You’ve got questions about business phone services? Great. We love questions, especially answering them. The way we see it, the more knowledgeable you become about business internet phone services and systems, the more attractive RingPlanet will look to you as a VoIP provider. We know how good our business phone service products are and we love educating our customers about VoIP so they can make the best decision possible. So here are some of the questions we’ve been asked recently. And if you have a question that’s not here, just go to our contact page and ask us there about business phone service, we’ll be happy to get back to you. And if it’s really good question, maybe we’ll even add it here…and then you’ll be famous.  Sort of. Okay, not really.

What is VoIP?  VoIP is an acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol, or in more common terms phone service over the Internet.  If you have a reasonable quality Internet connection you can get phone service delivered through your Internet connection instead of from your local phone company.

Why do I need VoIP business phone service?  There are wants and there are needs.  You want VoIP for business phone service because it is usually offered at lower rates than traditional phone services using TDM or copper phone lines.  Also, VoIP business phone service offers a range of features you cannot find using the traditional TDM or copper lines.  You need VoIP because the FCC has approved the transition of all copper or POTS (plain old telephone service) to internet based telephony.  Copper lines are too expensive for the carriers to maintain.  Therefore, they are either being decommissioned or just ignored and instead the carriers are turning to the more efficient and less expensive internet telephony solutions.  It is expected by 2020 most residential and business telephone services will be using VoIP.

What’s the difference between VoIP business phone service and hosted PBX?  A hosted PBX system combines traditional analog lines with the internet.  VoIP is a complete internet telephony system that is fully cloud based.

Why should I bundle VoIP phone service and business internet services?  The old adage “the more you bundle the more you save” is true and not just in traditional dollars and cents.  It’s also common sense.  When you bundle you VoIP phone service and business internet services then you will experience greater efficiencies when a problem arises.  When you have different carriers then you will need to call two providers who will give you varying reasons for your problems and will probably point the fingers at the other provider.  When you bundle then the same provider is responsible for each piece of your business phone and internet service and can trouble shoot the root problem more quickly and efficiently.

Does it cost anything to set up VoIP for my business?  The only costs to set up your VoIP service are a nominal account activation fee ($10.00) and a phone activation fee ($5.00).

Do I need a technician to set up VoIP?  Depending on how complex or simple you want your business telephone system to run will determine if you want to use your own IT technician.  Most businesses do not use a technician.  Instead, we ship you the phones and then your dedicated account manager will spend as much time as you need to walk you through the setup of your business phone service and customize your portal to ensure your phone systems works to your unique needs.

How often will I need to update my VoIP phone service?  On a rare occasion the system will install updates.

What types of clients does RingPlanet serve?  RingPlanet caters to every type of small and medium sized business.  Whether you are an accounting firm with 30 employees or a flower store we can be your solutions expert for business phone service, internet, and mobile solutions.

What providers does RingPlanet use?  RingPlanet has agreements to use the underlying networks of the largest and most reliable carriers in the nation, including Vonage, AT&T, Charter and Time Warner and CenturyLink

How often is RingPlanet support available?  RingPlanet support is available from 7a.m. – 5:30p.m. PST.

If you need an affordable, friendly business phone service or VoIP provider, give us a ring! We’re excited to talk with you.