HELLO & WELCOME

[RedCard]

Hi Everyone,

I’ve just joined the forum and have no prior experience of VOIP so was hoping someone could help me with some questions I have.

Basically we are a small charity who currently have standard BT Business broadband in our office (Business Hub 5 Type A). Soon we will be employing 2 new staff members to head up a project and we want to install VOIP for them to use, as they will be making a lot of outgoing calls to organise fundraising / promote events etc. We are keeping our standard telephone line so the VOIP will be additional to that. I currently have one Gigaset A580IP box with handset but have not set us up with a VOIP provider yet. I am hoping to find answers to the following questions;

1. If the 2 new members of staff wish to make outgoing calls at the same time, do I only require an additional handset, or will I need another A50IP box (or similar)?

2. As we already have 8 staff connected to our router, will the additional 2 new staff using VOIP be likely to cause connection/speed problems for everyone due to the additional VOIP bandwidth usage?

3. We don’t really want to be tied in to a 12 or 24 month contract with a provider as our project will only last approx 6 months. Could anyone recommend a cost effective provided which doesn’t require a contract? Also are no contract deals likely to cost us a lot more overall?

If anyone could answer these for us, or even just one of them it would be much appreciated. I have tried to find info online but couldn’t find answers to these specific questions I had.

Thanks in advance.
Dom

[VoipIT]

1. If the 2 new members of staff wish to make outgoing calls at the same time, do I only require an additional handset, or will I need another A50IP box (or similar)?

What VoIP provider are you using? The reason I ask, some restrict the amount of inbound and or outbound calls that can be made at the same time. Also, the A50IP is a model number of a Gigaset handset, i'm guessing you have an N300 base unit? If so, it supports up to 4 parallel calls, 6 different lines, and 6 compatible Gigaset handsets. You say that you have 8 users? Add another 2, that's 10 users/lines/handsets?!?

2. As we already have 8 staff connected to our router, will the additional 2 new staff using VOIP be likely to cause connection/speed problems for everyone due to the additional VOIP bandwidth usage?

You didn't specify what speeds you currently get? All we know is that you have BT Business broadband in your office and that you have the Business Hub 5 Type A hardware. I understand that this is a charity and that funds are limited, you want to get the best value for money etc. But you should consider having a separate broadband connection for your VoIP needs if you have up to 10 users reliant upon a Voip connection.

3. We don’t really want to be tied in to a 12 or 24 month contract with a provider as our project will only last approx 6 months. Could anyone recommend a cost effective provided which doesn’t require a contract? Also are no contract deals likely to cost us a lot more overall?

No need to commit to any minimum term. Plenty of VoIP providers out there that offer a pay as you go service! Voipfone, Voicehost, Soho66 etc. See: List of UK Business VoIP Providers and List of UK Residential VoIP Providers