Monthly Archives: October 2013

BYOD: Mobile Phone Carriers Get Away With Murder

OK, “murder” is a bit of a stretch.

That clarified, how many times per week do you have calls simply dropped mid-conversation. That is followed with a redial and explanation that “I always lose calls on this part of the highway”. Not only is it frustrating, there is virtually NOTHING we can do about it except to switch carriers AFTER our 2 or formerly 3 year contract ends!

What other kind of company can CONSTANTLY deliver inferior service and KEEP YOUR BUSINESS??

You have to love mobile phone technology. While devices like the iPhone and Q10 and Galaxy keep becoming more and more space age with whiz-bang features ~the network that carries your calls never seems to improve!

How about those wonderful calls where the conversation is one continuous “echo”? Don’t you just love standing on opposite ends of a sewer tunnel as your voice (and more importantly the OTHER call’s voice) ricochet’s off the walls? How about when all you hear is a smattering of “chop chop chop” bits of talk you cannot possibly make out as actual speaking because you miss 90% of what is being said?

So how are we REALLY supposed to integrate BYOD hardware for our staff and clients when the infrastructure of the device transmissions delivers such a low quality of service? While BYOD presents security and network issues, nothing is more challenging than the wild fluctuations we face with the networks they operate on.

I personally would LOVE to see consumers start to hold mobile carriers accountable for EVERY dropped or interrupted call. These companies deliver such poor QOS on average that as a group it would be really sweet if EVERYONE with a mobile device was able to DISCOUNT all this bad service. Imagine getting 50-60% off YOUR monthly cellular invoice just because so many of your calls were of an unacceptable quality!

So I say “RISE UP PEOPLE!”, rise up and challenge YOUR mobile carrier to produce a CONSISTENT cellular experience. This way your next BYOD call does not have to be complete only AFTER you apologize for the hard to understand and maintain conversation.

I’m just saying. BYOD killers. Oh, i guess that IS a pretty solid “murder” metaphor, LOL.

What’s New in Avaya IP Office 9.0

Say goodbye to Avaya IP Office 8.0 and 8.1 ~ IP Office 9.0 is here and promises to deliver a slew of new features and upgrades to your Avaya IP 500 V2 phone system!

The Avaya IP Office 9.0 communications system provides you with a unified communications system to help ensure you’re managing your communications effectively and efficiently. Once you’ve chosen the right Avaya IP Office communications system for your business, you then simply select any additional user functionality you need from the following:

Mobile Worker (BYOD is here!)

It is all about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) these days! Make any mobile phone an extension of the office phone system—complete with call handling features and speed dials. Know that when customers call, they are dialing your business numbers, not your employees’ personal numbers.

Power User (Is this YOU?)

Users control office communications using an IP phone, cell phone or laptop. Users receive all their messages – voice, email, and fax – in a single inbox (Unified Communications), and are automatically notified of important messages. Set up conference calls on the fly, and have calls ring simultaneously on both mobile and desk phones.

Teleworker (Remote Connectivity)

Give teleworkers—employees who work remotely full-time—the same phone and functionality they’d have in the office. Users connect their phones to the company’s phone system via a virtual private network. And because it all goes through the IP Office system, you can hire talent from anywhere and save money.

Help receptionists manage high call volume from their PCs. Streamline call handling with easy point-and-click call controls. A list of incoming calls and call status displays on the PC screen. Integrate with commonly used database software. Monitor all office extensions. Have one receptionist provide coverage for multiple offices.

Here are some helpful Avaya guides to allow you to further understand the new features and impact of IP Office 9.0:

DECT – D100 SIP Wireless Terminal User Guide

Flare – Using Avaya Flare Experience for Windows

Flare- Using Avaya Flare Experience for iPad Devices

CCR – Using Customer Call Reporter 9.0

CCR – Customer Call Reporter Custom Report Walk Through

one-X Portal – Using one-X Portal for IP Office

Softphone – IP Office Softphone User Guide (Windows)

Softphone – IP Office Softphone User Guide (Mac)

one-X Mobile – Using one-X Mobile Preferred for IP Office on Apple

VoIP – Surprising Facts and Myths

Voice over IP (VoIP) was introduced to the main stream well over 10-years ago by companies like Vonage, Comcast and Magic Jack. As a result, many business owners believe that VoIP will save them money and deliver them an advanced set of features and services that traditional digital systems and services cannot. This impression is absolutely false. VoIP is a fantastic technology when used correctly and when all parties are informed of the deployment pros and cons.

VoIP has some serious pitfalls in some applications, if deployed solely to save money. Here are four different examples of VoIP applications and considerations:

VoIP used by telecom providers to move voice traffic over long distances.
VoIP used by businesses within their organization, to eliminate traditional digital voice communication products.

VoIP used within Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) fabric, to deliver voice service to businesses.
VoIP used in the residential market to bypass traditional analog lines and services.

1. VoIP used by telecom providers for long haul applications – Telecom providers have been using this service behind the scenes, much longer than the service has been available to the public. VoIP allows telecom companies to move un-metered traffic within their own networks, over great distances for no additional cost. Providers are able to segregate these networks, prioritize traffic and control end-to-end transmissions, thereby delivering a high-quality communication. The switch gear used to control this traffic is far better than the equipment available to most businesses for their in-house networks.

2. VoIP used by businesses in their local area networks (LAN) – Here are some common misconceptions regarding an in-house VoIP deployment:

understand voip voice over IP

VoIP’s Surprising Facts and Myths

Myth one; “I bought a VoIP system and now all my traffic is VoIP”. FALSE. You can have a VoIP solution within your organization and connect to the public network using digital or analog lines and vice versa. Your VoIP solution is not dependent on using VoIP services from the public network.

Myth two; “If I install a VoIP system, it will save me money”. FALSE. If you implement a VoIP system within your own network and you take all the necessary voice and data traffic quality considerations in to account, this application will not save you money on services or equipment. So if this is the only reason you are doing it… Stop and consult a trusted advisor.

Myth three; “VoIP will give me more features”. FALSE. Today, hybrid voice systems will give you all the same features as a VoIP system. These hybrid systems can use your existing cat.3 or cat.5 cables to deliver a combination of VoIP, digital and analog phones while using a combination of digital, analog and VoIP services in the network. Hybrid systems are very versatile and they do a great job of protecting your past infrastructure investments.
When considering a business VoIP system and implementation, consider the following to assure a more successful result:

Make sure your cabling Category 6, gigabit Ethernet certified.
Try to isolate your voice and data network cabling and switches from each other.
Make sure you purchase professional switches and routers that have a proven Quality of Service (QOS) feature. This means staying away from big box retail stores. 
Try to purchase Power Over Ethernet (POE) switches for the voice network. Most VoIP sets come with local power, but a POE switch can keep your desktop environment clean and make moving phones around the office much easier.

3. VoIP and SIP – Buyer beware. Although this technology is pretty slick and down the road it will enable some pretty cool presence features, it is a bring-your-own-bandwidth (BYOB) product that will not save you money. This will change, but right now sales people are selling this product by convincing businesses to downgrade their available call capacities. They are also leaving out critical information regarding a new practice of charging for incoming calls. I am a fan of SIP, just not the way it is being marketed today. In my opinion, SIP is more viable as a redundant backup solution rather than a primary service.

4. VoIP for residential market – Pro: It’s cheap. Con: You bring your own bandwidth (BYOB) and the quality can be unreliable at times. Because we are discussing a residential application, the Cons are not reason enough to avoid this product. Call quality is not mission critical in your home. Therefore, the low cost benefit of this service makes it a formidable foe to traditional POTS lines.

It is very important that you rely on a trusted adviser when contemplating a VoIP deployment. If you feel you need to do this in order to keep up with the competition, you are wrong. For more information feel free to contact us toll-free @ 1-855-929-9199.

(originally via Scott Sinclair)

Telephone Magic’s New websites are “LIVE”!

Well, the day has finally arrived!

Telephone Magic has been around for a while ~ we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary as the actual day approaches this coming February. After years of being a leader in online sales of Nortel, Avaya, Mitel, Plantronics, Polycom, and Aastra products, and having added lines such as NEC and Cisco in recent years, we are tremendously excited to announce that our Web 2.0 deployment is now complete and “LIVE” on both our US/International and Canadian websites.

As part of this large deployment, Telephone Magic has made it easier for our existing and new clients to navigate our site, contact us, and get fast and convenient quotes on the business telecom products they need.

We now have “Live Chat” on our site which allows quick questions to be answered without the need to pick up the phone. Our Toll-Free number is prominently displayed on the site as well for fast phone quotes. We also now have an “Express Quote” feature that allows for quick and easy quote requests. When a visitor does not have enough time to use the quote cart feature or cannot find the item they are looking for, Express Quote will bypass the time required to search the site.

Our new Web 2.0 has also spelled the END of the off-site Blog! Now all our new Blog posts and content is right here on our main site.

With the deployment of our new web design, Telephone Magic has come full circle and find ourselves even more dedicated to our business customers and dealer clients. We appreciate your feedback regarding our new website look and feel.