Kiwilink VoIP - What is it?
VoIP stands for "Voice Over Internet Protocol", which is a technology that allows you to make phone calls using your Broadband Internet connection instead of your regular phone service. It is also referred to as Voice over IP, Broadband phone, Internet phone service and Digital Voice.
You still simply pick up your regular phone, dial a number and talk. VoIP is simple and is for everyone. It doesn't matter if the person you are calling has VoIP or not, this is all taken care of by us.
The only requirement for this technology is a high speed internet connection, such as DSL or cable, as the service is based on broadband Internet communication.
To make a VoIP call there are 4 options.
- You can use a VoIP business desk phone that connects directly into a network port on your router.
- You can use an additional piece of equipment (Analog Telephone Adaptor or ATA) that connects to your standard everyday analog telephone. This allows you to make phone calls as normal, using your own standard phone. The ATA does the clever conversion of your analog voice to a digital signal that the Internet can understand. It then sends that signal on to your Broadband Modem, which passes it over the Internet.
- You can download our supported softphone Xlite and use the following Xlite configuration instructions.
- Or you can install an "app" on your iphone or android device to make VoIP calls across a wifi network. It is possible to use a 3G network to make VoIP calls but the quality is low and the data charges are expensive
Traditionally, businesses have used the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) for their business phone needs which is basically a circuit switched network. With this system a telephone call essentially takes control of the telephone line for the entire duration of the call. This is not a very efficient or cost effective way to make calls.
The migration to VoIP business phone solutions has been rapid over the last few years. There are numerous advantages to VoIP technology over the traditional circuit switched system. For example:
No circuit switched Private Branch eXchange (PBX) is required. This is a large and very expensive piece of equipment used by larger companies to connect their internal telephone lines to the PSTN. The capital expenditure and operating costs necessary for a PBX can be substantial. With business VoIP all that is needed is Broadband Internet Access and a router to route each packet based call to the internet. Kiwilink is then responsible for bridging the calls from the internet to their destination, whether that be to another VoIP phone user or the PSTN. This is referred to as a hosted VoIP, hosted PBX, virtual PBX or IP PBX solution. All of the technology for handling your calls resides with Kiwilink. You can access and change your VoIP features (e.g. adding numbers, forwarding calls etc) simply by accessing our secure website.
Business VoIP is a digital packet based system. Therefore numerous Internet phone calls can be made at the same time and can be sent over the same Local Area Network (LAN) that is used for your computer data needs. This is a very cost effective way to make telephone calls.
The voice packets travel over the internet instead of the PSTN.
Many larger businesses have multiple locations some of which may be in the next state, others could be on the other side of the world. Usually these locations are connected to a company wide data network (Wide Area Network for example). With a Business VoIP system, extension dialing is such that the location is irrelevant. An employee in location A can call a colleague in location B through a simple 4 digit extension and at no cost (ie on-net calling). This is because the call is sent over the company's network on the internet rather than through traditional long distance calling. This feature alone can be very attractive to businesses wishing to save money on their phone bills.
With Business VoIP comes a vast array of features. Conference calling. Caller ID. Call forwarding. Call transfer, call forward, conference calling.
Going away on business - take your IP phone or Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) with you and your number goes with you or configure your phone to call-forward. Receive internet fax, regular fax and voicemail via email or with a web browser. Many more features thrown in as standard.
All telephone and data administration can be handled by one Information Services (IS) department. This can save a business a considerable amount of money.
Business VoIP dramatically simplifies portability and installation. Assuming your IP telephone or ATA is configured for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), you can move your phone anywhere and still keep the same phone number since it will receive an IP address dynamically. This is like moving your laptop and still being able to log in to your network.
The data usage for a 1 hour call is approx 30 and 35MB, which is not alot really. If you were on the phone for 1 hour every day of the month you data usage would be approx 1GB.
Note 2 important points:
1. Calls to 0900 numbers are not currently available
2. Kiwilink VoIP does not support emergency calling. However if you do make a 111 call it will connect if possible. The operator will not know your physical location.