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Is VoIP the Right Fit for Small & Mid-size Business

If you are one that wants to be first in line to use any new technology, does it really matter what people say or think? You are going to use it. There are others who won’t adapt or migrate until everything is perfect. Since rarely is everything perfect, they will always have an excuse.

VoIP by many has been proclaimed the service to move your telephone needs if you want to save money. But that May Not be true and to believe it without doing research will probably be a disappointment, if not simply making you look like a fool.

If your company has multiple locations, especially if they are not in the same local calling area, or has employees that are telecommuting, VoIP is probably the right place to be looking. VoIP calls between remote offices usually cost nothing, and equipping telecommuters using traditional technology can be costly.

If you are in the process of wiring for a new office VoIP should also be considered. Wiring for one common system, Voice and Data, is less expensive than wiring for both. Although when wiring, in the long run more is better. It’s less expensive to put wiring in during initial installation than coming back later to add it.

For some the best solution may be to consider using the existing telephone system in the office and use VoIP for the calls between offices or to the public.

Even if you are using what you believe is the circuit switch telephone network, you still may have been using IP without knowing it. Carriers have used IP in their networks for some time, in what is known as the network cloud.

Will IP telephony be the way of the future?

With the speed that technology changes, nothing is for certain. Tomorrow someone may develop a technology that makes VoIP look as bad as the circuit switched network. But for now it does look as if VoIP is the future.

But a lot of people still believe that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” or “if it works don’t replace it”. Many simple telephone systems (Small Business using just a few lines with standard telephones or Key Systems) have been installed over the years. For many of these owners they won’t have a need to have it replaced until they don’t work anymore.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

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Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book Technology Tips for Small Business. The book is an informational source for Small Business to better understand the technology they use everyday. More about the book Technology Tips for Small Business can be found at tt4sb.com.

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