[asterisk-biz] Does VoIP Really Work for Serious Business?

[Chris Mason (Lists)]

Voip Xpress wrote:
> Discussion...is VoIP really ready for serious business use.
>
> We have been installing Asterisk for customers for about a year now, 
> and we are beginning to wonder if parts of VoIP are really ready for 
> serious business.  Long Distance in particular is a problem.
I'm not sure why you bother in the US where LD is cheap, I suspect you 
are faced with diminishing returns as LD gets cheaper via TDM. In the 
Caribbean where LD to the US costs over $1/min, we have far more 
problems with our internet providers, lots of dropped packets, and still 
no-one has called me up and asked me to take the PBX back. When you go 
into a small company who is spending $4,000 a month on LD and you 
replace that with a system that saves $3,000, they learn to put up with  
any shortcomings. 
I  tell  customers up front, it will not be as reliable as PSTN calls.
I promote our "Dial9" option that routes LD through PSTN if they preface 
with "9". No-one ever uses it.

In short, if the value added is significant and people know the 
drawbacks, people put up with shortcomings. But don't sell VOIP as being 
better than PSTN, it isn't. People do not hear quality, but they sure 
hear drop outs.

-- 
Chris Mason
NetConcepts
(264) 497-5670 Fax: (264) 497-8463
Int:  (305) 704-7249 Fax: (815)301-9759 UK 44.207.183.0271
Cell: 264-235-5670
Yahoo IM: netconcepts_anguilla at yahoo.com 


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