If your small to midsize business (SMB) has decided to make the shift from landline phones to a business Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service, then you’ll want to be aware of several key networking challenges that VoIP newbies face. In some cases, switching to VoIP requires an entire office restructuring, a different approach to using wireless internet, or a trip to the store to purchase more Ethernet cables.

1.Determine What Kind of Calls You’ll Make

Before we get into networking specifics, you’ll have to determine the devices on which you’ll let your employees make VoIP calls. You can purchase dedicated VoIP phones that let employees make and receive calls from their desk. You can also make VoIP calls directly from a computer without ever touching an actual phone. To piggyback off that technique, you can also make VoIP calls from smartphones. Determine which, if not all, of these endpoints you’ll be using immediately.

2. Buy Wires

This is a no-brainer but, now that you’re making the switch to VoIP, you’ll need enough Ethernet cables to connect your devices to the internet. Additionally, you’ll need to purchase the right Ethernet cables. Buy Cat 6 cables if you can afford them. These cables can typically support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) at 250 MHz for up to 328 feet. You can get 1,000 feet for anywhere from $90 to $170.

3. Choose a Power Supply

The easiest way to ensure that you’re getting power to your VoIP phones is by distributing Power over Ethernet (PoE) cables. PoE lets devices that aren’t plugged into AC sources pull in juice from your internet. Companies use PoE for surveillance cameras, ceiling-mounted access points, and even LED lights. If your Ethernet switch doesn’t allow for PoE, then you can order a PoE injector, which is an additional power source that can be used alongside non-PoE switches.

4. Manage Internet Traffic With a Dedicated VLAN

Building your network via a dedicated Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) lets you better distribute network traffic to ensure that voice and video calls don’t get dropped when someone starts downloading a large file onto their computer. If you dedicate your VLAN only to phone and video traffic, then you’ll be able to isolate and manage VoIP traffic without having to worry about tertiary traffic.

5. Manage Wireless Traffic With Access Point Handoff

Traditional Wi-Fi networks are usually a small managed system designed for laptops and tablets, and not for voice and video. Because of this discrepancy, it’s important that you analyze your network to determine how many simultaneous calls your wireless connection can manage. Best possible scenario is Wi-Fi that supports access point (AP) handoff for when one network becomes overburdened. A system that is set for smaller packet sizes as well as an on-premises or cloud-based controller that can manually control access points when necessary.

6. Test Your Firewalls

If you don’t have someone in your organization who can help you determine the difference between media and data traffic, then contact a professional. Using software-defined firewalls, which are designed to filter internal data traffic and packets rather than just data traffic are the best recommendations.

7. Double check Your Router

Determine if your router has Packets Per Second (PPS) capability. This functionality provides traffic shaping and policing, which lets you prioritize voice and video data on your network. What we look for is basically assuming one out of every five people will be on a 1-megabits-per-second [Mbps] voice call, and one out of every 7 will be on a video conference at 100 megabits per second. Multiply the number of voice users at your company who will be on a voice call and a video call at any given moment, and then multiple that number by a minimum of five. That’s how many Mbps of traffic your router should be able to manage without any issue.

source: http://in.pcmag.com/feature/115196/7-steps-to-optimize-your-network-for-voip