What questions does one need to have answered before meeting with a VoIP vendor?

If you decide to use your own PBX (Not hosted) As a carrier specialist I would like to speak to potential SIP connections to the PSTN. There are many assumptions around SIP. Don't rely of the hype because there are some "gotchas" with SIP that can effect your costs by 30-40%! Recently I compared several carriers SIP offerings for a client.

1. Several carriers required the client to use their internet access. Some did not
2. All the carriers ,but one, charged a monthly fee to supply access (local and LD) which they called a path charge (single two way phone conversation). One did not.
3. Three of the carriers allowed me to send my LD direct to their LD gateway.
4. Only one was aware of how the FCC determination around "indeterminate jurisdiction" could effect the clients LD costs.

I often feel like I am the bad guy bringing these things up but I constantly run in to companies who were "Surprised" when they got their first bill for SIP carrier services.

Ryan - Most of the questions you need to ask are within your organization. VoIP covers a tremendously wide range of topics and it helps to know what solution providers to approach. For example, are you looking for an IP PBX or a hosted VoIP solution? Do you have a single location or multiple locations that need to function as part of a complete solution? What are your call processing requirements, including number of concurrent calls, average length of call and so forth? Are you planning to include any existing infrastructure such as telephone instruments and so forth. Once you have a clear understanding of what you are seeking, there are a variety of vendors to consider. Quality of service and pricing models are very important as these vendors can vary widely. How will the new system be integrated with your data networking environment, including your information systems security plans and policies?

As you can see, there are many questions to be surfaced and answers to be found. Without being too self-serving, a good consultant may certainly be of value!

Joel

Like most of friends have quoted, the answer would be very generic
I would categorise my requirements as follows
If you want to go with an Hosted Telephony
1)What is the level of security that would be provide to your calls
2)Tight SLA compliance with regards to quality of service
3)Proper capacity and disaster revovery planning from the vendor
4)Billing terms or billing rates for Local & international calls
If you want to go with an Inhouse telephony
1)Which is the best way to reuse your existing infra (there are always cubersome ways of using your existing system by the virtue of buy back or keeping some of the portion for low profile users)
2)How do you plan you rollout of voip services (its always advisable to do a proof of concept no matter what the vendor is commiting)
3)RoI of the investment and duration of your returns also plays an important role from the financial point of view
4)Would there be an additional cost for upgrading your network infra for supporting Voip calls (like routers,switches or bandwidth upgradation)
5)Again SLA stands as an important point which needs to be decided after a very careful thought
6)What would be the growth path of the technology (SIP, UC Etc)
7)Their should be clear understanding of How much you are paying right now for the telecommunications,how you would be investing for new infra and finally within how much time you would covering up your investment and start getting the profits

Hope it helps

Jignesh

In my opinion the most important question to ask is "Why do we need an IP phone system? What tangible, measurable business benefits come with an IP telephony implementation?"

If you can answer yes to the first question and come up with specific answers to the next two, then you can start the process of formulating a coherent procurement strategy.

Now for smaller companies maybe a hosted solution might make sense. But once you get above 30 users or so hosted solutions at 40 dollars a seat or so aren't cost justifiable. Using an example of a 50 seat operation at 40 bucks a user that's 24,000 a year or 72,000 for a three year contract. A 50 person company could lease a 50,000 system complete with UC/UM for less than that complete with a 5 year maintenance program.

What are your application requirements? Do you have more than one site which need to be connected over a WAN? Which specific users will benefit most from Unified Messaging and why? What reporting metrics do you absolutely require and which would just be nice to have? The same question goes for other applications.

Will your existing data infrastructure support VOIP? If not what is the cost to upgrade it? What's the ROI on all of this?

Do you have sufficient bandwidth to support voice?

An IP telephony deployment is a serious business decision which can have far reaching effects on an organization both positive and negative. My comments are just a starting point. Many an IT Director has found himself seeking new employment after a botched IP implementation so it will behoove one to ask more questions rather than fewer.

HOW TO CORRECTLY DEPLOY A VOIP PHONE SYSTEM
A white paper by:
Pierre Kerbage
Senior Vice President for Zultys, Inc.
Pierre.Kerbage@Zultys.com or Pierre@Kerbage.org
(408) 328-5423
www.zultys.com

VoIP phone systems today vary greatly in features, size, type of phone lines they can operate with, wiring they use, and phones (stations) that they use. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has evolved greatly in the past decade. One thing that has not changed however are the fundamentals of VoIP Systems, how they operate, and what they need in order for them to work reliably.

For starters, many VoIP Phone systems (PBX) do not rely solely on VoIP phone lines. What are VoIP Phone Lines ? While there are proprietary VoIP lines, in general, what is used today is called SIP (Session Initiated Protocol). VoIP/SIP is simply the ability to carry your voice conversations over a data trunk (such as a data T1, Cable Modem, DSL, etc…). It is very unusual today to see VoIP phone systems only accepting SIP/VoIP Trunks (a trunk is a phone line). In fact, the vast majority of VoIP Phone systems today continue to operate on standard Analog Trunks (the same type of lines that you have in your house) and/or PRI (Primary Rate Interface) which is carrier grade 23 phone lines. Why would a VoIP Phone system connect to Analog Trunks or PRI ? There could be many reasons for that. For one, clients may already have existing contracts on those trunks and they cannot change. The other reason is that they are comfortable in that technology and it has served them well. So why and when do SIP / VoIP trunks come to play ?

SIP trunks are now sold for as low as $5 per month per Trunk (+utilization) to $40 per trunk (“all you can eat”) which includes an unlimited Long Distance Plan (in the US typically) and Overseas rates extremely compelling (i.e. 1.1 cents per minute to some Western European countries). Some phone systems (i.e. ZULTYS) allow you to have a variety of trunks and use them in the most appropriate way. For example, a company might still like to connect using Analog Trunks for most of their inbound or outbound calls (or a PRI or two), except when placing Long Distance calls. LD calls in this case, would exit/use the SIP trunk, therefore saving the consumer long distance fees, and arriving to a more predictable monthly fee. This is called LEAST COST ROUTING. This can vastly decrease cost of operations (often to the point where the phone system can pay for itself in a very short amount of time, depending on the long distance the company normally uses.
 
So what about SIP/ VoIP ? Is it dependable ? How does it sound?
There is a right way and a wrong way to deploy SIP and unfortunately, most of the time, consumers are unclear about the choices they have or what to do and are unfamiliar with technologies that are available to them. Here is what to keep in mind. Each SIP conversation requires about 84Kb (Kilobit) in data to function correctly (without compression). Compression can sometimes be used or turned on to reduce the voice/data utilization and optimize networks, but the more you compress the sound, the worse it sounds. Different vendors have developed different compression techniques to get the most out of your bandwidth. One thing for sure, IN VoIP, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR !!!! Different providers might give you different SLAs (Service Level Agreements). Be sure to read them and understand your terms and conditions.

I have to correct the above statement, I just set up a hosted-voip solution for a business with 75 employees. We charge $23.99/seat. We are getting them up and running for less than $10,000.

There are a couple things to prepare before a meeting with your vendor. Keep in mind that some vendors, particularly those whose background is in data networking, sell VoIP-only systems. This can drive up your costs unnecessarily when a hybrid traditional/VoIP system might be fine for your needs.

Also watch out for vendors that simply add VoIP to your existing network whether or not it is fully ready to support voice traffic. In addition, make sure you have investigated your vendor. Your state board of electricity can tell you if a vendor is licensed, which verifies that the vendor is bonded, covered with insurance, and generally in good standing with the state.

For more information on VoIP vendors and which system you should buy, read this Buyer's Guide: www.buyerzone.com/telecom-equipment/voip-phone-systems/bg-voip-phone-systems-...

As a former sales manager for a leading hosted VoIP provider, I'll stick with hosted and admit bias for it upfront.

If you're shopping for hosted VoIP, here's a top 10 of what to ask:
1. Whose platform are you using?
- You will either get, "our own", "Boradsoft" or "open source" (i.e. asterisk). The answer you want is, "Our own", because that means they have the expertise to solve problems when they inevitably happen. Also, follow the answer "our own" with "did you develop it from the ground up, or is it really open source" to screen out companies trying to mask shaky code.

2. What is the billing plan for your toll free plan? (assuming you're looking for toll free service)
- Most companies try to hard their per minute charges on inbound toll free calls and this is where small businesses get crushed. Look for unlimited.

3. Is there a contract?
- Rates change quickly and it's harder than it looks to deliver solid service. Some companies just won't cut it, and you don't want to be tied down.

4. Are the phones proprietary?
- Being stuck with a proprietary phone is the same as signing a long term contract. If you want to switch, you've got an expensive paperweight. Look for Polycom or Cisco SIP-based phones as your best universal options.
Bonus: Are the phones locked?
- Make sure you can re-configure them if you switch providers.

5. Who handles your support?
- Most people get hung up on 24/7 availability, but it's really who is taking the calls that's important. If any aspect of support is outsourced, don't do it. You're better off waiting until the morning with business hours support than dealing with an outsourcer at 3 am.

6. How much bandwidth will I need?
- Depending on what codec their using, the phones will need anywhere from 40-80 kbps up/down. An easy rule of thumb is to have at least 100 kbps up/down for each person using a network connection for phones/computers, but ask to be sure.

7. Can I get my number back if I cancel?
- Make sure they won't hold your number hostage and raise hell if they try.

8. What are the price tiers?
- Whatever tier you're in, ask for the price two more up the food chain and offer to close that day. They'll have to 'ask manager permission', moan and groan, but wait until the end of the month and you'll get a great deal.

9. How long have you been doing hosted VoIP?
- If it's less than three years, run for the hills. It takes at least three years to get your act together in that business.

10. What other services do you offer?
- You want a specialist in hosted VoIP, not a company that also does email hosting, internet service, accounting software and CRM. Jack of all trades is a bad trait for phone companies. They cant be experts in everything.

Hope this helps.

Ryan,

As for IP PBX vs. hosted-VOIP, why on earth would a company want to purchase an on-site PBX for their phone service "upgrade"? Plus, over time it costs quite a bit to maintain this stuff, and like all electronics, it will eventually become obsolete. Good hosted providers handle all of that for you, and you still get top-notch voice quality and enterprise class features, for a lot less.

I think that buying a phone service should be a simple process. With a good hosted-voip provider, all you have to provide is a suitable internet connection and an open path in your firewall. Check out my company, we will give you exactly what you need for thousands of dollars less than what you will pay for a premise based PBX. We have no hidden charges, we can port your numbers, give you a 30 day money back guarantee, free tech support, unlimited local/LD calling, hunt groups, autoattendants free 8xx numbers, and voice quality that smashes the competition. I can guarantee that. Its a no-brainer.

Parker

Parker