IP phones
Let me start off by telling you we do offer IP phone systems on the brands we carry. But in our opinion, IP phone systems do not live up to the claims made.
Claims
#1 You save money because you can use the internet to make call and save money
Answer: Not true.
To have an internet IP phone call sound like a regular call you need to buy special assured quality internet service. If you do not have the service it will sound poor (e.g. missing words and chopping like digital cell phone in a poor reception area). In addition, in some states like Hawaii, you do not have any local toll charges and some providers offer unlimited Long distance calling for a flat rate.
The person you call to over the internet must have same phone system and be programmed to take your call.
You will still need local carrier land lines to make calls to customers and receive calls.
#2 More reliable because the world wide web can take different paths.
Answer: Not true.
If you use an IP carrier and your internet connection goes down, your business will lose all ability to communicate (all your eggs in one basket).
With a traditional phone system, if your main phone line goes down you can use your line 2 or line 3 or 4 etc., you have backups. If your internet goes down you can print and fax documents to customers or vendors. If all your lines go down ( has this ever happened to you?) you can use your cable modem and internet to do business.
In our opinion you should not rely on any one service to do all your business. If your cable modem goes down, your phone lines should be up, allowing you to stay in business.
As for IP phones in the office, an IP phone on cat5e cable uses 4 wires to work and if you do not plug in a power cord to the phone you need 6 wires total to make the phone work. The traditional digital phone system only takes 2 wire to allow the phone to work ( I would say this is a back-ward step in technology )
If your IP controller box goes down, you cannot make phone calls. Just like the traditional digital phone system, if the controller box goes down you cannot make phone calls. There is no difference between the new IP phone system & traditional digital telephone system.
This is just two of many points that manufactures are telling customers to get them to buy new systems. We believe in truth in advertising, so we love to talk more with you and give you the real story before you are sold a system that you will not be happy with and stuck with for a long time to come.
Other Points
- IP phone cost more ($100-$500)
- All switches have to have class of service IP switching
- Fire wall may block phone calls
- Cat5e wire must be installed to proper standards to allow IP phone to work properly.
- Extra hardware to power phones
- IT person is required to maintain computer network