VoIP Solutions

Many companies are walking away from their traditional phone companies and moving to the Internet for their telephony needs. In tech jargon, they’re switching from POTS (“plain old telephone service”) to Voice over IP ("VoIP", pronounced as one word).

VoIP lets you make phone calls over the Internet with a number of advantages over your landline. It gives you low calling costs (especially on overseas calls); excellent voice quality (rather than the muffled squawk of a traditional phone); and extra features (or easy access to the hard-to-use features you already have).

A phone using VoIP is different from a regular phone; instead of connecting to an analog phone line, it connects to a computer. That computer is usually called a VoIP gateway, and it’s the bridge between the handset and other telephone users.

Deciding Between Cloud-Based And Premised-Based Solutions

One critical decision that must be made is to determine which solution is better for your business: a premises-based solution (in which the hardware appliance is kept on-site in your server closet), or a hosted PBX solution (where your phones connect through your Internet connection to a provider that maintains the equipment at an off-site cloud data center). To determine which type of solution may best for your business you should speak to one of our knowledgeable VoIP specialists who can help you weigh the unique aspects of your business to help you decide.

Before you call, here are some questions to consider:

What types of features does your company require now and in the future?
How does your company budget for telecommunication expenses? Capital purchases, monthly expenditures?
What’s the total cost of ownership (TCO) going to be for your solution?
Can you reuse the existing infrastructure? What would your Return on Investment (ROI) look like?
Scalability – What are the forecasts for growth in the coming years?

Purchasing the right phone system is important for the success of your business. There are many factors that come into play when deciding between a hosted and premises-based VoIP solution. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. To make the best decision contact us for a free consultation with one of our Clear Choice VoIP specialist. They can provide you with additional information, tips, and advice regarding your communications needs to ensure you end up with with the best phone system for your business.

What Exactly Is Unified Communications?

Unified communications (UC), defined as integration and collaboration, are today’s driving forces. Businesses want to be able to offer cost-effective and seamless communication to all users, regardless of their role within the company or the tools through which they work. It’s not just about desk phones running XML applications, but rather extensions following users across multiple platforms — business software, collaborative applications, smartphones, and traditional base stations.

The Hosted/Blended Solution:

Star2Star Offers Unified Communications

StarScope 2 from Star2Star Communications is a next-generation unified communications tool that allows users to monitor and control all of their communications including presence, voice, chat, video, email, and voicemail - from a single, intuitive interface. This application (Starlet) runs on the Star2Star Application Framework.

It operates across multiple locations, even across the country and combines several key functions in one package, including:

Presence monitoring and management
Integrated company-wide directory
Group / Location views Call control manager with drag-and-drop call transfer / park / retrieve
IM Chat client
Video
Voicemail access
Call recording and playback (via Activities Starlet)
Incoming call pop-up
Conference room monitor