Choices when it comes to your

communications infrastructure
A BUYER’S GUIDE TO IP-BASED SOLUTIONS
Introduction
If you are taking the time to read this, there is a good chance that you are considering a change to your
current phone system. Maybe you find it difficult to get parts or service for your current phone system
because it’s so out of date. Or you might have limited IT resources and no longer want to spend
valuable time managing an in-house PBX. It is possible that your current phone system doesn’t support
your remote workers or experiences frequent outages. You wonder if there are other alternatives out
there that might help your business save money and be more productive.

Indeed, there are. For many years, sophisticated phone systems were only available to enterprise
businesses that had the capital to make a large upfront investment in equipment then spend more money
to customize a system to their specific business needs. However, with technologies such as Voice over IP
(VoIP) and network, or “cloud”-based services, an impressive array of capabilities are now available to
businesses of all sizes. The best part is that technology has not only increased capabilities, but dropped
the price to a point where virtually any business can take advantage.

This paper is designed to help you understand your options and make the best choice for your business.
When you break it down, there are three main types of products based on VoIP technology that are
available to you. They are:

 IP Trunking – these products allow you to continue to use your existing phone system, but use
Internet Protocol (IP) to drive cost savings.
 IP-PBX – this is a modern, IP-based variant of a traditional phone system that you purchase,
install at your business location, and manage.
 Hosted PBX – this is a service that delivers phone system functionality from a network, or
cloud-based platform. You pay for the service monthly with little or no capital investment.

Let us examine these options in greater detail:

IP Trunking
One of the simplest ways for a business to switch to VoIP is IP-based Trunking (sometimes called
Business Trunking or Integrated Access). This solution allows a business to take advantage of the
benefits of VoIP without replacing their existing phone system.

In an IP Trunking solution, voice and data are generally carried over a single circuit with part of the
circuit used for voice, the other part for data. Because voice is very sensitive to delays, phone calls
always take priority over Internet traffic or email.

Some of the benefits of IP Trunking include:

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  Cost Savings – For many customers, the move from separate circuits for voice and data to a
single, “integrated” circuit will deliver cost savings of 10+%.

 No Capital Costs – These solutions allow businesses to use their existing phones and phone
system so there are generally no upfront charges.

 Predictable Operating Expense – Monthly voice and data charges appear on one bill and
in general have pretty predictable monthly costs. A business will typically pay a fee based on
how many concurrent phone calls they might make at any time. Long distance usage is either
unlimited or a large pool of minutes.

 No Maintenance Expenses – Because there is no new equipment, there are no new costs
associated with maintenance.

The biggest negative — since the business is using existing equipment, there’s no new functionality to
help your business run better. If you have an aging phone system, IP Trunking is pretty much a
temporary solution — at some point you’ll need to replace it.

IP-PBX
Purchasing a new phone system is a logical step in improving your communications infrastructure. These
newer generation phone systems, IP-PBX’s, can deliver an excellent experience for your employees and
customers. However, you might be in for a little sticker shock. An IP-PBX is a capital purchase — it
requires you to buy the phone system and new phones, and also have it installed. These purchases can
easily add up to thousands of dollars ($10,000 – $100,000 or more is not uncommon). That cost can be
financed, but you need to consider whether you want to buy and own a piece of depreciating equipment.

Some other considerations you might have when purchasing an IP-PBX are:

 Obsolescence – Like any other piece of equipment, an IP-PBX can become outdated. An
IP-PBX can be updated and upgraded, but it will cost money. And, eventually, just like with
an old PC, there comes a time when upgrading isn’t possible.

 Business Continuity – Since the IP-PBX will reside in your facility, anything that might
happen in and around it — lightning strikes, fires, floods, simple power outages, etc. — will
affect your ability to send and receive calls, putting your business on hold until it’s fixed.

Cloud-Hosted PBX
Cloud-Hosted PBX makes all of the features and capabilities of a best-in-class phone system available to
you without the need for a big capital purchase. With a Cloud-Hosted PBX, the service provider hosts

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and manages the phone system in their network. As a business, you do not have to worry about the
expense, maintenance or other downsides to purchasing a physical phone system. Instead of that big
upfront investment, you pay only for what you need.

Some of the characteristics of Cloud-Hosted PBX are:

 Low or No Capital Costs – Since there is no equipment to purchase, the up-front costs are
limited – and often these are included as part of your monthly bill.

 Predictable Operating Expense – Monthly voice and data charges are usually calculated
on a per-telephone basis. If you have 10 employees each with a telephone on their desk,
your monthly operating cost will be 10 times a set fee. If you add people, you’ll know exactly
how your costs will increase.

 No Maintenance Expenses – Because the service provider owns the equipment, they are
responsible of all the costs associated with maintenance.

 Business Continuity – Since the phone system resides in a secure facility with safeguards
like back-up power and equipment, events at your location (such as a power outage) would
not disable your phone system. You can simply and quickly configure the service to have the
calls routed to an alternate number (such as another location, home, or mobile device).

 No Obsolescence – The service provider hosting the system will routinely upgrade the
service so that new enhancements are delivered on an ongoing basis.

Cloud-Hosted PBX Illustration

uControl Cloud PBX from Clear Rate Communications

Clear Rate Communications is proud to make a Cloud-Hosted PBX solution available to its customers. We
see the future as one where businesses anywhere can reap greater performance benefits at a lower cost

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by moving to a cloud-based solution. Clear Rate’s uControl Cloud PBX makes an incredible array of
features and capabilities available at a fraction of the cost of an on-site phone system.

Benefits
uControl Cloud PBX is truly the last phone system you’ll ever need. It delivers best-in-class capabilities at
a price that are affordable for all. As described earlier, a cloud-hosted approach has a lot of advantages.
In addition to those, here are a few others:

A bundled price for everything you need to run your business. uControl Cloud PBX includes
everything you need to support the voice and data needs of your business.

Included with the price of each business package is:

 Full feature set plus a web portal to customize the business or employee experience
 Business-wide features such as Auto Attendant and Music on Hold
 Unlimited local and long distance calling
 Equipment and ongoing maintenance and updates

There are no hidden costs — you simply pay a flat rate per month and that’s it. As your business
expands, additions can be easily added to your account.

Enterprise business features. uControl Cloud PBX provides you all the features you need and then
some. If you’re on an older system today, you’ll be thrilled with the functionality that’s available in
uControl Cloud PBX. Included are the features you’d expect — call transfer, voicemail, call forwarding,
and the like. However, what really makes uControl Cloud PBX exciting are capabilities such as:

 Mobility. Clear Rate’s mobility package, Accession,

allows you to integrate your mobile device, tablet, or
laptop into your uControl Cloud PBX. Accession includes
downloadable clients for:
o Windows based laptops/desktop computers
o Android-based mobile devices and tablets
o Apple devices and tablets (iPhone, iPad, MacBook)
Accession integrates your mobile device with desk phone
functions and enables you to send and receive calls from
any device connected to the Internet. You can also do
Instant Messaging, Video Chat, integrate with Microsoft
Outlook, and move active calls between devices.

 Quick and Easy Customization. An easy to use web

portal enables you and your employees to easily customize
Accession Mobile App
their phone system experience to suit the way they do

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 business.
Have an employee that’s out of the office a lot of the day? With the click of a mouse, a user can
take advantage of uControl’s powerful remote office capabilities to have their desk phone and
mobile phone ring simultaneously, or use the mobile client to receive calls anywhere. Want to
distribute inbound sales calls to a group of employees? Again, a click of a mouse in the web
portal lets you set up a hunt group that can ring your sales team’s phones simultaneously, in
sequence, or in a specific pattern.
 Customer Service. Clear Rate Communications is located where you are. Should there ever be
a question or problem, our trained staff will solve it to your satisfaction — quickly. Compare that
to other providers that serve customers with an 800 number answered by someone in another
country, and you’ll understand why local is better.
 Voice Quality and Security. Since uControl Cloud PBX is a service that’s fully managed, we
ensure a superior experience. This is not a product that uses the commercial internet to route
voice calls. With uControl Cloud PBX, end-to-end quality and security are assured. All calls are
routed over our managed network to give your calls highest quality.

Conclusion
There are a lot of options out there when looking at a phone system. It may seem like the status quo —
no change — is the safest bet. However, the pace of technology has now made possible an impressive
array of capabilities available to businesses, capabilities that were previously only available to enterprise
businesses with enterprise budgets. Now might be the right time to evaluate your needs and see if new
capabilities can help your business be more productive. You might find you can make a big jump forward
while spending pretty much what you’re spending today or even saving money.

With uControl Cloud PBX, Clear Rate Communications is delivering a best-in-class phone system with no
up-front costs that allows you to buy only what you need. We take care of all the details — phones,
equipment, installation, training, and ongoing service — so you can focus on your business. Best of all:
we’re local — we’re available around the clock to help solve any problems you might have.
Call or email us today to find out how uControl Cloud PBX can help your business.

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