Shopping for small business VoIP == flea market?

I have a phone-based business idea I've been trying to implement in
the United States revolving around domestic calls.

I'd like to buy a number of 8xx DIDs and buy minutes in a pay-as-you-go
arrangement. I'd start with a dozen numbers, doing a few thousand
minutes a month, and hope to grow to hundreds of DIDs and bill
250k-750k minutes a month.

I'm definitely going to use Asterisk for the PBX side of things. Clunky
and confusing as it can be, Asterisk is worth the pain and can probably
do anything, even if I have to write the code myself. I feel secure in
my answer there.

But I'm getting increasingly discouraged while trying to set up and use
small-fry business-focused VoIP services. The prices are often great,
but voice quality and consistency are often erratic, customer service
overwhelmed, confused, or simply not available. I get the sense that
everyone is oversold and understaffed.

(I can name names if it is required, but really I don't want to
badmouth any of the five providers I've tried. I have yet to spend real
money with these guys or do much more than experiment. I'm frankly
astonished that these guys can make money at all. But I do feel
confident that my experiences are typical, even maybe leaning toward
the "good" side of the typical experience. It just isn't adequate.)

I'm willing to spent more than $0.02/minute for US domestic calls. I'm
willing to spend more than $5/month for an 800 DID. I'd happily double
all those figures if it meant I could actually get good quality
service. I might well go higher, although at some point the original
model breaks down and my idea is no longer profitable.

I do realize going with VoIP does mean reduced quality somewhere. Lag,
compression, etc. I would happily accept less than perfect voice
quality if I could count on that service being reliable (at that
degraded-but-consistent quality level) and available, and with support.

Who are the larger providers all the small-fry are reselling? Would any
be willing to deal with me while I'm small, charging accordingly, with
price breaks as my volume grew? Who should I be talking to, if anyone?

At what point should I stop looking at VoIP and start looking at TDM?
How much is TDM likely to cost me for the figures I quote above?

I do want to do all my own PBX work, by the way -- the business depends
on this fine-grained control. The managed VoIP/PBX systems are not for
me.

Thanks for any help.

Chuck

chuckgoffman@gmail.com

<> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
>
> I have a phone-based business idea I've been trying to implement in
> the United States revolving around domestic calls.
<snip>

You might look into www.les.net and www.exgn.net.

Jonathan Roberts

[petebed]

If you are looking for a small business voip provider I would suggest look at Easy Office Phone (easyofficephone.com) as they provide hosted pbx solutions and sip trunking services for trixbox/asterisk etc. I have not used them for very long (only a couple weeks) but I think they are good.

petebed