A PhoneTree, that is. Do you have the need to get a message out to multiple subscribers? Do you spend countless hours calling customers to remind them that payment is past due? Cancelling all of your appointments for tomorrow? Let the PhoneTree do it for you. In the medical field? check this out.. http://www.phonetree.com/health/roi.htm , It is a no-show ROI calculator. I think it speaks for itself.

I have a customer in the Natural Gas business that I recently installed PhoneTree, and in just the first month they bragged about a reduction of about 6 man hours per week in processing envelopes for cancellations plus their disconnect rate dropped from around 1000 to about 600. The feedback that they receive? “Thank you for calling to remind me that my payment was overdue!”

The way it works is simple; You install a USB or internal peripheral card to interface to your phone lines.

Select your list of contacts that you would like to call, this list can be imported as a text file from most any CRM or billing software capable of exporting to text.

Record your message; you can record or use the built in text to speech engine. You will also need to build a script consisting of “snippets”. These snippets can include “custom” values that you exported in your text file, such as customer name, account number, due date, amont overdue, etc..The text to speech engine will pick up the text from theses custom fields and read them to the called party. Now, determine the calling times; of course you want to check with your local laws to determine what times you are legally allowed to call your customers.

Once you have completed these steps, click the “Start Calls” button and the PhoneTree unit will begin calling. The out of box experience was great…it took around two hours to get the unit installed, the list imported and PhoneTree scripted.

PhoneTree also offers a 30-day, no questions asked, money back guarantee (excluding PhoneTree Pro, Lab, MD), so you really can’t go wrong! Check them out for yourself at http://www.phonetree.com. On their site you can see more real world examples and hear sample messages.

“Your PBXtra server and all associated hardware will arrive pre-configured and tested from Fonality. Once you have it in hand, your PBXtra server will need to be connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable. You will also need to configure your PBXtra server to work on your network in accordance with our PBXtra Installation Guide” This will include assigning your PBXtra Server a static IP address, setting up and plugging in your phones, and then entering all of your user information for each phone extension. After that, you will need to configure how you want your PBXtra to handle your incoming calls through the Fonality Web-Admin tool. These last two steps, adding user information for each phone, and configuring your queues and call treatments, will require access to a PC on the internet with a web-browser (You can not use the PBXtra Server itself as it has no web-browser). That’s it! If you have any issues with your installation, our Customer Care Team is just an email or a phone call away! Also, with each PBXtra shipment, we schedule an Installation and Training appointment to ensure that your server is set up correctly, to answer any of your remaining installation questions, and to show you how to use the most common features your new phone system.” This excerpt from Fonality’s website FAQ section would lead you to believe that the PBXtra installation is a very straight forward procedure and the end user can set up a PBXtra up without technical help.

Phone systems are complex and business critical and as with any other phone system PBXtra requires you to thoroughly understand your current infrastructure and business process. I have yet to see a Fonality install where local technical help was not required and end user was able to get the system successfully running. What’s more troubling is the fact that I have seen Fonality systems that were not correctly configured before being shipped to customer site. Lot of times end nodes have been delivered with wrong IP information to connect to a phone system that does not exist.

Before you get excited about ordering a system and setting it up, get technical help, perform an assessment, build your call routing on paper before you even place the order. Find out what kind of routers, firewalls and VPN devices you already have on the network. Find out if your network switches have enough bandwidth to be used for voice, if you have network hubs instead of switches, replace them! If you are replacing your network hubs with switches, look into getting POE (power over Ethernet) switches, so your voice communication keeps working even if there is a power failure. Think about how will people call emergency services if need when the main power is out.

Get a good UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for your phone system, something that can keep the system and end nodes running for couple of hours in case of power blackout. Remember, UPS systems need to be checked every year to make sure they are able to handle the power load.

Proper planning and the right help can make your new phone system installation a positive experience and at times can even give you insight into your processes where they can be improved.

There are a lot of options available to small business as far as a VoIP phone system is concerned. A list of these options is the content for another blog, Cisco is working on penetrating this market with its Unified Communications for Small Business strategy.

Cisco’s UC500 series for small business is an all-in-one solution. This modular system offers a phone system, switch, wireless access point and firewall in an easy to use and manage package. The feature set as it related to VoIP includes:

• Eight IP phone station support
• Four trunks
• Optional T1/E1 voice interface (PRI and CAS)
• Integrated voicemail
• Automated attendant
• Basic call center capability
• Music on hold
• Optional wireless access
• System management

This system can be expanded as the business grows to 32 or 48 IP phones, additional IP ports can be added via Cisco Catalyst Express 520. Here are the specifications of the system:

 

Modular Support

WLAN Specifications

Voice Configuration Options

The Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business is now available for order. If you need help with ordering or doing an initial assessment, contact a service provider like PC.Solutions.Net at http://www.pcsn.net.

To top it all off, Cisco SMARTnet can be added for enhanced support and technical assistance.

I just got word today about a free VoIP Test for Businesses(Yes, home users can take it too), at http://www.bandwidth.com/tools/voipTest; it measures the following criteria:

Bi-Directional Transfer Rate- How many VoIP conversations can be supported at the same time over current connections. Unlike other tests of this type, it runs in both directions at the same time.

VoIP Port Availability- Checks to see if SIP(Session Initiation Protocol) or MGCP(Media Gateway Control Protocol) connection ports are blocked by a firewall or NAT (Network Address Translation) device.

Latency- This checks to see how long it takes your voice to travel across VoIP lines and then back again.

If you don’t like that test, you can also check out http://testyourvoip.com or another cool tool at http://voipreview.org/voipspeedtester.aspx

At any rate, even though I am a home user, it is kind of neat to know that I can support up to 22 simultaneous conversations over my cable connection!

Most, if not all prepaid phone cards and pay as you go long distance phone services use VoIP to keep their costs at a minimum. Cost is kept at a minimum with ease of automation inherent in such systems and allows for quick and easy integration into billing and other back end applications. This concept is seeping into the mobile side as well.

You may have seen many such companies come and go, but Red Pocket Mobile has consistently been successful by catering to the Asian American community. Joshua Gordon, COO at Red Pocket Mobile says, “Our question was how to provide a compelling value proposition to set us apart… We found the answer in low cost international calling through Chinese-character handsets, with no long-distance charge. Customers can also use the long-distance account as a ‘calling card’ from a public phone.”

Red Pocket Mobile is the only US mobile operator to offer mobile handsets with Chinese menus and testing capabilities. The trick to success was providing a simple to use integrated experience to the customer in a niche market.

An important aspect of Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWFi) is cell phone seamless connectivity over wi-fi networks. T-Mobile USA (part of Deutsche Telekom) has something to say as well: mobile phones don’t have to break the bank, when you can make calls over both cell towers and Wi-Fi routers. T-Mobile claims calls made via cell phone won’t be dropped as you switch between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Homes with poor cell coverage can still make calls if Wi-Fi access is made available, I say about time!

This is the culmination of the company’s Hotspot @Home initiative, which is going nationwide after several months of trials in the Seattle area. With this service users can make unlimited calls by adding $10 a month, or $20 a month for up to five lines on a family plan, to an existing T-Mobile phone account. The “unlimited” part only includes the VoIP calls made via Wi-Fi, of course – except if the call started on the Wi-Fi side. If the call then roams to the cell network, it remains unmetered (maybe this aspect will change soon).

This may yet be the most important “break-through” since introduction of cellular phones.

I’m sure, in the beginning there will be a small number of phone manufacturers offering dual mode phones, but as this service catches on, I’m sure other providers will jump on the dual mode band wagon.

Users are not limited to Wi-Fi calls on their home networks. The phones will work with any open Wi-Fi connection. T-Mobile will also be selling home wireless routers from Linksys and D-Link that it says are optimized for the service by supporting the WMM standard, part of 802.11e with a proprietary method for setting up a secure link. The routers will be free after a mail-in rebate. T-Mobile apparently won’t guarantee call quality with other routers, nor at non-T-Mobile hotspots. T-Mobile hotspots all have full T-1 lines for backhaul to the Internet, while typical public hotspots with open access are likely only to have DSL or cable connections with no service level agreements (SLA).

The Hotspot @Home network is powered by Unlicensed Mobile Access technology, which enables seamless hand-off from Wi-Fi to cellular and back. This technology has been used by networks overseas by BT in the UK and Orange in France.

The iPhone being a hot product it is, while offering Wi-Fi, will not support this kind of hand-off, as its exclusive carrier, AT&T, doesn’t offer this service. Wi-Fi on the iPhone will likely be used for data only, unless Apple introduces a VoIP application in the future, or people use a third party soft phone software but then I don’t see how seamless switch over will work.

VoIP services have been improved a lot and you can find more and more companies coming out with cheap local and long distance calling plans.

VoIP providers are slowly taking business from landline providers, which forced those companies to offer cheap VoIP services, to the home and business users.

Magic Jack is a new VoIP service, which is going to challenge VoIP and landline providers. It is actually a little USB jack, just connect it to your computer’s USB port and connect any phone to the RJ11 port to make and receive calls. When you connect your Magic Jack to your computer, it will automatically install the software and softphone and take you through the registration and phone number selection. The whole process takes 10 minutes only. You can use any phone or softphone.  

 They are offering phone numbers from almost all the states and cities, and adding more cities on regular basis. It’s features include call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, and E911.   All you have to do is buy the MagicJack for $39.95, which includes first year free US and Canada local and long distance calling; yes $ 39.95 for whole year!  Which I believe is not a bad deal at all, as per their website “never pay bill again”. They are offering 2^nd year service for $19.95 only.

I got my MagicJack in August of this year, when it was still in Beta and their service was a little flaky. Now the service has improved tremendously.

It is an excellent product for people who travel frequently or have friends and families outside of USA. Just buy the MagicJack, register it, send it to your overseas friends, and they will be able to make calls to USA and Canada without paying a penny. You can also call them whenever you want to because it will be a local call.

This MagicJack is not quite magical yet because you need to leave your computer turned on in order to make or receive phone calls. It would really be magical if it was pluggable in the RJ45 port on the router eliminating the need of having the computer on.

It also has issues with certain softwares, for example, it stops working if you are using CD/DVD burning softwares with InCD utility. It also won’t work with unpowered USB hub.

Although it has it’s limitations, I have fallen for this product because it is cheap and usable. Buy it and call all your  friends to wish them happy holidays!

For more details visit their website .

If you are not comfortable with Asterisk based IP PBX and you love working with Windows, there is a solution for you. 3CX phone system is a SIP based IP PBX for Windows with lots of promising features like voicemail via email, Unified Messaging (MS outlook integration) and call parking.

They have four different versions (Free Edition, Small Business Edition, Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition) to suit your needs, all of them support unlimited extensions (internal and external). The major differences between their free and commercial editions are that commercial editions support 8-32 numbers of Simultaneous Calls (depending on commercial editions) and other features like BLF status, call recording, show callers in queue and remote configuration of extensions. Commercial Editions also support G729 codecs to save bandwidth. 

3CX Phone System includes a compact VOIP Client which can be used in combination with a headset, as a fully functioning SIP software phone, or in combination with an SIP hardware phone. It works with all popular SIP soft and hard phones, SIP trunking providers and SIP VOIP Gateways like Grandstream, Patton (can be automatically configured within 3CX Phone System), Cisco, Linksys and others.

3CX Phone System has a built in VPN solution, which eliminates firewall reconfiguration and it also has an integrated Fax server that works with T.38 protocol .

I have been using their free version from last two years along with Trixbox CE and Pro at home with three SIP software phones (two internal extensions and one external extension) without any problem. 

3CX Phone System is well developed, easy to use and complete IP PBX application which challenges Asterisk based PBX systems.  For details visit their website  

With Google unveiling its Android plans and its bid for 700MHz spectrum is it just a matter of time when we’ll get free phone calls powered by ads? It may be so. If Google offered a SIP based soft-phone powered by ads and/or voice service powered by a one/two second ad, I would jump on it. Imagine Google ad powered voice calls from your PC or handheld and never having to worry about a phone bill.

The problem with current VoIP providers is, you have to pay for another subscription. I don’t want another subscription all I want is to be able to use my laptop or handheld to make voice calls over WiFi without having to invest in a PBX like phone system. Yes there is going to be much resistance as major players will be losing their revenue stream. But, then there will be new revenue streams and newer more nimble companies taking over as the dinosaurs die out.

Before you start commenting about free VoIP services out there, I don’t want a VoIP service with diminished quality or where I have to the authorization to the service provider to be able to use the numbers I call for SpIT.

By the way, if you are interested in only PC to PC voice calls, Google Take is ready to take you there.

If Google was to setup cellular infrastructure, imagine the amount of innovation that will happen. Right now the cellular companies really sell you the same clunky (proprietary) handheld and tie you in to a 2 or long year contract. What would the freedom of an open phone and service plan do?

Google powered cell phone anyone?

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol that is used by technology products for creating session-oriented connections between two or more endpoints on an IP network. These endpoints could be IP telephones, instant messaging clients, or collaborative multimedia conference applications.

Many businesses are sipping it up…(No pun intended) What I mean is, they are taking their time adopting to the technology and for good reason. Although SIP technology is cheaper (In some cases free), the cost of upgrading infrastrucure to support Quality of Service (QOS) can sometimes outweigh the savings.

While the protocol is now “final” enough to build sophisticated telecom systems using SIP, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working groups continue to forge new ways on how to apply SIP. One way that has been making it’s way to the top is SIP Connect.

What is SIPconnect?

SIPconnect is a standards-based method of interconnection between IP PBXs and VoIP service provider networks. It specifies the architecture, required protocols and features, and implementation rules necessary for seamless peering between IP PBXs and VoIP service providers.

Let’s take a look at the various applications: 

For end users in the small business or large enterprise, SIPconnect eliminates, or greatly reduces, the need for a costly gateway at the end user’s site.  In addition, new features from the service provider or the IP PBX vendor will be delivered more quickly.

For VARs and Interconnects, the SIPconnect compliant service provider will handle the complexites associated with connecting the SIP Trunk to the legacy TDM world.  This eliminates the need for a lot of integration and troubleshooting work and allows the partners to focus on other, revenue generating activities.

For Equipment and Software Vendors (Application Servers, IP PBX Vendors, SIP Proxies), SIPconnect greatly reduces the time and resources required to verify interoperability in the network.  This single item, interoperability, currently drains many man hours from the services and equipment providers that could be better used creating new and more exciting features.  This in turns reduces the amount of revenue that could be realized from those new features.

The SIP Trunking Service Provider that uses SIPconnect SIP trunks realizes higher revenue streams much more quickly.  Network services are rolled out more rapidly, greatly reducing the time to revenue for new services and features.  In addition, the service provider can greatly reduce the time and staff required to complete interoperability testing.

In the meanwhile…While service providers like Cbeyond continue the slow and steady rollout of SIP connect sit back, relax, and take a SIP!