We speak to lots of customers that ask about the implications of the NBN and if the phone system they’re looking at is NBN ready? The reality is that the NBN only affects a minority of phone systems for small business. Approximately 50% of phone installations are still to existing Telstra PSTN and ISDN phone line services. The NBN has absolutely no bearing on these sites at all.

Where the NBN can be a factor is when phone systems for small business involve VoIP. VoIP is an internet based protocol and as such, internet reliability and speed has a significant bearing on voice quality and stability. If your office currently receives ADSL2+ or equivalent speeds then you already have sufficient speed for a VoIP solution.

Getting up to 100 Mb per second will do nothing for you. In fact, unless you’re downloading massive files you’ll barely notice the difference in day to day use. The customers that benefit from the NBN are the ones that currently don’t have fast internet. It opens these businesses up to the incredible benefits of VoIP technology that they simply weren’t able to have before. Phone systems for small business are moving aggressively towards VoIP solutions and that is where many customers are able to improve productivity, mobility as well as eliminating expensive call charges and line rentals.

If you are currently in a metro area you don’t need to wait for the NBN because reliable, proven VoIP solutions are available right now! So how can VoIP improve phone systems for small business? Let’s illustrate the benefits with a couple of key benefits:

• VoIP call rates are very cheap – you could save up to 70% on your phone call charges. Exact savings will depend on your current phone plan as well as your phone usage profile. It’s important that you get a professional savings analysis conducted before you blindly jump into VoIP thinking you’re guaranteed to save a fortune.
• NO expensive line rentals – with VoIP you don’t pay for line rentals. You pay for bandwidth capacity. As a rule of thumb you could get 10 VoIP phone lines for the same price you’re paying for 2.5 Telstra lines. This is fantastic if you could do with extra phone lines but simply chose not to because of the additional expense.
• VoIP phone systems for small business allow you to do things that traditional phone systems don’t:
o Connect remote users to the phone system
o Work from a PC or Laptop without a desk phone
o Link multiple office locations to work as one
o Have applications on your iPhone or Android device that puts your phone system features in your pocket.

The main reason customers implement VoIP Phone systems for small business is so they can save money. In many cases the savings more than offsets the cost of the solution. In fact, there are many customers that change to VoIP that actually end up cash positive while still receiving all the benefits of state-of-the-art technology.

So unless you’ve got average internet currently what are you waiting for? You don’t need the NBN to be able to save money and improve the way your small business communicates with your customers.