Appia Communications has released a new white paper listing five important dos and don'ts for companies and organizations considering -- or already using -- VoIP for their phone service.

Appia is a nationwide provider of remotely-managed communication and networking services, including hosted VoIP. Entitled "The Dos and Don'ts of Hosted VoIP" the new white paper is in response to feedback from organizations across the country, said Victor von Schlegell, Appia's president.

"About 50 percent of U.S. businesses have already adopted VoIP, but we still run across misconceptions, even among current VoIP users," von Schlegell said. "We distilled what we have learned down to five tips that will help organizations ask the right questions and get the most out of a VoIP deployment."

The tips include important information about premise-based versus hosted phone systems, ways to maximize current investments in phone services and equipment, and the levels of flexibility and support that should be required of a hosted VoIP service.