VoIP vs. Digital
Traditional Digital
"Traditional Digital" solutions continue to have a strong place in the markets where
pure Voice over IP solutions do not make sense. With decades of happy customers,
Epic's solutions from Mitel and Samsung allow you to stay with low-cost, proven,
and reliable feature-rich technology while providing you a migration path to VoIP
when and if you are ready.
Voice over IP (VoIP)
Simply stated, a VoIP phone system uses traditional Ethernet data networks to deliver
voice traffic. VoIP has grown in popularity over the last five years for two reasons.
First, VoIP enables entirely new communication possibilities (i.e. software-based
phones, voice-mail / e-mail integration, teleworking from home, etc.). These are
applications that drive productivity and customer service improvements. Second,
in many cases VoIP creates significant monthly savings.
We should note briefly that there is a significant difference in a VoIP phone "system"
and a Hosted VoIP solution. A VoIP phone system (like Epic's Mitel IP-PBX platforms)
is your own private phone system physically located on your property. Internally,
your voice rides across your private data network, but all calls to the outside
world, still use traditional phone lines that are plugged directly into your phone
system.
A Hosted VoIP solution is one where the phone system running your business is not
located on your property but rather it is at a third party hosting center. Most
of the time, Hosted VoIP customers will connect to the hosting center over the Internet
using a DSL or Cable modem. Unfortunately, these types of connections can lead to
poor call quality and system reliability issues. Because of these quality concerns,
Epic does not sell "hosted VoIP" solutions today – only VoIP phone systems.
Which is right for you?
If your looking for the absolute lowest cost solution or if your communication feature
needs are basic (i.e. you don't need voice-mail and e-mail integration), then a
digital solution may be the best way to go. If, on the other hand, you are planning
for a long term ownership of the system and if you are feature oriented then a VoIP
solution is the way to go. In 2006, VoIP accounted for more then 90% of all phone
systems sold in the United States. Epic's telecom services team can help review
your situation and make some recommendations about whether to go with a digital
or VoIP solution.