How to Build a VOIP Network – The Prerequisites

Building a VoIP network isn’t a cake walk; it’s not too difficult either! If you are planning to deploy a VoIP or Hosted PBX service locally at your office, there are a few considerations to be addressed before proceeding. Hosted PBX VoIP providers suggest going through the following check list before building a VoIP network.

• Router – For better call clarity, the kind of router you choose, matters the most
• Bandwidth & Latency – You need to determine how much bandwidth you will need for voice over internet protocol. Just speed is not enough, but how much time does it take for packets to travel to its destination
• VoIP equipment–Your service depends greatly on selecting the kind of VoIP equipment as there are many soft phones, digital office phones, telephone adapters and headsets in the market to choose from
• Power failures – Nothing would be more embarrassing than non-functioning of your VoIP services in case of power failures. So, having installed a backup system like Power-over-Ethernet switch can provide an uninterrupted service.

What kind of router do I need?

A router that is powerful enough to handle the large number of phones connected to internet connection and network equipment is ideal to use for VoIP network. The quality of router largely impacts the call quality and user experience. Also, you must check the Router compatibility guide to confirm whether it works well with VoIP phones.

How much bandwidth is needed & what are my latency requirements ?

Your conversations need to be clear and free from disruptions. For this, it is necessary that your bandwidth is good enough and that there is no delay. A few milliseconds late arrival of data traffic is not a big issue, but it will be completely unacceptable for voice. Experts suggest performing an online speed test over a fixed connection rather than a Wi-Fi connection to keep up with the required speed. Run the test over minimum two days of production.

Most importantly, you must confirm what audio codecs they offer because there is a trade-off between bandwidth usage and audio quality.

Choosing VoIP equipment

Among the various alternatives in the market, you must choose VoIP equipment that suits best to your specific business requirements – local or commercial VoIP phone systems. You can choose from digital IP telephones, soft phones, Wi-Fi phones and ATA (analog telephone adapters).

Power-over-Ethernet

You can control what happens with voice over internet protocol when the power goes out as your VoIP systems collapse if there is no power supply.

The best thing you can do is to have a PoE (power over Ethernet) technology to power all the phones using a single source which you can backup using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

The sole purpose of introducing VoIP phone systems for businesses is increased flexibility while reducing costs. So, it is very crucial to perform a check on all the above points before finalizing the services of VoIP providers.

If you are located in Cleveland/Akron, there is no better option than Net Activity, Inc. you can rely on for your business’ VoIP phone system installation. Visit https://www.netactivity.us/services/voip-business-phone-services to get detailed information about our services.