When it comes to VoIP solutions, many SMBs are under a pair of misperceptions: residential-class VoIP products will deliver the level of functionality and performance SMBs need, and business-class VoIP offerings mandate a significant upfront investment in new phone systems. SMBs buying into these misperceptions either buy a VoIP solution that doesn’t meet their needs or they stick with their legacy telecom environment and miss out on the upside VoIP offers.

Why won’t the $24.95 residential-class VoIP product work for SMBs? In short, because these solutions rely on the public Internet, which offers no quality, performance, or security guarantees. Nor do they provide quality of service capabilities that guarantee that voice calls get priority over data transmissions. No business can afford to suffer from calls that are characterized by echoes, stuttering, or clipping – or worse yet, dropped altogether. Yet without a quality of service guarantee, this is precisely what businesses can expect to endure.

Another shortcoming of residential-class VoIP is that it is a voice-only solution that requires SMBs to obtain a broadband access solution from another provider. Not only does the SMB have to deal with multiple vendors, but voice and data services are segregated. These bandwidth stovepipes cannot be combined, meaning unused voice capacity sits idle instead of augmenting data capacity. In other words, the SMB doesn’t get the most bang for its buck.

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