Increase the value of telephony to your business by taking advantage of our new IP telephony services that can provide phone connectivity over your existing data network. This can now be deployed on an affordable monthly pay-as you-go basis. There are no capital expenditure charges, no need to have experienced staff for system set-up and maintenance and the service can be readily scaled to meet your future needs as your company grows.
FAQ
- What is VoIP?
- What IP phones can be supported?
- Can analogue phones be supported?
- What quality levels can I expect from Hosted IP Centrex?
- How much new equipment needs to be purchased to install VoIP?
- How easy will it be for customers to add on sites/take sites off and take care of moves and changes in their organisation?
- How will calls be routed?
- What protection/gateways have been put in place? Additional resilience?
- If the network goes down does this mean I lose both my voice and data?
- Does HashNine Hosted VOIP offer any new applications?
- How much voice and data can I put on it? Any limits?
- How are orders placed?
- Can I keep my existing phone numbers?
- Will HashNine Hosted VOIP customer services inter-work?
- Does it cost in for smaller companies?
- Why should I use HashNine?
- What is HashNine's USP in this arena?
- What is the worst for my business if I don't go VoIP?
- Is the VoIP gateway included?
- Does VoIP Port support DPNSS features?
- What is VoIP?
Internet Telephony or Voice over the Internet or Voice on the Net - Mainly used by residential users with PCs (and perhaps USB handsets). PCs with IP telephony software, internet access via dial up or access via broadband which allows calls to bypass PSTN tolls. BT Communicator is an example of this type of product.
Voice-over-IP - Traditional digital TDM phones connected to a PBX which itself is connected to a VoIP gateway or includes an integrated VoIP gateway card, both of which transition Voice data from TDM transport to IP transport, allowing conveyance over an IP VPN.
IP Telephony (IPT) - Covers the area of IP Phones on the desktop implicit is a telephone feature equivalence (more than make a call and have a voice conversation), potentially voice/data convergence with IP applications, including voice, video, and data. The term has been associated with IP PBXs provided by a Carrier, or Service Provider, or Customer, and often located within an enterprises building. Cisco's Call Manager is an example of an IP Telephony product.
(Hosted IPT or Hosted IP Centrex) - HashNine's intelligent suite are examples of IPT products which are hosted off-site by a Carrier.
Back to Questions - What IP phones can be supported?
Currently HashNine supports a range SIP phones.- Snom 320/360
- Cisco
- Softphone
- Polycom
Back to Questions - Can analogue phones be supported?
There are a number of devices that will support analogue phones, ranging from a single-port IP phone gateway to a 48-port analogue gateway. This situation is constantly under review so contact your Account Manager for an up to date range.
Back to Questions - What quality levels can I expect from Hosted IP Centrex?
Extensive testing of the VoIP voice quality has indicated that the voice quality will be better than that achieved on a good quality mobile call. To minimise the amount of bandwidth required, HashNine strongly advises customers to compress their voice across their WAN. The ITU standard for voice quality measurement is based on its Mean Opinion Score (MOS) algorithm. MOS is rated on a scale of 1 (noise) to 5 (perfect quality), with "Toll Quality" generally accepted as 4 or better. The CODEC used by most companies to compress voice across the WAN is G.729a, which produces a maximum theoretical MOS of 3.92. Customer experience has proved that this is an acceptable level for business use. In addition to MOS, the HashNine service is monitored against other quality benchmarks. Users should expect to see the following minimum quality standards:- MOS score of 3.7
- Jitter of no more than 25 ms
- Packet Loss of no more than 0.5%
- Packet Loss of no more than 0.5%
- Round Trip Delay of less than 150ms
- Customer experience has proven that these standards are exceeded in most calls made.
Back to Questions - How much new equipment needs to be purchased to install VoIP?
The Hosted IP Centrex service is network-based, so customers will need to purchase access to the service, or buy a bundled services offering. The product may require the customer to purchase new customer premises equipment, primarily IP phones or PC soft phones. If the customer wants to inter-work with legacy equipment, then a gateway will be required. It is important that the LAN and WAN infrastructure can support "Quality of Service" (prioritisation of Voice over Data) and Class of Service (for IP VPNs, reserving a portion of the available bandwidth for voice at any one time). Depending upon the current LAN equipment, it may be necessary to upgrade existing LAN infrastructure.
Back to Questions - How easy will it be for customers to add on sites/take sites off and take care of moves and changes in their organisation?
The customer as an entity will need to register and configure their individual users when they first purchase the service. The user can do simple changes like changing speed dials and adjusting ring tones. More complex additions or changes (like changing DDI numbers) should be carried out through the HashNine helpdesk and will incur a charge. However, due to the nature of VoIP, the majority of these additions and changes can be carried out quickly and easily.
Back to Questions - How will calls be routed?
Calls within a customer's network will be routed over their LAN and WAN infrastructure. A signal is sent from the calling party to the HashNine Call Servers which allows the latter to set up the real-time communications path. This path routes directly between the calling and the called parties. Calls to and from traditional networks such as the PSTN will be routed via the HashNine platform in Docklands.
Back to Questions - What protection/gateways have been put in place? Additional resilience?
The platform makes use of firewalls to guard against unauthorised access to HashNine's network infrastructure and components. Coupled with a full monitoring platform to guard against Denial of Service.There are currently 2 platforms in different geographic locations.Full resilience of both inter and intraplatform. More details available on request.
Back to Questions - If the network goes down does this mean I lose both my voice and data?
Since the network now carries voice as well as data, businesses will need to address the current capabilities and limitations of their data infrastructure. In particular, how it offers resilience as the voice will now depend upon the availability of the data network.Use of some of the added applications such as iN (intelligent Number) can mean we can route calls anywhere in the world if there is a local failure at the customer premises.
Back to Questions - Does HashNine Hosted VOIP offer any new applications?
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for establishing sessions in an IP network. This could be a simple two-way telephone call or a multi-media conference session. A host of innovative services become possible, such as voice-enriched e-commerce, web page click-to-dial, Instant Messaging and IP Centrex services.Over the last couple of years, the Voice over IP community has adopted SIP as its protocol of choice for signaling.
Back to Questions - How much voice and data can I put on it? Any limits?
The only limit is the size of the WAN. The underlying data network will need to be appropriately dimensioned to carry necessary traffic. Each voice call equates to between 60k and 100k dependent on Codec, including WAN overheads.
Back to Questions - How are orders placed?
The appropriate order forms need to be completed. If porting existing numbers, these will need completing at the same time. The order will be sent to HashNine. HashNine will acknowledge order and a project manager will be allocated.
Back to Questions - Can I keep my existing phone numbers?
Yes.If you want to port your existing phone numbers, a porting agreement form must be completed. Please speak to your HashNine Account manager for more details.
Back to Questions - Will HashNine Hosted VOIP customer services inter-work?
It is planned to be able to inter-work the HashNine VoIP services between business customers, allowing the full capabilities of VoIP and Multimedia to inter-work between users of different VoIP services on an "Extranet" or affinity group basis. Special call rates are available for this type of call. Please speak to your HashNine Account Manager.
Back to Questions - Does it cost in for smaller companies?
Absolutely .HashNine VOIP services can scale from one person to many . All customers have the benefit of all HashNine services available regardless of size .Service charges paid monthly per user.
Back to Questions - Why should I use HashNine?
HashNine is a Business reseller for Teleware, who have a proven track record in Telephony applications for over 15 years. HashNine has interconnect agreements with major telecoms companies. HashNine has some unique USPs. HashNine provide a fully managed service. HashNine can assist in all aspects of Data and Telephony as well as emerging technology.
Back to Questions - What is HashNine's USP in this arena?
HashNine have agreements in place with carriers for both number porting and number provision (Geographic and Non Geographic). Mature suite of Telephony Applications. Ability to deliver unified interface across multiple architectures. Can co-exist with existing switches.
Back to Questions - What is the worst for my business if I don't go VoIP?
Loss of business to VoIP technology-enabled competitors. Additional cost and difficulties with controlling a dispersed workforce with traditional technologies. Lack of price competitiveness when compared to VoIP-enabled customers with their associated lower cost bases will lead to a drop in sales. You will miss out on a golden opportunity to enhance, and rationalise your organisation's communications and data infrastructure/policy.
Back to Questions - Is the VoIP gateway included?
No, Customers may have existing LAN maintenance arrangements and choose to purchase a wires only WAN product. In this can they may be able to insert a Voice card in an existing router with the correct software build for VoIP. Where they have no arrangement, the router choice will depend on voice signaling requirement and the size of their connection, (channels to be supported).
Back to Questions - Does VoIP Port support DPNSS features?
HashNine have developed a SIP/DPNSS gateway that supports common DPNSS features. HashNine have experience of working with all of the major Telephony protocols (DASS, DPNSS, Q931, QSIG...), and can integrate most legacy systems with the use of gateways.
Back to Questions