Best Business Phone Plans in Manitoba

Transitioning business phone plans in Manitoba to VoIP isn’t rocket science. Business owners in Manitoba can switch to VoIP easily and reap the benefits of digital telecommunications. Enjoy phone bill savings and accessibility. Plus, keep up with changing communications standards through digital convergence technology.

To help you out, here’s a quick guide on switching to VoIP.

Business phone plans in Manitoba, how to switch.

The first steps are, of course, the basics. These are your internet connections and business VoIP service, providers.

Before switching, make sure that your internet connection can take the additional traffic. Digital telephony consumes bandwidth. You need enough bandwidth allotment in order to have a stable business VoIP solution.

You need to be able to make calls while running other bandwidth-consuming applications, such as online browsing and gaming. If your network connections are unsuitable for VoIP calling, you can either upgrade or switch to a better service provider.

Once you’re all set with your ISP, it time to shop for business VoIP service provider options. Business owners in Manitoba are blessed though since you can choose from practically anywhere in the world but some of the best providers are right here in Canada, for instance. Although, of course, it matters to opt for a provider that has a good reputation within your circle. You want to choose a VoIP service with good uptime, say a minimum of 99.9% uptime, up-to-date equipment and servers, and responsive technical and customer support.

Equip Yourself

Next, you need to decide how you’ll use your VoIP service.

Will you stick with your computer, have a headset, and use an app on your mobile phone? These are good questions and options to have. Not just only when you have a personal VoIP account. To begin using VoIP, all you need to do is set up your account on your computer or mobile devices.

Another option for personal or residential VoIP accounts is to get an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) so you can continue to use your analog phone with your digital voice service. The ATAs are generally easy to set up.

A bit more expensive than an ATA is an IP phone or SIP phone. SIP phones are business phones that are made for VoIP. Get this if you want a truly digital voice experience, and have a little more funds to spare.

Getting equipped for VoIP is as easy for businesses. Companies with more than a dozen employees, working for different departments and perhaps different branches or satellite offices are likely to use a legacy PBX (private branch exchange) for managing their phone lines. PBX systems are expensive, and you will need to set up something similar when your office switches to VoIP.

There are two options here. You can use a VoIP gateway device to use with your legacy PBX system. Gateway devices are less expensive than the alternative, which is an IP-based PBX system, called hosted PBX. This is a good way to ease into adopting VoIP for your business.

Transfer Your Business Numbers

DID (Direct Inward Dialing) numbers are virtual numbers assigned to each user, without requiring actual phone lines. When you switch to VoIP, you will need to transfer your DIDs to your new voice call service provider.

Transfers for residential and small business accounts are usually done by the VoIP service provider as an extra service; though the good news is that generally, providers will do for free. Bigger companies need to coordinate with their old phone service provider for transfers in bulk. This is something that is happening more often now and in truth, it doesn’t take a long time to accomplish. All that requires is coordination, in most cases, numbers are transferred in a couple of weeks.

Secure Your Business VoIP System

Now that you’re all set up, you need to secure your system. Your transition to VoIP is an investment in equipment, accounts, and manpower. You should be able to make the most of it.

Foremost here is ensuring that business phone plans in Manitoba and your VoIP perform as expected. You should have good quality VoIP connections and near 100% uptime, especially for business VoIP. You need to always be accessible to clients and partners, as well as employees and collaborators.

This means setting up a VoIP monitoring system that can profile your VoIP’s performance 24/7/365. Services like VoIP Spear do persistent testing of VoIP connections and provide you with reports and alerts on your system’s MOS (Mean Opinion Score), jitter, latency, and packet loss. VoIP Spear is a good personal VoIP, and small- to medium-scale business VoIP option because you can get effective VoIP testing service without additional equipment and manpower requirements. Bigger corporations can opt for large-scale monitoring, like Appneta’s.

Another security measure that you need to have is a backup plan for power outages. For short power downtimes, an emergency power supply or an uninterruptible power source is enough. It is also a good idea to set up call forwarding in case your VoIP phones become unreachable. You can choose to receive calls on your landline or mobile devices during outages.