Comments on Voip

In a previous post I discussed the research I did for a VOIP PBX and deciding on the Linksys SPA 9000.

At first I was going to purchase and install the system myself, it looked relatively straight forward and easy.

But after a false start where I ordered the hardware from an online store and then had a hell of a time actually getting my order delivered I did some more reviews and got some quotes for the hardware and installation.

For the three phones plus the actual SPA 9000 I was going to spend about $800 on the hardware, but in the end after speak to Mark at BlueWolf I decided to spend the extra money and have them both configure and provide the solution.

I am very glad that I did choose the option of having someone else configure the system, it took them hours of work to set it up and I can only imagine how long it would take if I had done it instead.

We were originally going to use IInet for our voip, as we use IInet for our Internet access and I wanted to reduce the number of providers.

But after a series of false starts with the technical issues we changed to a company called comvergence for the VOIP.

The phone system has been in for a few months now and I am very happy with the solution. Mark at Bluewolf was a bit concerned that our ADSL modem would not be able to handle both the normal Internet and Voice traffic, but so far we have been fine.

The reduction in cost has been quite dramatic, our outgoing call charges have reduced to about $50 a month although our inbound 1300 number has gone up due to our increased incoming calls from interstate clients.

The only one problem we have is with voicemail and unanswered calls, but this is because I did not buy the extra module for internal voicemail.

If a call is unanswered at the moment it goes to our message bank externally which then emails me the voicemail.

There is an additional Linksys device that we can add in to the network that will allow us to have voicemail internally and I think in the next few months I will add this in.

Although the cost of the system went from $800 to almost $1700 the cost has certainly been worth it. From the obvious benefit of having a proper phone system where we can transfer calls internally etc it's fantastic, and the reduction in call costs has been superb.

Overall the system should pay for itself within about 8 months which is outstanding.

I would also certainly recommend Bluewolf if you are looking for a similar solution.

http://www.bluewolf.com.au/