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.