WHAT IS VOIP?

VoIP (short for "Voice over IP"), also known as IP telephony, has received a bad reputation over the years as being unreliable and of low quality.

This is primarily due to the fact that in the early days of VoIP, many tried to use it as a means of communicating across the Internet. It is important to understand the difference between Internet VoIP and local VoIP.

Our systems use VoIP technology, but only on the local network as the transport for the telephone sets to communicate with the PBX. This allows the phones access to the high end VoIP PBX features without your voice traffic ever touching the Internet. Of course, we can also use Internet based SIP trunks too!

Our systems are 100% UNLIMITED right out of the box. Regardless of how large your system grows, there are no licenses or expansion cards to purchase... EVER!  Adds, moves and changes can be done in-house without a technician and without a truck roll. Furthermore, all features are enabled on all systems! All of this makes our cost of ownership the absolute lowest in the industry.

What is a IP PBX and Why Do I Need One?

The term IP PBX simply means that the PBX in question uses the internal data network for the phones to communicate with the PBX unit. This also means that the PBX has the capability to use the features that only an IP PBX can deliver.

The term PBX spawns from the original term PABX, which is an acronym for Private Automatic Branch Exchange. Essentially a PBX is a private telephony switch that allows a business to have more employees than telephone lines - taking advantage of the natural economies of scale that begin to occur as headcount rises.

Over time, the PBX has grown to incorporate all sorts of advanced features such as voicemail, unified messaging, auto attendant (Interactive Voice Response), automatic call distribution (ACID), call queuing, telecommuters, softphones, Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), and more. These features allow companies to receive incoming calls efficiently, employees to interact more effectively, and sales or call center organizations to manage calls professionally.

Why is a IP PBX System Better Than My Current Key System?

Many small companies use Key telephone systems. Large manufacturers sometimes offer these products but, for simplicity, think of them as the inexpensive phone systems you would find at your neighborhood retailer. Key systems are feature-lean, not scalable, and make small companies sound small.

The IP PBX, on the other hand, will give small and medium-sized businesses true PBX features such as voicemail, auto attendant, telecommuter support, SIP and/or PSTN capability, and much, much more. If a company needs call center capabilities, our IP PBX solutions provide unlimited queues and skills-based routing, call recording, call barging, monitoring, reporting and more. We give small and medium-sized businesses these capabilities at prices comparable to key systems, and usually for LESS.

What Else Do I Need to Get My System Up and Running?

The only other thing you'll need besides your PBX and phones is dial tone, and Solution Stars can help you with this too! We provide you the most flexibility to choose your telephone service type and service provider. You can choose to use your existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) line, an Integrated Access T1, or a SIP (Internet VoIP) service. If you use your existing PSTN line, you will need to order a Base Analog Expansion Card with your system and as many Analog Line Ports (FXO ports) as you want PSTN lines to connect.

If you want to connect to a T1/PRI line, you will need to order a system with a T1 interface card. If you choose to use a SIP service, you will need nothing additional but we recommend that you keep at least one PSTN line active so that your main office stays operational in the event of an Internet outage.

Be sure to ask about our exceptional lease rates!

Some Major Features Included