Here are some questions that we are often asked about our VoIP phone systems:
1: Do we need to have new telephone numbers with a VoIP phone system?
2: What happens to my phone numbers if I move my VoIP phone system?
3: I’m moving my office. Should I consider a new VoIP telephone system?
4: Is this 3CX system like Skype?
5: Do you recommend using just one broadband line into a business for everything?
6: Do we have to make changes to our existing IT systems to accommodate 3CX?
7: Is a VoIP system still an advantage to us when we have poor broadband speeds in our area?
8: How much bandwidth does a telephone call use in a Broadband service?
9: What are SIP Trunks?
10: What are the cost advantages of SIP Trunks?
11: If SIP Trunks rely on broadband, will we still be able to make calls if broadband fails?
12: What do I need to set up a phone as a home-office extension for my staff?
13: Can I use my Outlook or ACT! contacts database as a phone directory?
14: Will we loose contact with our customers while you are installing our new 3CX?
15: What ‘Disaster Recovery’ (DR) mechanisms can be put in place around 3CX?
16: What system/software licensing is required for 3CX?
17: Is it possible to voice-record 3CX calls?
1: Do we need to have new telephone numbers with a VoIP phone system?
A: In pretty much every case, you can port existing BT numbers to a VoIP system from your old analogue or digital lines. This porting process also ceases those old lines. We can also provide new [or port existing] Direct Dial Inward (DDI) numbers based on any UK area codes, and non-geographic e.g. 0844 numbers for your system.
2: What happens to my phone numbers if I move my VoIP phone system?
A: If your calls are delivered via SIP Trunks (see below), then your numbers go with you, no matter where you want to move your business to. This removes all ‘hassles’ about being on different exchanges, mailing contact details to your client base, etc. as all you need is a broadband service to plug your 3CX system into at your new offices and your calls will arrive just as they did before …
3: I’m moving my office. Should I consider a new VoIP telephone system?
A: Yes – business relocation is an ideal time to consider VoIP – and not just because you’ll probably need a new phone system anyway! Implementing VoIP at this time has business and cost advantages that are very significant; for example:
Broadband internet services can be arranged at your new premises, to go-live when you move in, and these will provide all your business needs for Internet and telephone.
Number porting can be arranged to coincide with your move, so that your business numbers move with you. This means that there is no need for a campaign to notify your client base that you have new phone numbers. The porting also ceases your old lines – so no need to arrange for service cancellations.
Data cabling is simplified, because computers and telephones use the same network and have the same type of [RJ-45] network connection plug. In places where cabling is scarce, the phone and a PC can even share the same data cable. VoIP phones can even use Wireless network if necessary.
4: Is this 3CX system like Skype?
A: Well, it is and it isn’t … Skype is a point-to-point VoIP service that uses subscriber’s PC’s to create a telephone network across the Internet. Our 3CX is a fully featured business telephone system connecting to one or more Carriers who use well maintained and protected media servers on the Internet – to onward connect your calls to local, national, international and mobile services. Since it is a true business IP-PBX, our 3CX can provide many call-handling features that it is difficult or impossible for Skype to emulate.
5: Do you recommend using just one broadband line into a business for everything?
A: No – for a small business – usually we don’t (i.e. we don’t combine web browsing, e-mail etc. as well as phone calls). Our standard practise ensures that a second line and broadband is installed into a business, to be used exclusively by the VoIP phone system. This – along with correct network components – ensures call quality and clarity. In a large business however, a single high-bandwidth DSL Ethernet (EFM) or Leased Line Internet service could be used to carry all voice and data traffic, with a Managed router ensuring prioritizing and separation of voice & data bandwidth.
6: Do we have to make changes to our existing IT systems to accommodate 3CX?
A: Yes – we do have to ensure that your Local Area Network (LAN), is capable of carrying both voice and data, and that the voice [VoIP] traffic is given priority on your LAN to ensure call quality. This normally means that we need to upgrade your network hubs & switches. The upgraded switches will also power the phones over the network cabling (known as ‘Power over Ethernet’ or ‘PoE’).
7: Is a VoIP system still an advantage to us when we have poor broadband speeds in our area?
A: Yes it is … Our 3CX has ‘Gateways’ which allow us to terminate ‘traditional’ analogue and digital ISDN2 & ISDN30 lines. Unfortunately these services cost more than SIP Trunks delivered on a broadband service – but, the full suite of features offered by 3CX is still available, comprehensive, competitive and cost-effective when compared to other digital PBX systems – which would also need to use those same analogue & digital line types. The ability to use the same in-house network to provide your staff with computers and phones, will bring you measurable business benefits.
8: How much bandwidth does a telephone call use in a Broadband service?
A: We have a choice of codec’s [coding and decoding speech to & from data], that can be used when configuring groups of SIP Trunks on the 3CX IP-PBX. Typically, we have the choice of G.711 (PCM), or G.729 codec’s.
G.711 codec’s carry out very little voice compression, and require around 106Kbps bandwidth to carry each call. G.711 generally provides high-quality calls, but uses more bandwidth than codec’s that use voice compression.
G.729 codec’s compress the voice stream, and require around 43Kbps bandwidth to carry a call. Call quality is generally good and bandwidth usage is very low, but the compression process can introduce some delay and distortion effects – especially if the line quality is not good.
Note that ADSL broadband services are Asymmetrical – i.e. download speeds are much faster than upload speeds. Therefore, when calculating how many calls a broadband service will carry, we must base the calculation on the slower ‘upload’ speed of the service.
9: What are SIP Trunks?
A: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a standard protocol for the control of VoIP telephone calls. ‘SIP Trunks’ are virtual telephone lines or channels, provided by an Internet based Carrier, that use SIP to set-up and control calls within those channels. These channels are accessed through a broadband DSL service in much the same way as your PC accesses e-mail. They may be provided in groups to enable multiple calls to and from your business, and use SIP to set-up, divert, transfer and terminate calls. SIP Trunk channels are used to connect your VoIP telephone system to a telecom’s carrier, in the same way that analogue or digital lines connect you to e.g. British Telecom. Depending on the quality of broadband delivery in your area, it is possible to support up to ten SIP Trunk channels in a good ADSL broadband service – allowing up to ten simultaneous calls in or out. A big advantage of SIP Trunks is that they provide all of the functionality of digital ISDN lines (including support of Direct Dial Inward [DDI] numbers, and Caller ID), at a fraction of the cost!
10: What are the cost advantages of SIP Trunks?
A: Once the analogue line and broadband service are installed at your office, SIP Trunk channels may be assigned as accounts into the 3CX system, and added to, or even removed from the system. You can even get SIP Trunk groups from different suppliers, to take advantage of preferential rates (e.g. if your company does business with China, then we can use trunk channels from a supplier who gives a good call tariff into China). Since the channels are ‘virtual lines’ they can typically be assigned within 24 hours, at zero install cost, and adding only a few £’s per month to your phone bill.
As an example, adding a BT ISDN2e (2 channel) line to a traditional PBX, would take a lead time in excess of 14 days, would cost £249 to connect, and would cost £14.28 per channel, per month (assuming BT ‘Start up’ package and 12 month contract). Adding two SIP Trunk channels can be done within 24 hours of order, with a connection cost of £0.00 and would cost £2.00 per channel, per month.
Installs of 3 or 4 ISDN2 lines (6 or 8 channels), can be as much as seven times more expensive to install, and three times more expensive in regard to monthly rental (even taking the VoIP line and broadband rental into account!). In addition, while ISDN number ranges are determined by the BT Exchange, SIP Trunk direct dial numbers can be set up with any UK area code, making it possible for your business to react quickly to change.
Read a Case Study about Honda’s use of SIP Trunks …
11: If SIP Trunks rely on broadband, will we still be able to make calls if broadband fails?
A: Yes – We supply [and recommend] optional analogue and cellphone gateways for 3CX systems. Therefore we can configure automatic fail-over to the analogue line numbers delivering broadband to your systems (and/or the cellphone network too) – for calls both into and out of your company. This effectively gives three different paths for your calls … therefore, three-times more reliable than just telephone lines!
12: What do I need to set up a phone as a home-office extension for my staff?
A: In most cases, as long as the person has broadband at their home, it is possible for us to just pre-configure a VoIP phone, send it to them, and have them plug it into their broadband router. The phone then ‘finds’ the 3CX system through the Internet.
13: Can I use my Outlook or ACT! contacts database as a phone directory?
A: Yes you can. 3CX has integration tools that allow you to make calls directly from your Microsoft Outlook or Sage ACT! contacts database, so that these shared databases can be used as telephone directories by all of your staff.
Optional 3CX integration may be purchased for; Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and SugarCRM.
14: Will we loose contact with our customers while you are installing our new 3CX?
A: No – in most cases you won’t – as the system can be installed along-side your existing phone system. When your numbers port to the SIP Trunk circuits, incoming calls will then ring your 3CX extensions – and your old phones can then be de-installed.
15: What ‘Disaster Recovery’ (DR) mechanisms can be put in place around 3CX?
A: 3CX systems lend themselves to many DR strategies:
The 3CX server, network switches and router can be run from Uninterrupted Power Supply [UPS] units, keeping your phones operational during short-term mains power failure.
Foxhall’s Carrier partners are capable of setting automatic fail-over strategies so that if calls cannot reach you due to e.g. broadband failure, then alternative numbers such as land-line and mobiles will be used to get the calls to you.
Foxhall install USB memory on all 3CX servers, and back-up 3CX system and configuration changes to that memory. This means that it is quick and easy to create a ‘clone’ of the 3CX server on any PC or server, to re-create the telephone system in the case of hardware fail of the 3CX server machine.
SIP Trunks are location independent, and therefore if a company needs to set up a temporary office at another location, the 3CX system can be moved, plugged into any DSL service – and will still receive all its calls as before.
16: What system/software licensing is required for 3CX?
A: A 3CX system may be configured to support from one to thousands of extension phones, and may use SIP compliant hardware from a multitude of vendors. Therefore, 3CX gets its revenue from sales of 3CX software licenses. However, 3CX Systems are not licensed on a per-user basis. Instead, each 3CX VoIP server must be licensed to support a number of Simultaneous Calls (SC). 3CX systems can be licensed for; 4SC, 8SC, 16SC, 24SC, 32SC, 64SC, 128SC, 256SC & 512SC capacity – with capability to ‘bridge’ several 3CX systems together to reach higher capacities. This means that in planning a 3CX system for you, it is important that we determine the peak call traffic to and from your business. Further software options are available to provide Call Centre and Hotel modules for the 3CX system.
Note that 3CX allow download and install of an unlicensed ’3CX demo’ version, but this will only allow 4 Simultaneous Calls, and has a reduced feature set You can view a feature list and comparison here …
License purchase for a new 3CX system, includes 12 months software Upgrade Insurance (UI), renewable on the anniversary of the system installation. 3CX UI enables the system to be upgraded with the latest feature additions and enhancements as they are released by 3CX. Foxhall recommend that Upgrade Insurance subscriptions are kept current, as 3CX pay attention to product development requests from their customers & resellers and provide these regularly & automatically to licensed systems with current UI.
17: Is it possible to voice-record 3CX calls?
A: Yes – it is possible to voice-record 3CX calls. Recording may be assigned to 3CX extensions on an extension-by-extension basis. A global setting then assigns local hard disk – or network storage – as the target for the recorded files. Each recording is date/time stamped and identified with the caller ID number (if not withheld), and the number of the extension that took the call. Calls are then stored in folders identified with the extension number of the user that took or made the call.
Note that if you are considering voice-recording your calls, you must follow UK Telecomm’s regulations, which place an obligation on you to ensure that both your own users, and the people who call, or are called by your company, are aware that recording is taking place.