... the rest of the story.                                                                     08/03/2005 by Jon Hartsek

Our problem

From our home base in California, Pennsylvania,  we serve customers from all the over world including the US, Canada, Japan, as well as other international locations.  But with our current local / long-distance provider, Verizon, our phone bill was growing increasingly out of control.  Even though Verizon has good rates for business and consumers, we needed a better solution. 

Finding the way

We had called several companies about a new phone systems, PBX switches, trunk lines and other similar devices.  We looked into other phone service providers like AT&T, Cordia Communications, and Sprint.  We also looked at Verizon business plans that featured unlimited calling around the country and internationally.  There seemed to be no solution. 

Then one day while working on our www.calarmy.biz website a banner ad popped-up with "Vonage for your business."  So I followed it and researched the company and products for the next few weeks. 

Final solution

After a meeting with the owner, it was agreed we would make the switch.  We had made a trip to a local Staples Office Store and picked up a pair of Vonage®  VOIP adaptors from Linksys and a pair of two-line AT&T phones.  For ease of use, the phone uses expandable cordless handsets.  This saved a lot of money with no need to rewire the building. 

So after a night of charging, we were ready the next day.  I did a retail activation on the Vonage website.  The installation was very easy to do.  In an hour we had transferred our Verizon phone numbers, setup a new 1-800 and a new fax line as well as setting up voicemails all through the convenient Vonage dashboard on their website.  Then it was just a matter of call forwarding our Verizon number to the temporary Vonage numbers, then viola! it was done.  In a few weeks the phone numbers will transfer over completely and the process will be complete.

Caveats

There aren't many, but I would like to share them with you.  Take time in planning your set-up, it would not have gone smoothly if we had forgotten cables, or to charge the phones.  Our system runs from our Armstrong Cable modem to our Linksys router.  The Vonage phone adapters plug into the router and go to our AT&T phone base stations.  We have three phone lines, a 1-800 and a fax line so our set-up was rather simple.  But for bigger companies out there, careful planning can minimize your downtime.  

Another issue that just popped up concerned the fax machine.  Because of how phone companies handle call forwarding, we were missing faxes.  When you call a forwarded number, it will ring once at the original site then transfer, the fax will assume it has been hung up on.  So spread the word on your new Vonage fax number ASAP. 

Costs

Greats new for small to mid-size businesses!  The Vonage VOIP phone adaptors carry a $50 rebate right now at Staples Office Store.  So each unit was only $9.94.  The AT&T phone system was $600. So a  total of  $700 including my labor we were up an running.  Our average savings we will have per month will be $300 - $450 dollars, so our cost recovery will be two - three months.

Conclusion

We believe the switch to VOIP in general and Vonage in particular will be a good combination for years to come.  With our new cost savings and our ability to call the US and Canada with no long distance charges, we will have a heightened ability to do business outside our region.