I run a small services business and our major overhead is the telephone. We are looking to make a major step and move into a serviced office building with secure Cisco networks, and I am looking to avoid their huge monthly telephony costs by putting in place a good VoIP solution to give us a more professional image.
There are 4 of us ... we want to someone to be able to dial a main company number and be greeted by a company introduction message, and then presented with options on who they would like to be directed to. We want this solution to have all the normall business things you would expect like voicemail, call forwarding, message indicator, etc. Up to now I have been looking at the following solutions: Skype (obviously too basic for proper business purposes), SIP (like sipgate and voipfone ... these look pretty good to me) and Primus Telecom.
Taking into account the functions we are looking for coupled with good value call rates what would you recommned?
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Well, there are several aspects to look at for your system.
One is the line provider - do you want normal PSTN or ISDN lines? Or do you want to be entirely VOIP, and therefore use a web based phone provider? I can't really advise on this aspect, as it really does come down to your specific needs. I would contact a selection of normal providers and look at organisations such as Vonage for a VOIP solution and compare the costs.
The other aspect is the PBX itself. Personally, I am comfortable setting up and maintaining an Asterisk based system, but this can require some significant technical knowhow, or require the need to pay for someone to do the initial setup and a support contract (which, as I a business is a must really). You could look at trixbox
The other possibilities include VOIP systems by Cisco, Alcatel and many others. Your best option here is to get some quotes and compare.