7 Questions you should ask your VoIP Provider

Now, that you have decided to implement VoIP, it is time to grill your service provider so as

to shield yourself from unwarranted surprises and make optimal use of this latest technology. Your queries should include everything like equipment, expenses, service and features. You should not hesitate and ask all the standard questions that need to be answered by your VoIP service provider. However, you must consider the technology limitations and get more aware about the features offered by VoIP.

Here is a list of 7 pertinent questions that you should ask to your VoIP service provider before signing on the dotted lines:

1. What are the upfront costs that I would have to bear?

Often while migrating to VoIP, business owners fail to realize that apart from just the subscription costs, there are several other costs like equipment or set-up fees that they have to pay upfront. You must inquire and get the details of all the upfront costs that you would have to bear. As far as the subscription charges are concerned, you will have to analyze and discuss your needs properly with the service provider to get the exact costing.

2. Are the existing equipment compatible with the new service?

You should inform your VoIP service provider about the existing equipment in your company. This will help you to find out whether they will be compatible with the latest solution or not. Integration of the existing equipment with the latest VoIP service might not be possible if they are outdated. You must find out whether the service will need new equipment like routers, IP phones etc. or not. It might be so that you have not taken the purchase of new equipment under consideration – this can seriously affect the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). In majority of the cases, the ATA provided by your service provider will be able to integrate the normal phones but you must take a note of this and ask your service provider about the same.

3. Will they provide the local numbers and are they compliant with E911?

Now, this might not be a question that new subscribers usually ask to their service providers but it is better to cover all the points. You should never use a service that makes our life complex – opt for the one that actually solves your problems. Majority of the service providers offer numbers compliant with 911 and also have the interfaces need to make changes to the physical location of 911.

4. What features have been included in your subscription?

The only big reason behind making a switch to a VoIP solution is the attractive features on the offing. Businesses prefer to make a move because they wish to avail some of the latest telephony features at a fraction of the price. Your first priority should be to learn about the features that have been included in your package and the ones that you can expect to avail in the future.

5. What are the features that would cost extra?

In case you need features like virtual number or free number, you might have to pay extra so find out any per minute or monthly charges that you might have to pay extra. You should also esquire about the other charges that you might have to pay for availing some of the other advanced features.

6. What are the rates for making international calls?

VoIP comes with the promise of cutting down the costs associated with international calls. You need to find out per minute charge for the international calls, so that you can actually calculate the total savings on overseas calls.

7. What about call quality?

Quality has always been a contentious issue when it comes to implementing VoIP; however, it is no more a problem as the quality of calls has improved considerably. Still you must ensure that your service provider guarantees quality for all the voice calls.

About the Author

Michelle Patterson is excited with the new technologies that are threatening to change the way we stay in touch and communicate, particular in business. She works with companies that are introducing these technologies to make understanding them easy for regular people.

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