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With business internet usage continuing to increase, contention for bandwidth between your data and VoIP activity can create problems.  Yes, the convergence buzzword has been replaced with contention!

Why is this happening?  Business needs and applications are evolving fast.  Even with bandwidth expansion availability from internet carriers, keeping up with the increasing demand is a challenge.  More businesses are using cloud computing applications, using the internet to move data to a host server rather than to servers on their local area networks.  On-line data backup is another such application.  General use of the internet continues to accelerate, both for personal and business purposes.  With the sky-rocket adoption rate of smart phones, the lines between business and personal have blurred, and office internet usage is following suit.  Social media is not only a personal outlet, but a business tool and resource.  Buying practices have shifted toward internet research and ecommerce, and marketing activity has followed.

I’m looking at my personal browser.  On a daily basis, my browser auto-opens tabs for three social media sites, five cloud applications, news, and Google.  Each application is actively worked throughout the day.  This is becoming the norm, and it requires a lot of bandwidth to perform efficiently.

What is the impact on VoIP applications?  Most businesses today use a VoIP phone service application for their phone service needs.  When a company uses a hosted VoIP service, voice packets travel over the same internet connection as the data packets.  Good VoIP phone service providers will provide instructions to program your router to prioritize voice packets over data to ensure that your calls remain clear and free from interruption.  However, if the internet connection is highly saturated with activity, even the best prioritization routines will be compromised.  Phone conversations can experience poor voice quality and phones can lose their registration and go off-line.

What can be done?  Where available, you should look at your internet provider’s capability to add bandwidth to the circuit or change to a provider who has the ability to grow with your needs.  Depending upon your internet usage and needs, you still may have occasional contention between your voice and data traffic.   However, an alternative may be to separate your voice and data network.

With a separate voice and data network, your calls and phones will no longer be impacted by your data usage.  Many VoIP phones have two ports on the back which allow for a computer to share an Ethernet cable to the network.  The phones and computers can still share an Ethernet connection to the servers, but they will simply be directed out disparate internet connections.  This can be accomplished by setting up a vLan on your switch or by simply assigning the phones separate IP addresses and route them out the new internet connection.  Your network manager or your hosted VoIP phone company should be able to assist you with this programming. 

Finally, voice calls do not require much bandwidth (80 kb/s non-compressed).   Dependent upon your concurrent call maximum, your alternative connection may not be required to be very large.

Capture some statistics on your network usage.  Compare this with the anecdotal complaints from your employees about internet speeds and VoIP call quality and then investigate your options for more bandwidth and/or disparate connections for voice and data.

About the author:  Mark Greim is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at sipVine, a VoIP Phone Service Provider based in Kansas City, MO. Mark has extensive experience working for start-up or entrepreneurial organizations and a passion for affordable, reliable, and purposeful technology solutions in those environments. 

Congratulations, you have taken the first step to enhance your communication platform and upgrade your capabilities by considering a move to a VoIP Service Provider.  Before you make the switch, here are five considerations for you to include in your evaluation of potential providers:

1. Does the VoIP service provider configure the system to how you do business? There are many VoIP service providers who "bundle and drop ship".  These are usually priced very low, but you will have a very basic configuration.  If you have a growing business or are already a business of size and complexity, gain a comfort level with the provider's ability to listen and understand how you do business and see if they will effectively guide you through their alternatives available.  Large national providers expect you to understand how to navigate their provisioning portal and handle all of the programming yourself.  Finding a  VoIP phone service provider that programs the features and delivers a customized solution specific to how you do business would benefit you greatly.
2. Does the VoIP service provider offer a number of solutions to meet your needs? This has evolved over the years.  If you have an 0n-premises VoIP system, determine if the VoIP provider can deliver sip trunks to the platform.  However, most businesses have already moved to a VoIP for Business hosted service platform, providing your business with the flexibility required to compete in today's markets.  The solutions to look for surround the variety of VoIP phone options that best meet the needs of your employees.  VoIP desk phones are ideal for in-office use, although many have moved to desktop soft phones.  Remote or highly mobile employees tend to use either the desktop soft phone or a soft phone app that resides on their smart phone.
3. How agreeable is the VoIP phone service provider to assist in network troubleshooting to resolve call quality issues?   This is where the rubber hits the road for most VoIP phone service providers.  With plug and play phones, having technical support willing to troubleshoot network issues is rare.  Problems can occur on the local network or with the internet connection provided by another carrier.  Avoid selecting VoIP service providers with the attitude that this is "not my problem".  Granted, phone calls are a symptom of the problem, but it should be seen in everyone's best interest that these problems are diagnosed and resolved.  Technical support can provide guidance on router settings that may be causing a conflict, help evaluate if there are problems with bandwidth utilization on the local area network, and run tests to see if the internet circuit is not performing at a level to deliver uninterrupted VoIP traffic.  Additionally, does the provider offer a device to help prioritize voice traffic over data?  This was a huge issue back in the day when internet carriers were not delivering large and affordable internet circuits.  But, with the amount of business applications in the cloud, contention for bandwidth can still be an issue.  So, ask your potential VoIP service provider how they approach these situations.  You will be able to tell very quickly if it is something they do not even consider supporting or assisting you with!
4. Is customer support do-it-yourself?  Large national providers tend to provide off-shore call center support.  This support tends to provide guidance to the customer on how to navigate their self-service portal and certainly does not make changes on behalf of the customer.  Granted, some changes are easy to make.  Others, like mentioned in the first consideration above, take a greater understanding of the programming required to meet the need.  Examples would be main line call flow, call queue set up, auto attendant changes, time of day routing differences, etc.  Most businesses have their own activity to manage and have little time to figure out how to work a third-party portal.  Look for a VoIP service provider who will listen to what you are looking to accomplish and make the changes for you.  
5. What do their customers say about their VoIP service provider?  Take steps to talk to their customers.  Are they satisfied and why? Do they deliver what they promise in the sales cycle?  Like with many vendor evaluations, reference checking is a very important tool.  Ask for references and, after they deliver their standard set, ask for a reference in your area and one in your industry.  See how quickly and willing they are to deliver additional references that may not be on their normal list of references.

Consider adding sipVine's complete business communication solution to your evaluation list! A better phone system for your small business with advanced features to match your unique business needs! Make your company's business communications better by engaging better customer experiences at every touchpoint. Want to learn more? Our small business phone service representatives are here to answer any questions you have!

Many entrepreneurs are exiting their business incubators with a number of operational decisions to make for their start up organization.  One easy decision is to select a Hosted VoIP system for their phone services, as it carries a number of advantages and provides one less worry as they stand-up their company.

Low Cost of Entry and Scalable – Purchasing a phone system at a business start up phase is a guessing game.  Do you go big to match your five year plan or go small and risk being underserved from a feature perspective and having to replace the system as soon as it is stressed with growth?  The beauty of a Hosted VoIP system is that you are not buying a phone system at all!  You buy the VoIP phones as you need them, and the programming of the system is completely flexible and scalable as you grow.  You receive the same features as large companies enjoy but you don’t have to buy an expensive on-site platform to enjoy those benefits.

No Contracts – Most hosted VoIP providers offer a no contract based service.  If you are talking with one that has term contracts for “the best rate”, then keep looking.  Certainly, traditional phone services and cable providers require contracts to receive their best rates.  Finding a hosted VoIP provider that offers a no contract service will give you peace of mind if your business doesn’t take off as planned.

Features Are a Good Fit – Some of the features inherent in a hosted VoIP platform are very applicable to organizations in their infancy. 

• High Touch Requirements - Business owners and initial sales people need to be in high touch with the burgeoning client and prospect base.  Thus, being able to answer calls from a soft phone app allows you to be reachable anywhere.  Quickly transferring calls both internally and externally helps enhance the strong feeling of reachability to your callers.  Receiving voicemail to email provides you the ability to listen to callers needs and quickly forwarding along the message or calling them back with answers.
• Effective Use of an Auto Attendant – Whether an auto attendant is engaged at the start of a call flow or after a series of rings, it can be an effective way to quickly route callers to their desired destination.  There are several good tips for setting up an effective auto attendant, but clear options can be very beneficial to new companies.  Additionally, it can disguise your size.  Never set it up with “press one for Joe, press two for Jane, etc.”  Always use departments, such as “Sales” or “Service” even if those calls are routed to one or the same individual!
• Virtual Staff – Hey, the garage businesses are real for many start-ups!  Even if your business has an office presence, you don’t have to over commit on square footage at the outset.  As your business grows, you can deploy staff from their homes or other environments and still have them on your phone system!  The handsets connect to the hosted platform wherever they are located via a high-speed internet connection, but callers (internal or external) would never know they are not located at the office!  

Market Reach – Another advantage of going with a hosted VoIP provider is that you can grow into other markets and have each location on the same phone system.  Most hosted providers have a national footprint, therefore they can secure local phone numbers wherever you set up shop.  They can also provide local numbers in an area you are marketing to, but have the number ring back at your central location.  There are a myriad of ways to effectively expand your business through the utilization of this technology.  Additionally, you can recruit staff based upon affordability or ability, but have them work in a location outside of your headquarters.  You can choose whether they have a direct dial number that is local to them or your headquarters, or both!

Because sipVine’s headquarters is in Kansas City, a recognized hotbed for entrepreneurialism, we have helped quite a number of start-ups with the establishment of their communication platform.  Robert Conner, sipVine’s CEO, states:  “With services stemming from such incubation organizations as the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and with the entry of Google Fiber into our local marketplace, we have been in great position to understand the unique needs of start-up organizations.  We strive to provide guidance to their voice communication processes at start-up and nimbly address changes as they evolve.  It has been a pleasure serving such organizations.”

If you are starting up a new business and would like to discuss how a Hosted VoIP option will work well for your specific need, call us today and we would be happy to consult with you.