Fire the Phone Company: A Handy Guide to Voice Over IP

Although this book is dedicated to consumer VoIP, the evangelist in me cannot resist telling you about all the ways you can save money with VoIP for a small business. Most large businesses have already heard the message and are rolling out Internet phone systems. As a result, experts in the Internet telephony field are in great demand right now. Installing your own Internet phone system for your small business will save you money both during installation (if you do it yourself) and during normal operation.

Business-to-business (B2B) VoIP

If you make a large number of calls to one or more business clients, explore the possibility of establishing a dedicated VoIP trunk to those clients. This can be as simple as setting up a compatible phone and dialing their Internet phones directly.

If your business partners use a more complex IP phone system, such as the Cisco Call Manager and Cisco IP phones, you might consider having one of their phones installed in your offices. Their staff can provision your connection, and you can communicate hotline style to their offices.

A telecommuter's dream

VoIP trunks can also benefit employees who spend a significant amount of time working from home. By installing a company Internet phone in your home, you can enjoy the same level of communications that you get at your desk in the office. With VoIP, it is very easy to install phones at remote locations due to the global reach of the Internet.

Essentially free for business

When businesses undertake large-scale installations of VoIP phones, they often build their own infrastructures. After the installation costs and operation, all their calls within their networks are essentially free. They can truly "fire the phone company" and become phone companies unto themselves.