5.5.99
Net Telephony: A Telecom Supersaver for
Small Biz
It can be dirt cheap. Still, it's far from hassle-free
David Cheng used to fork over at least $300 a
month to his long-distance supplier for calls
between the New York office of his
restaurant-furnishings business and colleagues
and suppliers in China. Now, he calls there
more than ever and pays his long-distance
service a pittance for the privilege. "It's a very
good thing for the business," gloats Cheng.
David's International, Cheng's nine-person company, now routes its
China-New York traffic over the Net. Internet telephony, also called
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), reduces the tolls for say -- an
extended wrangling session with a Chinese supplier -- to the cost for
a one-minute overseas call and his local Internet connection charge.
Cheng's solution to killer long-distance bills is a bit clumsy. Cheng
uses a $199 device that connects to a wall jack and a telephone,
much as an answering machine does. The device requires more
key-punching than an ordinary telephone call. Voices sound a bit
tinny and occasionally break up. Also, it only works for calls to
people who have the same device. Still, he's relieved to be able to call
his key contacts without a second thought about bills. Cheng, who
bought five devices for his China office and vendors eight months
ago, recouped the investment in about three months.
Internet telephony is often billed as the next big innovation in phone
service. But it has hardly posed a threat to conventional phone
service because of the equipment needed to get the equivalent
quality and convenience. Also, understandably, the long-distance
telecom giants are cautious about putting their weight behind an
alternative that risks cannibalizing their business. But if you're a
small business, it's worth looking at equipment available now for
calling over the Internet -- because some of it can significantly reduce
long-distance expenditures between branch offices and others in
constant contact.
First, a brief lesson in how Internet telephony works and why it's so
cheap. Conventional phone systems convert your voice to an
electrical signal transmitted over a series of lines and switches. Your
conversation ties up the entire line for the duration of your call.
Internet telephony converts your voice into packets of digital data --
just like text or images -- which share the line with other packets of
data, a more efficient use of transmission capacity. The voice
packets travel over the public Internet or privately owned business
networks that use the same network protocol, the Internet Protocol,
or IP. Internet transmission is cheap mainly because the capacity is
used so much more efficiently than in a conventional phone
conversation. Unfortunately, the voice packets face the same delays
as Web pages during peak use, making the sounds come out jerky.
THE HIGH END. The best Net phone equipment for small
business falls in the middle of a broad range in terms of price and
convenience. The cheapest setup is simply too awkward for
business use. It requires only an Internet connection, a computer
with sound capability, speakers, a microphone, and telephony
software such as Microsoft NetMeeting, which comes with
Windows. You and the person you're calling must be at the
computer -- software loaded -- and connected to the Net. You send a
message via the software telling your party you want to talk. If he
or she responds, you speak into the microphone.
The omegas of Internet telephony cost tens of thousands of dollars
for basic hardware alone, and connection to a company's phone
system and private IP network is complex and expensive. The
advantages are clear: Private IP networks have fewer slowdowns
than the public Internet, so sound quality is high. Such systems can
often handle many lines. Some even let you call people who aren't
on a VoIP system. But at those prices, the payback period is too
long for most small companies.
Small businesses can best benefit from devices that start just under
$200. Cheng uses the Aplio/Phone, made by Aplio Inc., which we
tried. You connect Aplio/Phone to a wall jack and a telephone. To
prepare it for use, you press a button on the front of the unit. Pick
up the receiver, and when you hear voice prompts, use the
telephone keypad to enter such information as your Internet service
provider's phone number and your user name. It took us about 15
minutes to set up.
A call on an Aplio/Phone starts out with a normal phone call to your
party, meaning you'll pay for a minute at long-distance rates. While
still connected, you press a button on the Aplio unit and an Aplio
voice-prompt asks both parties to hang up. Behind the scenes,
Aplio connects to your ISP and to the ISP of the person you're
calling. Within a minute, phones ring at both ends, and you resume
talking.
If you know the party you are calling is online and you know the
serial number of that person's Aplio/Phone unit, you can even save
the initial toll call by dialing the device's serial number instead of a
phone number.
TECH KNOWHOW NEEDED. Inland Associates, a 45-person
Kansas-based company that sells computer-related equipment,
including VoIP systems, uses a more sophisticated, midrange system
called the MultiTech MultiVoIP, which plugs into both a company's
PBX phone system and a router or hub that connects a company's
local-area network to the Internet. It also only works for calls to
people who have the same setup.
Installing this product requires some technical expertise, from
in-house staff -- if you have it -- or an outside system integrator.
Dan Georgevitch, Inland's manager of technical services, says he can
install the $1,500 MultiVoIP in less than an hour. To use
MultiVoIP, you dial your long-distance parties as if they were at
another office extension. MultiVoIP's technology does have better
sound than the Aplio/Phone. We listened in on a couple of calls, and
voices sounded only slightly more distant than on an ordinary
long-distance call.
Georgevitch's company recently installed MultiVoIP in its five
branch offices. "We're cutting our overall phone bill by as much as
30%," he says.
By saving money, Internet telephony fosters communication, claims
Cheng. "Before, we'd save up a bunch of things to talk about, then
call once, and talk about them all at once," he says. "Now, I get lots
of calls every day from China, and we talk in detail." |
