Turnkey Home Business

Look no further than your weakest data connection, in determining just how well your proposed VOIP solution will work for you. The most reliable of all VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) solutions will always perform in accordance with the quality of the data connection involved.

Not having the available bandwidth or uninterrupted bandwidth needed will cause poor results. Your voice conversations require uninterrupted bandwidth of up to 90k each in order to perform with the same quality that has come to be expected from traditional analog or digital phone service. It only makes sense that the quality of your service will be dictated by the strength of your data connection, since Voice Over IP is a data protocol. The common denominator that dictates your quality of voice service is your data connection, or just using VOIP telephone service, connecting multiple offices via T-1 or fiber, implementing remote IP telephones or Softphones connected to the office via VPN, whether you are looking for a hosted VOIP PBX solution.

Special care must be used in selecting the data connections used in order to implement the solution successfully, however. And to attract top talent with flexibility and state of the art technology all have tremendous monetary benefits to the implementing company, track results, the ability to connect remote workers, the ability to bypass toll charges by using IP, the ability to share resources such as a common receptionist. But only if they can be implemented with quality of service, both applications have tremendous financial and efficiency benefits. The most common methods of commercial VOIP applications seen are connecting offices together via data connections and connecting remote users to the on premise telephone system.

And look at the weakest link in the solution we take a look at the various types of data connections available for these applications,

ADSL

SDSL

Cable

Wireless

OC dS3, bonded T-1, t-1, fractional T-1,

Point to Point T-1

Frame Relay

Fiber Optic

As it is common for voice conversations to be interrupted with data traffic if QoS routers are not in place, web traffic must be carefully monitored if you are using your data connection for voice applications. Speeds will fluctuate throughout the day, and as a shared network, dSL typically offers no guarantees of service levels or uptime. A speed test will be in order during several parts of the day to test for speed and network variations. And it can often be quite a bit less, you never get full speed. "Up to" being the key. And up to 384k upload, it is not unusual to see a DSL package listed at up to 1.5 M download, for instance. The download speed will often greatly exceed the upload speed, in most of these cases. And Microwave internet, satellite internet, cable internet, some business DSL, asymmetrical data connections include standard residential quality DSL. As they tend to be the most unreliable, we will take a look at the asymmetrical connections first.

ADSL is never recommended for a hosted solution. ADSL is not typically recommended for a location with more than 1-2 users. As there is typically too much latency involved to maintain call integrity, wireless options such as satellite or microwave are never suggested. But it can be a tremendously cost effective connection option, some downtime is to be expected on an annual basis. It is imperative to have a VPN router on both sides of the connection to ensure the best possible quality, so if this solution is used to connect remote users of offices, aDSL circuits also tend to suffer from more jitter and latency than other types of high quality data circuits.

This would be a minimum acceptable solution for a location with multiple users, for some companies. But also much more costly, preferable over ADSL options. 768k down/768k up. Often speeds are seen such as 1.5M down/1.5M up. And it is typically a business class circuit that comes with some quality guarantees, this type of connection offers users the same upload and download speeds. Is a preferable option over ADSL, or symmetrical DSL, sDSL.

Voice conversations must always have priority over bursts of data traffic in order to maintain optimum call quality. Voice Prioritization is still required at either the network level via MPLS or at the end user level when connecting offices. T-1's have a guaranteed uptime unmatched by other available data circuits besides fiber, with symmetrical data solutions typically starting at 384k and up. And they provide end users with a tremendously reliable solution, all Fraction T-1 circuits and above have been thoroughly tested over time. OC: All of the T-1 varieties of service and greater are tremendous options for VOIP solutions, dS3, bonded T-1, t-1, fractional T-1.

Offices with dozens or hundreds of people can be set up to operate off of Point to Point T-1 circuits without requiring local dial tone, depending on the size of the connection. You are assured of a dedicated connection between your sites to be used only as you prefer, by bypassing the carrier data network altogether. But they provide tremendous quality and uptime, and can be quite an investment up front, cSU/DSU, point to Point T-1's require routers with QoS. Point to Point T-1's offer superior reliability and keep your voice traffic from competing with unpredictable internet or carrier network traffic, point to Point T-1's: As one of the most preferred methods of connecting offices.

And there are much better and more cost effective options to choose from, frame was never designed to support voice traffic. It is not recommended to run voice services over it, frame Relay: If your network utilizes Frame Relay.

But the quality results are undeniable, fiber is not always cost effective. Fiber has come to the forefront as the preferred medium for VOIP solutions, with high traffic volume capabilities and superior clarity and reliability. And it gives you a clean clear connection straight to the carrier central office, fiber bypasses the local ILEC in most cases. Commercial fiber options can bypass all traditional points of failure on standard networks and can provide the best possible VOIP connection solution. But typically still provide plenty of reliable bandwidth to support remote users, some residential varieties such as FIOS from Verizon are of an asymmetrical nature. Fiber being available for direct connection or for point to point applications is becoming more and more common. Fiber Optic.

Work with your local telecommunications professional to determine the best and most cost effective data circuits to use when implementing a business grade VOIP solution, as always. Your weakest link will be your Cable connection, but your remote warehouse has Cable internet, if your main location has a bonded T-1 or DS3. It will most likely occur there, if you are going to experience quality issues. Your weakest link lies in the ADSL circuit, but your remote users with IP phones have an ADSL circuit, if your main location has a T-1. Understand that the main limitation to quality you will experience will be the weakest link in your data network, when selecting the medium or circuits that will support your VOIP solution.