A guide to VoIP for business
VoIP means carrying voice over the internet instead of the telephone network. It sounds like a technical detail, but it changes three concrete things: what you pay, where you can answer, and how fast you can change the setup.
How it works, briefly
Your device (phone, softphone or PBX) opens a session with the carrier using the SIP protocol. SIP only makes the two sides agree: who is calling whom, with which audio codec and on which ports. The voice itself travels on a second channel, RTP, usually as G.711.
- SIP: the signalling (invite, answer, hang-up)
- RTP: the audio, in 20-millisecond packets
- Registration: the device tells the carrier where to find it, and repeats it at regular intervals
What you actually need
Far less than people expect: no proprietary box and no dedicated line contract.
- A stable connection: a G.711 call needs about 100 kbit/s each way
- A device that speaks SIP: IP phone, softphone, PBX or the browser
- The trunk credentials, which you find in the portal
The mistakes that cost money
It is always the same three, and half an hour of configuration avoids all of them.
- Weak extension passwords: that is how nearly all toll fraud gets in
- No spending limit: one night of traffic to expensive destinations is worth months of billing
- Destinations open to the whole world when you only call one country
What it costs
With per-second billing you pay exactly for the conversation. Be wary of flat bundles: they are the per-minute cost times the included minutes, with all the risk on your side.
- Per-minute rate charged by the second, from the first second
- No connection fee on the destinations in the price list
- Extra costs stated up front: recording, additional channels, numbers
Let's talk: the demo is given by a person, not a video
One of our operators walks you through the portal live and answers the questions that matter for your case. If you would rather write, we are on WhatsApp.
Signing up is free and with no commitment: we credit your account with trial credit so you can make your test calls.