look at what exactly VOIP is, and whether or not it will actually save a person money.

VOIP defined

VOIP is an acronym that stands for voice over internet protocol. Like a lot of these terms, it is fairly easy to understand if you add a few more words to the short hand; in this case, it seems more straightforward to refer to it as voice transmitted over the Internet. In effect, this is exactly what VOIP is; the use of the Internet to transmit voice in the same way you would use a telephone.

If one looks at the advancements in technology over the last ten years, VOIP and its widespread usage seem fairly inevitable. In fact, some of the advantages of VOIP are probably obvious right away; there is a great potential to do away with costly phone services, including long distance charges, in the near future. This is exactly what companies are marketing today, trying to persuade companies and individuals to use this service, but will it really save you money?

The answer

In our opinion, VOIP has a vast potential for saving the user money, although in many cases this potential is not realized. For example, one wonders why, when VOIP technology is offered for free by companies such as Skype, companies would try to sell this service at all. In fact most computer users with a headset have been taking advantage of this technology for several years, most of the time for free. So if you have to pay an additional cost for your VOIP service, it's probably not worth it.

Additionally, VOIP has not yet reached a stage where users can do away with their landlines and the contingent costs for good. For one thing, emergency VOIP calls are unreliable and 911 still needs to be used over a landline. For another, there are often delays in transmitting VOIP messages, delays that can be frustrating and may lead to confusion, particularly in the business environment. If you hold to the adage that time is money, then VOIP may cost you more than your phone line (which at any rate, you probably will have to keep paying for).

In conclusion, we will say that when VOIP has advanced sufficiently, it will have the potential to save individuals and businesses money. However, as with anything else, it is likely that the companies running the phone lines and other communication mediums will charge according to the demand for the service, so it's not likely that a good VOIP program will always be available at a price lower than that of a modern phone line.

Conducting a VoIP Readiness Assessment of Your Corporate Network

Conducting a VoIP Readiness Assessment of Your Corporate Network

by TelCon Associates, Inc

2005 is predicted to be the year of voice over IP (VoIP) solutions for a growing number of corporate enterprises - both large and small.

If you have been considering the benefits of implementing VoIP, you are certainly not alone. In its just-published "2005 Telecommunications Report," Harris Interactive found that 87% of business decision-makers are familiar with VoIP and, of that number, 12% currently use it in their organizations.

So what's the big attraction?

Cost mainly. But lowering company telecom expenses is just one aspect of the lure of implementing VoIP solutions. Other advantages include the potential for value-added services and the capability of more advanced features made possible through the integration of voice and data (e.g. videoconferencing, advanced voicemail features,etc.)

Sounds good, but here's the rub...it's also been estimated that up to 85% of corporate networks are simply not ready to handle VoIP.

Combining voice with data is a tricky proposition. After decades of getting used to near-perfect sound quality delivered over traditional voice networks, even the slightest delays in voip can be very annoying.

Before diving in to a full-blown VoIP solution, it is advisable that you conduct a voice over IP readiness assessment of your existing network. This assessment will provide you with two very important pieces of information:

1) The capability of your existing data network to deliver high-quality voip calls, and; 2) the ability to evaluate the quality of these calls during a wide variety of traffic scenarios. Keep in mind that most data networks were not designed for VoIP, so chances are that some upgrading of your existing network will be necessary.

One critical requirement for VoIP to work is QoS. (Short for Quality of Service, a networking term that specifies a guaranteed throughput level). For QoS to work, the routers and switches that manage the data traffic flow in your network must be able to prioritize VoIP data packets via QoS.

4 Steps to a Successful VoIP Readiness Assessment

1) Conduct a complete inventory of your existing network. Identify routers, switches and links in your network and store their configuration data in a database. This step is crucial before you can move to step 2.

2) Determine the current CPU, memory and bandwidth of your network devices, routers and switches. This information will give you a "baseline" of your existing network infrastructure and current capacity.

3) Simulate and compare VoIP usage scenarios to estimate the call capacity of the network.

4) Determine how well VoIP will perform on your network by measuring simulated VoIP traffic and calculating call quality based on a Mean Opinion Score (MOS).

We have recently added a VoIP bandwidth calculator tool to help you determine various codec, MOS, and bandwidth scenarios. Go to www.telconassociates.com for more information.

While VoIP can ride over the highways that your data currently does, it is a new application with new rules. A VoIP readiness assessment will give you the information you need to incorporate a VoIP solution without unnecessary hassles and expenses due to lack of proper planning and research.

If you are considering migrating to VoIP and need help, contact us and we'll help guide you to the right sources.

TelCon Associates For 32 years, TelCon Associates has helped companies of all sizes gain control and reduce telecom spending through their proprietary methods of telecom audits, telecom bill management and telecom audit training. Visit www.telconassociates.com for more information and free news and resources in the telecom industry.