Resources

It does not cost anything extra above what you pay the provider of the services. If your needs are best met with a standard plan from a single provider, you would pay us the same or less as you would pay directly to Shaw or Telus, for example. If your needs are more complex, and involve multiple carriers, we can save you money by customizing a connectivity plan for you. We also save you the considerable time and aggravation of dealing with multiple suppliers. We, along with our Master Agent partners, work proactively to bring competitive alternatives to our clients.

Contact us for pricing the services that will comprise your solution.

That is not the case because the carriers and other related service providers also wholesale their services to distributors, and we represent the distributors. We add value to our clients by filtering the vast and complex portfolio of options, with access to specialized tools to filter everything by your own individual business requirements. Our service to you is responsive and convenient and focused on your best interests (we have no sales quotas with any individual provider).

We don't replace your IT people or managed services provider. We work with them, to bring the solutions they need to optimize and streamline the network and communications services and respond to evolving business requirements. We can save them considerable time and make their lives easier. If ever required, we can provide specialized network architects to assist in planning, design and configuration. That may augment the IT resources already at your disposal, or fill a gap in your IT resources should that be the case.

Both terms refer to IP Telephony, which means voice communication delivered over an Internet connection.  VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a broader term that refers to this methodology in general.  SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a very specific term – the name of the signaling protocol that has been designed for transmitting voice and video communications over the Internet.  So when you hear about VoIP phones, you know that this means that the phones in question are IP phones, and designed to operate within a data network that will be sending and receiving signals via the Internet.  They will plug into a data port, and not a regular phone jack. 

The first thing to consider is the availability of reliable Internet services.  If you have reliable Internet, you can adopt SIP trunking. dBm recommends against sharing voice and data traffic, by installing an Internet connection that is dedicated to voice.  There could be exceptions, such as fibre optic, or other very high-capacity Internet, and where QoS settings can be implemented to give priority to voice traffic on your network.  Any high-speed Internet connection usually will suffice.  Satellite Internet service is not considered suitable. Ensure that you conduct a SIP trial before cutting over any existing lines to SIP.  dBm facilitates this for customers.  If you already have a slow network, you should not further overload it with voice traffic. Let us help you optimize your Internet services.

Substantially lower cost compared to physical phone lines (typically at least 30% lower). Greater flexibility to add or delete lines, and add bursting for temporary increased capacity. Greater flexibility for acquisition and use of DID’s (Direct-in-Dial) numbers.  You can obtain DID’s from almost any jurisdiction around the world. Very low long-distance rates

The quality of your phone service will be entirely dependent upon your Internet connection.  If you lose your Internet, you lose your SIP lines and your phone connection.    A back-up service is part of a strong implementation and what we assist our clients with. Putting everything onto one medium means one point of failure, and the loading and performance has to be considered. We assist clients with proper network and connectivity configuration.

Implementing QoS (Quality of Service) settings that give priority to voice traffic is essential. With a proper implementation and good quality telephone equipment, the voice quality is actually considerably higher with SIP and VoIP.

It is likely true that in all cases, the cost of new handsets is the largest cost component of a new phone system.  So, yes, it is usually a tremendous advantage to be able to use the existing handsets. It is also a tremendous advantage to be able to use the existing wiring and infrastructure. Keep in mind that most new phone systems being deployed will offer the choice between physical handsets and ‘softphones’ (such as a smartphone and/or desktop app), so it is no longer a given that there has to be a physical handset on every employee’s desk. If you can reuse your existing phones AND that would give you the functionality that you require, then of course that is a very attractive situation.  You just have to be aware that while SIP handsets can be re-used, you may have only very basic functionality available.  Be very careful about this, and conduct trials to ensure you are aware of the specific functionality you can expect. This is because most phone systems are still based on proprietary implementations of standard protocols.

If you have a system based on any of the Nortel product line - smaller Norstar and BCM systems, up to M1 and CS1000 systems, you must look at E-MetroTel, E-MetroTel was designed for this, and you can reuse all your existing phones, while gaining all the current UC (Unified Communications) features. It is the way to go to keep costs contained.

Learn More

Contact us to arrange for a no-charge, no-pressure consultation in your own office. We will discuss your present situation, your present costs and what you are getting for those costs, and what your ideal future telecom picture looks like. We will present clearly explained options, and the performance and cost factors associated with each option, and answer any questions you have.