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Archive for March, 2010

Hosted PBX Providers Can Offer Virtual Telephone Numbers for Most Exchange Areas in the US

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Those that have been running a business for many years know the costs and technical challenges they can face when adding a number from outside of their local exchange or area code to work on their phone system. Until recently, most could only get distant foreign exchange numbers from the “Local Phone Company”, and at a premium.

In business, making or receiving calls that are concentrated in areas outside of the local dialing area are normal events.  The usual solution for making these kinds of calls is to use long distance or subscribe to a toll-free number.  If the call is in-state verses across the country, the costs can be through the roof.   And the more time you spend talking, the more it costs.

This can become a barrier to sales growth and good customer service.  The small business is often the one that feels the pain the most.  A simple business goal of expanding into a new market or service area can be hurt or derailed with the increase in the telephone call expenses.

Using virtual telephone numbers, this barrier can be broke at a reasonable cost to make the benefits for a small business enormous.  Today most Hosted PBX Providers offer virtual telephone numbers for almost any US exchange area.  Getting the numbers you want can be easy and very affordable.

If your need is to only provide a local number for callers to contact your business (inbound only), then the destination you direct the virtual number can be just about anywhere.  Many Hosted PBX subscribers find this flexibility of number destination a very cost effective means for disaster recovery or to assign remote workers call coverage tasks.

I hope this article has been helpful to you.  Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Hosted PBX Service + Mobile Phones = Cut Costs and Increase Revenue

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Integrating employee mobile phones with your Hosted PBX service or business telephone system can revolutionize your company and the way you respond to your customers.  One plus one is a lot more than two when you combine your two communication platforms (mobile phones and Hosted PBX service) into one seamless unit.  The combination will help you cut costs, increase sales and provide superior customer service (protect revenue).

How It Typically Works

Some business telephone systems and a few premium Hosted VoIP providers offer the ability to integrate existing mobile phones with your desk phone.  When turned on, the desk phone and mobile phone will ring at the same time.  Whichever phone you answer, will get the call.  Should you answer the call with your mobile phone, transferring it back to your desk phone can be easy.  If you do not answer, most services are flexible in their programming and will allow you to designate either your mobile phone or your office voicemail to take the message.

In some instances, you can do away with your desk phone and take all calls with your mobile.  Once you have the call on your mobile, you will be able to transfer the call to any extension on your system and possibly to any number in the world just like you do with your desk phone.  The best Hosted PBX services and telephone systems will also allow you to place calls from your mobile phone through your system.  You will not give your private mobile number out ever again!

Transforming Your Business

Pairing the mobile phone with your Hosted PBX service provides an incredible opportunity to cut costs, increase sales and provide superior customer service.  Removing the desk phone is only a potentially small savings.  The big savings comes from how to handle your fixed in office answering point.  With mobile phone integration, the position is no longer chained to a desk.  You can put them to work in the office or field or assign the duties to more mobile personnel or eliminate the position all together.

In addition to cost cuts, mobile phone integration with your Hosted PBX service can help increase the productivity of your sales team.  Sales people can handle important calls while they are out of the office as if they were sitting at their desk.  Business no longer waits for the sales person to return to the office.  In addition, sales people will not get bogged down by customer calls that can be best handled by others such as customer service departments.  For example, when they receive a customer service type call, they can gracefully transfer the call to that department with or without call screening.  Now they can focus their attention on their next sale and give immediate attention to their active customers.

Similarly to their sales colleagues, customer service personnel can handle customer care calls even while they are away from their desk.  Should they not be the best resource for the call, they can easily transfer the call to the appropriate person.  Customers will acknowledge a superior customer service experience when they can routinely get the live person on the phone they need for help.  Further, employees will no longer need to give out personal mobile numbers to keep in touch with their clients.  Beyond an improved customer care experience, you can protect your base by not having employees leave who are contacted by your customers through their personal mobile phone number.

Integrating your mobile phones with your Hosted PBX service gives you the opportunity to reinvent and reinvigorate your business.  Besides being able to eliminate or redefine several positions, you will keep your key employees in contact with your customers while making them more efficient.  This all leads to cutting costs while increasing sales and improving customer service.  A winning combination for any business!

6 Ways Hosted PBX Services Can Save Your Business and it’s not What You Think

Friday, March 12th, 2010

In today’s difficult economy it may be time to reorganize your business.  Hosted PBX or Hosted VoIP providers can play an important role as you find ways to reduce or eliminate high cost expenses in your business.  Hosted VoIP services can save you a large percentage on the obvious telephone system related bills.  But the fact is these costs are small when compared to the big ones.  I am talking about overhead including office space and headcount.

Here are 6 ways Hosted PBX services can get your company lean and mean:

1.  Hosted VoIP systems can provide you virtual office support just about anywhere, making it possible to downsize or eliminate commercial office space and the high rent, utility bills, insurance and much more.  Your employees’ home office space can be networked together with other work locations.  The seamless operation produces a united work environment without the cost of brick and mortar.

2.  Now that your employees can work from their home in a seamless environment thru your Hosted PBX service, you can eliminate or combine remote facilities while maintaining existing phone numbers that keep you connected to your customers and staff.

3.  With Hosted VoIP, geographical distances have no impact on effective communication and call handling.  Once dedicated to the support of a local office, redundant functions in your multiple facilities can be consolidated into a single entity supporting all offices.  Redundant functions may include phone reception, customer service, inside sales personnel and office/facility management.

4.  Hosted VoIP providers can supply you with published local phone numbers that ring anywhere.  This allows you to expand or test market areas without adding commercial office rent and staff.  The new market area becomes a seamless addition to your core business.

5.  Top Hosted PBX services offer Automatic Call Distribution (ACD).  ACD stacks up calls similar to the line for bank tellers.  If you have callers that wait on hold while other callers are being assisted, you are abusing them by long hold times, multiple operator ring backs and handling by less knowledgeable staff.  ACD will stop the abuse, keep your callers from alternative solutions and increase sales, customer service and customer satisfaction.

6.  Hosted VoIP providers allow virtually unlimited simultaneous calls to flow to your business.  Some Hosted PBX services will do the same for faxes as well.  Busy lines and fax machines will no longer turn valuable business away from your company.

Hosted VoIP services give your business the flexibility to reorganize and cut big costs in addition to savings on traditional telephone bills.  At the same time, they can help your business retain and grow new sources of revenue.  After you have weathered the economic storm, Hosted PBX services will help your business be more accessible, responsive, adaptable and competitively positioned.

I hope this article has been helpful to you.  Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Wireless Enabled ISP Routers Will Cause Problems with Hosted VoIP Services

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Many major Internet Service Providers (ISP) such as Charter, Comcast, AT&T and CenturyLink Telephone will install wireless enabled Internet routers as an added benefit to their customers.  In some cases, these wireless enabled routers can cause voice quality issues with your VoIP, Hosted VoIP, Hosted PBX Services and/or network interruptions.

Most WiFi enabled access points operate in the 2.4 Ghz frequency range.  This unlicensed frequency range is also shared by many common household and business devices such as cordless telephones and microwave ovens.  Use of these devices within range of your wireless enabled ISP router can cause interference and other negative effects ranging from seemingly insignificant brief Internet outages up to the need for router resets.  Internet outages lasting only several milliseconds will be disruptive to VoIP calls using a Hosted PBX or Hosted VoIP provider.

If your ISP router is equipped for wireless networking service and is not being used on your network, I recommend the wireless feature be turned off.  Turning the wireless feature off eliminates the negative effects of any interference and a potential security risk to your network.

If your ISP router is equipped for wireless networking service and is in use on your network, it could be a source of negative voice quality issues as it bypasses the necessary quality of service (QOS) management for voice traffic.  Migrating wireless network devices to a separate wireless access controller is recommended.  Further, when you use a separate wireless access controller from your ISP router, interference from other devices in the same frequency range will have no effect on the operation of your Internet router.

For more information on how you can insure the best possible VoIP call quality from your Hosted PBX or Hosted VoIP providers, please read my other blog articles.  Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

HostMyCalls™ – Why Hosted PBX Services

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

In today’s economic downturn it may be time to reorganize your business. HostMyCalls services can play an important role as you find ways to reduce or eliminate high cost expenses in your business. HostMyCalls is a premium Hosted PBX services tailored for small business. Sure, HostMyCalls can save you a large percentage on the obvious telephone system related bills. But the fact is these costs are small when compared to the big ones. Yes, we are talking about OVERHEAD including office space and headcount.

  • Consider how to run your business with a reduced staff in less expensive workspace. Tough times require tough measures.
  • HostMyCalls can provide you virtual office support just about anywhere, making it possible to downsize or eliminate commercial office space and the high rent, utility bills and insurance. Your home office space can be networked together with other work locations. The seamless operation produces a united work environment.
  • Provide services for remote or mobile answering points allowing increased efficiency of your reduced staff while aiding their productivity. Both compensation and expenses can be reduced with work from home staff as well as allowing your mobile employees the ability to be an answering point for covering incoming business calls.
  • Eliminate or combine remote facilities while maintaining existing phone numbers that keep you connected to your customers and staff.
  • Expand virtually into new market areas with local phone numbers and remote staff without adding an actual commercial office space. The new area becomes a seamless addition to your core business.
  • As we emerge from the recession, HostMyCalls will help your business be more accessible, responsive, adaptable and competitively positioned. HostMyCalls scales easily with your new found growth.

Will Your Internet Connection Destroy Your VoIP Service

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Updated 10/4/10: The HostMyCalls ISP Packet Loss and Delay Test Tool is now available to test your Internet connection.

If you are thinking about deploying VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) communication in a Hosted VoIP or Hosted PBX system and its many benefits for your business, you need to examine your Internet connection as it can be the source of many problems. Although you may be satisfied with the performance of your Internet connection for data purposes, it may not be adequate for Hosted VoIP service.

VoIP communication is very sensitive to network problems. In VoIP, the voice signal is converted into a stream of 1s and 0s. The stream of 1s and 0s are then grouped into individual packets similar to data packets. The packets are sent to the receiving end accompanied with the appropriate header (IP Address of the receiving end, prioritization flags and sequence information).

Packets travel the Internet frequently in different routes and will not be received in the correct order, if at all. Problems can occur at the receiving end where the packets must be reassembled in the appropriate sequence and in time to have the 1s and 0s converted back to voice to be heard without disrupting the natural flow of the conversation. Data packets are not time sensitive. Small glitches in your Internet connection may be perceived as slow Internet on your computer, if noticed at all. With VoIP, small glitches can cause choppy voice or more severe problems including dropped calls.

The majority of issues that cause voice packets to be lost or received too far out of sequence for quality voice playback happen on your side. These issues include insufficient Internet speed, poor Internet Service Provider (ISP) service, an unreliable Internet circuit into your building, wiring inside your building and outbound voice packet prioritization. It is not enough to simply have a broadband connection. You need a high grade broadband connection to deliver the call quality you require to run your business.

Most ISPs run on a business model of oversubscription. High demand on these ISPs results in jitter and latency. In addition, quality Internet providers do not always install the best circuit possible. In many cases, the circuit that connects you to the Internet is deficient. For example, you or one of your neighbors may be using a commonly deployed T1 circuit. If your carrier has placed a T1 and your Internet DSL in their same cable bundle, the T1 will interfere with the frequency of the DSL and will make good voice quality impossible.

Bottom line, for successful Hosted VoIP or Hosted PBX deployment in your business, you should make sure that you are using the right ISP for your area, you have sufficient Internet speed and you have a reliable circuit. Further, voice packet prioritization need to be properly set.

The following link will be helpful in determining the above:
Four Steps to Determine Whether Your Internet Connection is Ready for VoIP

I hope this article has been helpful to you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Four Steps to Determine Whether Your Internet Connection is Ready for VoIP

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

If you are thinking of deploying a Hosted VoIP or Hosted PBX system for your business, performing the following steps will help determine if your Internet service is adequate.

1. Ask your VoIP service provider whether they have experience with customers in your area using your ISP. Good service providers will be able to tell whether their customers are getting good results with certain ISPs.

2. Do not take your ISPs word for the speed they are delivering. In most cases, it will be less. Connect a PC as close as possible to your ISPs modem or router and go to http://myspeed.visualware.com/index.html to run a speed test. Write down your upload speed and your download speed. The lowest speed is the most important which usually is your upload speed.

3. Determine your desired number of concurrent voice calls. Take 75% of your lowest speed (upload or download) and divide by 35Kbps (typical size of a voice call using G.729 codec which most VoIP service providers use). If the result is greater than the number of concurrent calls then your speed is sufficient. Don’t forget that if your speed is measured in Mbps that 1 Mbps = 1,000 Kbps (0.1 Mbps = 100 kbps).

4. Test the quality of your Internet connection using the HostMyCalls ISP Packet Loss and Delay Test Tool. It is free to use and will take less than 30 seconds of your time to start monitoring your IP address. The HostMyCalls Test Tool specifically checks the Internet connection for packet loss and latency (delay). If excessive packet loss or delay is found, it will report whether these are happening at your location or within the network of the ISP.

If you learn that you have a quality ISP, you have sufficient speed to support the number of concurrent calls that you need and you have a reliable circuit, then your Internet connection is ready for Hosted VoIP.

Although a quality connection to the Internet is required, it is not the only thing you should think about when deploying a Hosted VoIP or Hosted PBX system for your business.

The following links should be of further help: Will Your Internet Connection Destroy Your VoIP Service?

I hope this article has been helpful to you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.


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