So you decided to jump into the VoIP fray (with the 1100 or so other companies selling VoIP). Good for you. Now what?
You have to pick your switch - Metaswitch, Broadsoft, Stratus, VocalTec, white-label, or switch partition.
You need billing software. Something that will take all the CDR's and turn them into an accurate bill for your customers as well as true-up against the CDR's. Who will send you CDR's?
You will need Origination and Termination, DID's, E-911, toll-free RESPORG and access to the CNAM and LNP databases. Sometimes you can get that all in one shop. Here are some examples.
I used to recommend DASH Carrier Services, until Bandwidth.com bought them. Now that division is called iNetwork. Bandwidth has had a history of billing issues with my clients.
VoIP Innovations is a company that I rep. No complaints. They are utilizing their managed modem network built during the ISP dial-up days.
Point1 is another. Point1 recently acquired assets from PacWest.
Recently, I started repping Starview. I only have one client on them. No reviews yet.
Most of these companies aggregate from Level3, Global Crossing and Verizon. [BTW, L3 and GC closed their merger today.] Since these companies have a large commit and don't cover the whole USA solo, it behooves many companies to use a reseller.
So you have the back end. Now you have to detail a deployment procedure. That's right. Write it down, so ever install is similar. You don't want to support 300 different installations and end-points.
For the customer premise, you will need switches and IAD or QOS Router as well as Phones/handsets. You can have the phones pre-configured and drop shipped by a fulfillment house like VoIP Supply.
A management and reporting system would be helpful. ADTRAN and Edgewater have one that works with their gear and some handsets (like Polycom). Make sure it allows for remote handset reboot.
All this and more is covered in Vegas on Oct. 13th at the VoIP Deployment Workshop - or make an appointment to go over this in detail.
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