Kansas City, MO -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/13/2014 -- SipVine has announced the publication of a white paper intended to guide potential customers through the requirements for setting up an effective business VoIP system. This will help companies avoid the pitfalls that were once associated with internet phones and gain the level of service needed for an enterprise-level communication system.

"One of the most important factors involves the bandwidth requirements for business VoIP service. The reason that early internet phones were crackly and choppy is that they suffered from a lack of bandwidth. Avoiding this problem is as simple as making sure you have enough to transfer the data at the proper speeds. The first step needed to be sure of that is to do some calculations. A single voice call requires 80k of bandwidth when the data isn't being compressed. A good compression system, however, can reduce the need to 25k per call," explained M. A. Greim of sipVine.

Many businesspeople don't know how much internet bandwidth they have available. Greim explains, "Since ISPs often exaggerate the amount their plans will give, it's important to do actual testing to determine this." Sites like SpeedTest will ping the computer and give results of actual bandwidth at the time of the test. Since bandwidth availability varies according to overall usage on non-dedicated lines, a single test usually isn't enough to be able to predict what will actually be present. Instead, multiple tests should be done at varying times of the day to see if congestion will become an issue.

Another thing to determine is the concurrent call volume that needs to be handled. This is not the same as the number of analog phone lines currently installed. SipVine gives the example of a company with five standard lines. If these all become booked to the point that some callers are being put on hold or getting busy signals, the actual concurrent volume is greater than five. Bandwidth should be enough to handle the larger number.

Bandwidth is important for digital business phone solutions, but it isn't everything. As Greim explains, "Software is another very important factor when it comes to the usability of a business VoIP system. A good voice compression program can greatly reduce bandwidth requirements while causing no audible degradation in call quality. A bad one, on the other hand, can render calls choppy and make it impossible to hear the person on the other end. The equipment used is also critical. Cheap equipment will typically cause a noticable deterioration in sound quality, but the solution isn't to buy the most expensive version, either. There are many options in the mid-range that will provide good results without draining the bank."

These are just some of the factors that go into setting up a business VoIP system. To learn more, download sipVine's white paper.

About sipVine
SipVine is a business VoIP company dedicated to providing enterprise-level digital telecommunications service. It offers a hosted digital phone solution that can be customized to meet each business' needs whether it is used for one phone line or one hundred.