1. What is VoIP?
VoIP is an acronym for ‘Voice over Internet Protocol’, which in non-technical terms is a phone service over the internet. Phone calls – voice data – is not sent through traditional phone lines. The voice data is transported over your business or home broadband or mobile data. Continue reading some FAQs here.
2. What are the benefits of VOIP for my business?
There are some major reasons to use VOIP. Firstly, lowering the costs of your telephone calls/line rental. Your call costs and minutes are now part of your data usage on your internet connection invoice. This removes the necessity for a landline. Secondly, VoIP increases the functionality of your telephone system – now, rather than just voice calls and fax, your new VoIP phone system can be used for:
Read more here: what is voip (page) and the features of 3cx
3. How do VOIP and an IP Phone system work?
A VoIP phone system needs to be hosted somewhere – this can be on-premise, or in the cloud. IP Phones connect to your network with a CAT 5/ CAT 6 cable, just like other IP devices (PC’s, WIFI access points, routers). The phone system is managed through an intelligent IP PBX (The brains and management controller of the phone system). The calls are transmitted over the internet through the use of ‘SIP’ lines which bypass your traditional telephone company, saving on line rental and expensive call costs. Call quality is HD and the functionality is greatly improved.
4. What will the difference in my monthly telephone bills be?
Send your latest telephone bills to info@sensys.ie and our team will do a bill analysis. The results will detail how much you could expect to be able to save per annum based on the same usage.
For example:
One of our hotel customers who had a traditional phone system with 50 phones and 15 traditional ISDN lines with Eircom transitioned to a SenSys VOIP system using SIP trunks, saved €5800.00 per annum on line rental and call costs. In addition to the savings on line rental and call costs, the SenSys commissioned IP phone system and PBX was programmed to ensure there were no calls missed ensuring all potential customers calls were answered.
5. What if my internet goes down, will I be able to make and receive calls?
YES, in the unlikely event that your broadband does go down, your SenSys IP telephone system is configured with back-ups and failovers. The phone system can be configured with multiple failovers, by diverting to another line, cellular back-ups or by keeping one or two traditional ISDN/PSTN lines for automatic failover. The cost savings and functionality benefits of VOIP far outweigh any potential drawbacks.
Discover how 3CX failover works
6. Do I need to replace all of my telephone handsets?
No, not necessarily, our PBX’s are open non-proprietary systems so you can choose what handsets you want to use, if you are happy to keep your existing handsets then keep them, we can encode the existing traditional handsets to IP, routing your calls over the internet with all the cost-saving benefits.
Talk to SenSys about the phone handsets and headsets for functionality and sound clarity which we recommend to our customers. View our selection of handsets here.
7. Do I have to re-cable the building for IP Telephone handsets?
SenSys offers cloud-hosted and on-premise solutions for your VoIP phone system.
If there is network cabling (Cat 5 or Cat 6) throughout the building then your IP phone system will utilize this, if not there are alternatives: re-cabling is possible and cost-effective or we can utilize existing traditional phone cabling with ethernet converters. Let the SenSys team advise the most cost-effective way of implementing an IP phone system.
8. What are the functionality benefits?
- Never miss another call from a potential customer or existing client, with intelligent call transfers, call hunt groups.
- Deliver a professional image with a virtual receptionist.
- Work from anywhere, bring you phone system with you and have your extension call your mobile phone app.
- Voicemails sent to your emails.
- Easy phone system management with an intuitive web-based dashboard.
- Benefit from built-in user-friendly web/call conferencing.
- Call & video recording.
- Call reporting to see how many calls were missed/answered.
- Call centre functionality, data and analytics for high volume
- Schedule callbacks
- Caller ID
- Video conferencing
- Chat functionality incorporated
- Integrate with your CRM
- Business number & extensions usable from any location which facilitates your team on the road or working from home (WFH)
9. What are the upfront costs for the IP Phone system?
Depending on how many handsets, the functionality required and the size of the system the cost of installation and equipment varies. However, SenSys technology will visit your premises for a full survey and offer advice on how to migrate your traditional phone system to IP. We will complete a full bill analysis and arrange a leasing quotation to finance the system, in many cases, we have found that the savings on line rental and call costs will pay for the leasing of the system, so it really is a no brainer!
10. What other businesses in Ireland are using VoIP Telephone systems?
Hotels, Offices, Retail Shops, Corporations, Stadiums, Banks, Universities are all migrating traditional old telephone systems to IP and saving thousands of euros per annum on communication costs.
SenSys Tech has installed & supported VoIP phone systems for many businesses – Shopping centres, food manufacturers, bed manufacturers, crisis support agencies, motor factors and vehicle suppliers. Our hotel portfolio includes Pillo, Celbridge Manor, Dundrum House, The Lakeside. Among the financial services companies, we support and maintain are – ILCU, Bonkers.ie, Surestone Insurance, FlexiFi.
All of our customers & their staff have benefitted from the easy transition to WFH (work from home).
3CX Partners
SenSys | Smart Network Technology are 3CX Platinum Partners.
Chat to us: for more on SenSys VoIP soutions: 1800 815 683
Website: www.sensys.ie
Twitter: @sensys_tech
Email: info@sensys.ie
*originally posted in 2016, revised April 2020
