Standard Telephone

VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol, or in more common terms phone service over the Internet. If you have a reasonable quality Internet connection you can get phone service delivered through your Internet connection instead of from your local phone company. And because VoIP is using the internet for transmission, the costs associated with it are significantly less. Here at CGI we pass that savings on to you.

VoIP was once thought of as an unreliable technology has become the operating standard for many residential and commercial users around the world.  New technology is continually introducing new ways to make VoIP even more stable than it is today.

There are two ways that CGI uses for VoIP transmission.  The first utilizes your current telephone equipment and a device called an Analog Telephone Adapter or ATA.  The ATA is configured to use your internet connection to transfer your telephone conversation digitally over the internet. CGI will provide this device to you as part of the $50.00 setup fee.  

The second way that CGI transmits our VoIP service is by using digital VoIP telephones like the ones manufactured by Cisco, Grandstream, and Polycom. These telephones have the technology built in to them that allows them to connect to your network like a computer would in order to make phone calls. CGI offers a full line of Cisco, Grandstream, and Polycom IP Phones. Due to the varying costs in IP Phone technology, please contact Sales for a quote, but prices for these units vary from $100 – to well over $500 for video capable units.

Yes, absolutely! If you have bandwidth to spare and want to increase your bottom line each month, VoIP is the solution for you. This standard phone service allows you to keep your existing office telephone equipment (PBX), lower installation or startup costs, and help increase the rate of return on your investment.

Unfortunately – Yes. Voice over IP is still telephone service and subject to the same intra/interstate taxes and tariffs as traditional phone service.  See below for a complete list of those rates.

• Federal Taxes 3.00%
• Federal Universal Service Fund 15.70%
• State & Local Taxes 5.60%
• State Universal Service Fund 1.35%
• State E911 Tax $0.20

An extra line consists of 1 telephone number and 1 additional line you can receive and make calls from. An extra line can be useful in instances like a home based business or other special needs.

Call waiting allows you to still receive a phone call when you are already on another call. This feature allows your second calling party to still reach you without getting a busy signal or getting directly sent to voicemail.  This is a great feature for customers who use their home telephone a lot and are concerned about missing calls while on the phone.

An additional number can be attached to any extension CGI provides. This does not allow the telephone line to receive an additional call, only allows an additional number to be routed to the destination.

A listing allows you to publish your calling party name, or telephone number to any destination that has caller id as a feature. Most mobile devices will however only recognize the calling party number and utilize the internal address book to associate a name to the calling party.