Toshiba Phone System

Comcast Digital Voice for Retail Business?

We are considering using Comcast Digital voice for our business with 3 lines. I'm unsure about using a VoIP type of phone system for a busy retail business. How is the service for business? Any down time? Likes and Dislikes? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

Public Comments

1. I have two of my customers on ComCast Digital Voice. One has 6 trunk lines in a roll over hunt group + 1 for FAX; the other has 3 trunk lines in a roll over hunt group + 1 for FAX. They have no service issues. One has had his service since January 2008; the other since April 2008. I am converting my business to the same service this month when my integrated T1 contract expires and I should save about 35% over my current voice and internet fees. Now let's talk about VoIP to clarify things. 1. Com Cast controls its network and they provide the proper packet priority processing for voice packets on their network. Although this is VoIP, it is properly configured to assure priority and therefore high voice quality. This is why it works. 2. Were you to have 2 office locations linked by a leased point to point T1 line (for example) and you wished to have the T1 feed both data and Voice with voice as VoIP, and you properly configured the routers and related hardware to provide priority to voice packets over data packets and the line was of proper capacity, you would have high voice quality too. 3. Now if you use the general internet as the carrier for Voice packets, even if they are marked for priority, there will be no priority given. When congestion happens anywhere along the line packet delay and packet loss will occur. Although this is acceptable for data it is miserable for voice quality. This is why any carrier that uses the Internet for transport is totally unable to assure voice quality. They are inexpensive (and they pay nothing for the carrier lines as you are riding on the Internet line) and they are unreliable. Although using VoIP, it is not a proper use of VoIP and at this time there is nothing that can be done to assure priority. These carriers will tell you to get a faster Internet source - but this is not addressing the root cause which is packet priority.
2. I agree with the other answer... the best QoS that you are going to get with VoIP is with your internet provider (either cable company, or telephone company) as they own the network, and the voice packets traveling on there network are separated and assigned priority... no other VoIP provider can make this claim... You only have 3 lines, I assume 1 is assigned to a fax machine, so there are only 2 voice lines, I see no problem with you moving your lines over to VoIP to save some money... HOWEVER where I disagree with the other poster, and many people in my industry is that I do not believe that VoIP is the right choice for larger businesses with multiple lines, or where the phones are critical to the operation of the business.... why? because there is only a single point of failure, if your internet fails then you lose ALL of your phone lines. Most people do not have a redundant internet connection (2 or more in case one fails, the other(s) take over its load) to keep the phones up in the event of an internet outage. if it is critical that you have a phone for your business to operate, then I suggest porting 2 lines to VoIP and leaving 1 on the PSTN, this way you will always have at least 1 line up... also, if you do decide to go VoIP do not forget to install a UPS battery back up in the event of a power failure so that your phones are not affected...