New Business... DSL/T1? VoIP?

[wackd99]

I am starting a small office for my new business... We are starting wtih 6 people and will grow to about 15 or so.

Each employee will have their own computer hooked up to the internet. Each employee needs a phone with his/her own extension as well. We will be receiving/making 100s of calls a day per person and plan on getting a single 1-800 number for the office.

My questions is this... With using VoIP I think we need a T1 to handle the bandwith... would this be enough? or too much? Could I get away with using SDSL?

Second, Is VoIP the best choice to use in phones?

And lastly is T1 the best solution if in the event we dont use VoIP?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

PRI with an adtran that will split the T into channels. We had one at my old job that allowed to you to pick say 4 channels for data and 20 for voice or any other combo you wanted. It splits the T into 24 channels of 64kbps each, you decide what you need and where

 

[wackd99]

whats pri?

 

[7earitup]

It means Primary-Rate Interface. It is a system used in businesses and what not to split larger connections into organized connections for say, in your case, your VOIP phones and internet for each computer. I haven't used it myself but I have family and friends with businesses that use these and supposedly they are very easy to manage and setup.

 

[jamesbond007]

I would think it'd be MUCH cheaper for you to get 2 DSL/Cable connections. One set to handle VOIP to ensure maximum quality and bandwidth availability and then get a second modem to handle the Internet and everything else. I would venture a guess that it'd be MUCH cheaper to get two lines put in versus a T1, which I'm guessing will run you $500+/mo easily. Heh, I bet even a business-grade DSL line would do the trick, say 3Mbps down and 1Mbps up? Verizon or Speakeasy would probably fit the bill.

For only 6 or so people to start with, a T1, I would think, is overkill for your setup. I wouldn't look at a T1 until you have 35-45 people trying to get on the Internet and/or make VOIP calls.

EDIT: Get something like a Linksys WRT54G router and put a Sveasoft firmware on there. You can limit the bandwidth per port on the router and setup a switch or so on a single port for the workgroup computers and then setup QoS to make sure VOIP has priority over everything else. You can use wireless, should you choose to, later down the road or for expanding your network to a long-distance one. You can also have access to lots of filtering abilities and such to make sure your employees aren't going places they shouldn't be, but also limiting their bandwidth to allocate as much as you can to your VOIP calls.

 

[Sforsyth]

VOIP, I hear are not that good for quility

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: Sforsyth
VOIP, I hear are not that good for quility

A few of my friends have Vonage. I cannot tell the difference between their phones and a real land-line phone. All 4 of them use the Linksys units, if that makes any difference.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

VOIP is great quality if it is setup right. As for the poster saying to use 2 cable or DSL connections, this is a VERY bad idea. The upstream of these connections are nowhere near stable enough for a business. Also, these lines are not guranteed in any way like a PRI would be