One of the often-cited advantages of Voice over IP is that the office telephone system moves onto the local area network (LAN), and you then have just one network to maintain, not two. Whether this is good news depends on how you feel about your LAN. Local area networks are generally far superior to what they were even a few years ago, but you may need to upgrade your LAN’s switches.

Depending on whether your outside voice services from the local telephone company or an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP), you need to make sure your WAN connection can support the bandwidth requirements to carry both your data and voice traffic communications.

 

When you evaluate your current broadband connection details - bandwidth, type, phone lines, level of service and so on. Ask yourself

what your current network load and unused bandwidth? If you dont know, Mavenspire can test your network to determine this information for you. If you don't have enough, you will need to upgrade your connection.

An alternative is to obtain a second Internet service that is dedicated to your VoIP communications, such as with a DSL service provider. Rates are competitvely low, and it will not have an impact on your data network.