What’s the total cost of ownership (TCO) for VoIP?
That is the CFO’s favorite question. We found plenty of cost analysis models for the backbone network but very little information for the desktop. Even something as simple as electricity to power the phones was not included in any of the models we looked at. Using the conservative estimates of Paul Rodecki, a telephony industry consultant in Palm City, Fla., the cost of powering 2,500 VoIP phones for a year will be around $65,000. Today’s cost of powering telephone sets, with the exception of powering the PBX itself, is nothing. Another TCO issue that confuses many executives is long distance. Mark’s cost for long-distance transport is less than 8 cents per minute and dropping. Since his company does not have a large private network connecting its locations, calls have to be routed through a carrier’s network. So implementing VoIP will not save him any money. Bottom line: We don’t know, but the TCO for VoIP looks higher than that of today’s phones. Question: Are there any existing feat
