An IP phone can do magic to your business and help you provide the best customer service. However, if you are tired of the working of your old system and are looking forward to a new one, you need to take a lot of things into consideration. One essential problem about the Voice over Internet Phones is that it is filled with technology and applications, but this eventually becomes a disadvantage. Moreover, it is full of technology which is essential in both business and customer services areas. Therefore, whenever you are choosing an IP phone, you should ensure to choose one that is feature-rich, reliable and offers high-quality voice over services.

If you are considering to get an IP phone for yourself, you need to check for the features available

Hosting Options
Whenever choosing the IP phone, you should know that there are different options available to you: such as cloud-hosted VoIP and On-premise hosted VoIP. This is extremely easy to choose for cloud-based hosted VoIP solutions is better than the general ones. As a customer, you will be providing only internet so there are no significant upfront costs.

Moreover, hosted cloud-based systems is extremely beneficial for business that provides IT or technical support. Instead of going for an On-premise hosting service, you should be choosing the hosted one for it requires lesser upfront cost and maintenance. Nonetheless, the only benefit of using the On-premise hosted solutions is that you can get faster solutions for any problems and it requires lesser bills as well. Depending on what type of business you are running you should be getting the software.

Network infrastructure
Network infrastructure is one of the essential questions to choose the kind of IP solution you need. The main problem is that most companies aren't aware of what is going on with their network. Although IT deals with essential aspects such as servers, applications, and occasional network duties, they seldom have an idea about what is required for their business. This, however, proves to be a disadvantage in the long run.

If you are choosing a VoIP phone, you need to be choosing visible and clear networking with proper volume of traffic. Moreover, it should be easy to use to avoid the chances of inconvenience. If you are using voice traffic from the E1 telephone and transferring to Internet phone, it can cause congestion, dropped calls, lack of bandwidth and poor voice.

Difference between cloud and PBX system
Before you throw away your old and traditional PBX system, you should be aware of the difference between the two. The IP telephony runs with the help of a systematic internet connection. There is a significant difference between the functioning of a traditional and cloud PBX phone system. As a result, you should be choosing one to meet your business requirements.

Price
Your budget matters too while choosing the IP phones for there are excessively cheaper ones while the most expensive ones are also an option. The charges are often made on the per line. Moreover, the per endpoint extension also has an important role to play while determining how much it is going to cost and what services will be offered.

Questions to ask
Whenever you are setting out to purchase the IP phone, you need to ask a set of questions which can help you choose the right phone. Some of the essential questions to ask include the following

•    How many buttons would you get?
Whenever you are choosing an IP phone, you need to ask how many buttons you will be getting. This will further help you an idea of what activities your phone will be supporting. You should be looking for rich features like speed dialing, parking, paging and the ability to have the other user's extension. Since these features can be easily accessed by the buttons, you may want to know how many buttons your phone would come with. This will further be helpful to make the entire work easier for you.

•    Do I need an extra port?
Whenever you are getting the internet phone, it is necessary that you ask this question so that you get a standard connection. Most of the businesses these days have a single network which eventually increases the cost of getting an extra port. However, you should know that most of the IP phones have an additional port so that you don't have to get an extra one. The main port can be used to connect to your phone, while the additional one can be used for computer.

•    Is the black and white screen suitable?
This entirely depends on what your preference is and how it will help narrow the search. Therefore, choose one that matches the compatibility of your employees and companies.

•    Expansion capabilities
In most of the cases, you may need to add sidecar or side panel based on the requirements of your receptionist. Apart from that, you may also be needing a phone with USB support. However, most of the internet phones do not come with any additional ports to extend their capabilities. As a result, you should be taking this into consideration while choosing a model.