Muskegon County cities, townships ready for installation of shared phone service

MUSKEGON COUNTY – Installation is set to begin this month on an Internet-based phone system for several Muskegon County municipalities by using Central Dispatch’s fiber-optic line that runs through much of the county.

The project is designed to use Voice over Internet Protocol for providing phone service to the participating city and township halls, fire departments and police departments. Officials said the equipment has been purchased and on-site visits have been completed for the system.

The participating municipalities are Fruitport Township, Norton Shores, North Muskegon, Muskegon Township, Holton Township, Muskegon Heights and Muskegon. Muskegon County as well is performing a similar phone project as part of a larger innovation-infrastructure overhaul, including a virtual desktop computer system.

Supporters of the proposal say it will lead to financial savings on phone service, better equipment and improved service, including video conferencing and an ability to transfer calls across municipalities.

VoIP research allows users to make phone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a traditional phone line. According to the Federal Communications Commission, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) converts the voice signal from a telephone into a digital signal that can travel over the Internet.