Nutter offers points to ponder to a user who’s considering moving his enterprise over to VoIP.
Our campus PBX is getting to the end of its useful life. In the search for a new PBX, we are considering voice over IP. Due to the spread-out nature of our campus and the number of student dorms, we are looking at either implementing VoIP to the student rooms or disconnecting the student buildings altogether. At one point, before cell phones, the student long-distance use at a minimum paid for the cost of the phone system and occasionally made a little money. Is VoIP doable or should we look at getting a like replacement PBX ?
– Via the Internet
Installing VoIP is more affordable now that it once was. At a minimum, I don’t think you will be able to disconnect your student buildings in total. I think you will have to maintain a phone on each floor of the building for emergency purposes. Having said that, you have several options.
You can go VoIP to your administrative buildings, and depending on the solution you choose, you can have a very information-rich phone system in terms of the information you can put on the phones. You can also go with some very basic phones where you only need the minimum. If you go with XML-type phones, this is a potential revenue opportunity in which you could sell advertising to offset the cost of the phones, as well as have a quick way of distributing time-sensitive information, such as bad weather and urgent safety information, without requiring students to log on and check e-mail.
If cost is a prime concern, you can also go through a VoIP-to-analog conversion unit in which students can provide their own $20 “disposable” phones while being offered services such as voice mail. This is an option for moving to a newer phone system without requiring an expensive outlay for administration and students. Using a VoIP-to-analog conversion process can also allow you to gradually convert even the administrative part of the campus to XML-type phones when and if you have the need. You wouldn’t have to make this type of change over a long weekend requiring a lot of hours and manpower to get the job done.
Another thing to look when considering VoIP is the ability of your network to handle the additional traffic. Depending on the vendor, you may need to look at upgrading your network to switches capable of handling multiple virtual LANs, so you can segment the VoIP traffic from regular network traffic and potentially implement some type of quality of service so the VoIP gets the minimum network bandwidth it needs to operate correctly.
Get all vendors you consider to spell out the requirements of implementing their system, listing both pros and cons. If one vendor has a requirement that someone else doesn’t, ask the other vendors why they don’t have that particular requirement. Above all, get everything in writing, this will help address misunderstandings that may surface later down the line. Take your time selecting the system, what I have listed here just barely scratches the surface on things you will need to research regarding VoIP. Extensive information regarding convergence and VoIP can be found here.
