However, what we’re going to talk about today completely dwarfs the article from a few weeks ago. Today we’ll discuss online telephony services that actually allow interactive calling, such as Skype and other Voice-over-IP services. To those of you who are very technical, this is not a new idea. On the other hand, to a small business owner that doesn’t frequent the IT realm, this could be a revolutionary new strategy.

Voice-over-IP (also known as VoIP, which I will use for the rest of this article) is a technology in which voice and telephony services are delivered through the Internet or another comparable network. It became popular in the early 2000s when large corporations saw just how expensive it was to run an internal phone system. Think about 2,000 employees in an office building, each of them with their own telephone wired into the central telephone room. What if one of those employees moves to another floor? Their telephone system needs to follow them, which means that the company needs to hire an expert to come in and reprogram the telephone system so that the one particular employee can have his telephone socket at another desk. This is on top of the already ongoing maintenance of the telephone system and the ongoing maintenance of the data network that is also in the building.

Well, enough of that. Why not have the telephone system and the data system part of the same network? Additionally, since the telephone system is now travelling through the data (computer) network and so it could carry much more information, such as configuration and user settings. Now, instead of re-wiring the telephone system every time someone moves, the employee can just take his telephone to a new spot (the telephone is configured with all of the information it needs) and plug it in. Voila! Same number.

As this technology evolved, some thought “why even have a desk phone at all?” Why not make the phone part of the computer? After all, the computer is already part of the data network. Large businesses started turning to Cisco’s VoIP system, which is quite expensive. On the small business end however, services such as Skype started to pop up. Skype is very similar to many online Instant Messaging clients such as Gtalk and AIM, but it has superior call capability. For example, a Skype user can call any other Skype user and talk for free. A Skype user can also choose to receive telephone calls and place telephone calls for a very small amount of money. Etnacom’s employees each have their own direct telephone number and the capability to make unlimited outgoing calls anywhere in the United States and Canada for a cost of $12 per month per employee. Skype also offers many other services such as video calling, international calling, voicemail, call forwarding and more – all for free or at a very low cost.

One of the major advantages of VoIP is that it eliminates the need for physical phone lines – everything is done through an existing Internet connection. As long as you are running some type of Broadband (Cable/DSL or better), there should be no reason why you shouldn’t be able to run at least 2 or 3 VoIP lines. Additionally, since services like Skype are portable, you can access them anywhere with an Internet connection. We are frequently on the road and make telephone calls from outside the office. Even if we didn’t have Internet connectivity, we could always forward calls to our cell phones while away.

Although we use Skype and it is certainly the most popular VoIP application out there, many other services do exist. Vonage is one such company and offers some interesting phone plans starting at $17.99 per month. We used to use Vonage, but abandoned it because Skype was a better fit for us. On the other hand, there are plenty of businesses that might feel that Vonage is a better fit. Instead of requiring computer software, Vonage supplies an adapter that connects to the Internet on one end and an ordinary telephone on the other. So, if you’re looking to keep your existing telephone hardware but still take advantage of VoIP’s costs, Vonage is certainly a great solution. Vonage also supplies some interesting services such as “telephone on a stick”, which is a USB-key-like device that can plug into any computer for access to a telephone line.

There are many other small companies that offer VoIP services – many of them may be good, but we encourage you to check them out thoroughly before making the switch. Be sure that they are proven, reliable and cost effective – and feel free to contact us if you need assistance in making that decision.

There is one last warning that we feel is very important – VoIP services don’t have the same quality emergency services as physical lines. Although we may never need to use it, we always take comfort in the fact that during an emergency we can reach 911. This is not so on every VoIP service – Skype does not offer 911 capabilities. Vonage does have 911 services, but you must register your location in your control panel and update this location when you move – this could be troublesome for those that are frequently on the road and rely on Vonage. On the other hand, this may not be a large problem if you also use a cell phone, since you can access 911 easily with that. The bottom line is, always have a backup phone for emergencies.

In the end, VoIP technology is a very reliable and cost-effective alternative, especially for those looking to cut the costs of expensive land-lines or mobile phone plans. Our company has saved an average of $30 per employee per month since switching to VoIP services – our cell phone plans are much less expensive now!

Happy chatting!

Today we’re going to talk about online faxing and PBX hosting services. First, a little bit of explanation regarding what these services actually are. If you’re a normal business, chances are that you have a fax machine, and maybe a dedicated fax line that you can use to send and receive faxes at will. You might even have a main phone number for your business with extensions that point out to various departments or people. Unfortunately, these systems provide a lot of overhead, and it is time-consuming (and costly) to maintain them. But what if you could outsource all of the equipment and time associated with maintaining these systems- and for only a fraction of the cost? Five or ten years ago, this would be difficult – but today it is routine and just considered to be smart business.

Let’s start with fax lines. A typical fax line costs about $20 per month for standard service. Additionally, a fax machine costs anywhere from $30 to $200. Therefore, the cost of maintaining a fax line is about $340 per year, when including the cost of the line, equipment replacement and maintenance. On the other hand, an online service costs about $95 per year for the same capabilities.

An online fax service typically includes a log-in screen which takes you to a homepage, which looks just like a webmail service. You can view incoming faxes and download or print what was sent to you; you can also create new faxes with cover sheets and attach documents from your computer (or scans if it is a hand-written document). In most cases, you can also configure the service to notify you via e-mail or SMS when you receive faxes as well as allow you to send faxes via e-mail. It’s easy, convenient and most importantly, inexpensive. There’s no need to worry about re-sending faxes to busy phone lines (the system will automatically re-attempt as many times as you wish). Power and telephone outages won’t disrupt your fax system at all. Best of all, you don’t even need to be in the office to work with your fax system.

To take things a step further, you can also host your entire phone system online. Many companies offer “Virtual PBX” services that allow callers to contact you via a local or 800 number (and more than one number if you wish), hear a custom greeting, access extensions, voicemail, and even added services such as company directories. In many cases, these virtual PBX services also offer faxing capabilities. Some of them even offer online conference calling capabilities – allowing you to hold conference calls with multiple people simultaneously without using up all of your phone lines. When a user dials an extension, the call can be transferred into a queue, forwarded to one or more lines such as a home, office or mobile phone, or even answered online using your computer.

Some of the companies we have worked with in the past include j2 Communications, eFax and RingCentral. J2 and eFax are normal online fax services, although j2 does offer an online conferencing service. RingCentral includes this as well as a virtual PBX service. All three companies offer custom plans depending on the capabilities that you’re looking for and the price you’re willing to pay. Etnacom is currently using RingCentral for various telephony services and has been using them since 2006. We’ve never had any problems with them.

Our next article will take telephony services a step further and show you how to stop paying for telephone lines altogether. We’ll explain how to use VoIP (voice-over-IP) services such as Skype and Virtual Assistant / Paging services to act as virtual receptionists.