Category Archives: business phone system

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 YouTube Channel Offers Telecom Tips

Well we finally have all our ducks in a row to start our Telephone Magic YouTube.com channel series which will focus on Telecom Tips related to business phone system products.

Our FIRST YouTube Telecom Tip is all about buying your business phone system equipment at wholesale prices:

Telecom Tips: How to Buy Business Phone Systems Wholesale

How to Order business telephone system equipment and phones “Wholesale Direct” online ~ It is Easy and Fast to get an “Express Quote” for the business office phone system hardware and accessories you need. Follow these steps and cut out the middle man.

Our second installment of Telecom Tips is all about the phones and accessories in the Avaya 1400 digital phone series:

Telecom Tips: Avaya 1400 Series digital phones

The Avaya 1400 Series phones are for use with the Avaya IP Office business phone system. The line consists of the Avaya 1403 phone, the 1408 phone and the 1416 phone models, along with the DBM32 button module. Buy them online at wholesale prices!

Be sure to Subscribe, Comment, and, we hope, “LIKE” our Telecom Tips video installments on YouTube and we trust you will enjoy being in on the “ground floor” of our channel. We appreciate you taking the time to interact with us!

Selecting the Right Hosted VoIP Service

Hosted VoIP Service

If you’re looking to make the switch to VoIP you are going to come across a myriad of different solutions. One of the most popular being hosted VoIP.

What is Hosted VoIP?

Hosted VoIP is a service provided by a third party that gives you all of your phone system features and voice calling capabilities without having an actual VoIP phone system at your office. The only part of the system that you actual see are your VoIP Phones at your desk.
The hosted VoIP service provider, as they are commonly called, hosts your phone system functionality from their data center (or one that they lease from a data center provider). You are able to access your Hosted VoIP service via the internet, where you can configure users, extensions, menu’s, etc. The type of features you can get and the rates you pay, depend on the service provider.

Who Uses Hosted VoIP?

Hosted VoIP service from companies like Nextiva is used by companies of all sizes and industries, but is most popular with the small or micro-enterprise, typically 25 seats and under. Hosted VoIP service is a popular option for these companies because of the low up-front capital investment and predictable monthly billing.
If your company is looking to make the switch to VoIP with a limited budget, hosted VoIP would make great sense. Also, if your company lacks the staff or current knowledge required to manage your own VoIP system, hosted VoIP is probably they best thing for you!

How to Select Hosted VoIP Service?

Going about selecting hosted VoIP service for your company can get a little confusing. Today there are literally hundreds of different hosted VoIP providers who all look, sound and feel the same.
That’s because of a little known secret that most of these hosted VoIP services are running off of the same platform! That’s right, they may have different names, colors, packages and locations, but they are probably running off one of three popular platforms.
What does this mean for you? Well, to start, it means that things like price, features and VoIP phone choices should be pretty much the same across the board.

(Hence the confusing part of choice a provider.)

This makes the customer experience, the sign-up process, support systems, service level agreements and customer reviews the most important aspects of choosing a hosted VoIP provider.

Customer Experience – Before selecting any hosted VoIP provider you should take the time to call into their office. Be prepared with questions about the companies history, expertise, service level agreements and levels of support. Get a feel for how the sales professional answers the questions by listening to his tone of voice, directness of answer and other clues that might expose a weakness in your experience as a customer.

Support Systems – Things do go wrong and when they do, what matters most is quick, transparent assistance from technical support. Before purchasing hosted VoIP services make sure you find out what standard turnaround times are for support, local availability and even TEST OUT THEIR SYSTEM by submitting a ticket.

Service Level Agreements (SLA) – Like support systems, your hosted provider’s service level agreement is a commitment to ensuring you have a great service experience. Every hosted VoIP provider should have an SLA in place, typically something that guarantees the service will be up more than 99% of the time.
Customer Reviews – Most of the major hosted VoIP providers have a number of reviews of their service on various websites. In addition to this or if your provider is not large enough to have online reviews, ask for customer references. Then call them. Seriously, you can very often avoid disasters by speaking with real customers who have real experience with a company.

The Next Steps

After reading this, if you are ready to take the next steps in purchasing hosted VoIP service, you best bet is to write down everything you think you need, then contact up to five providers of hosted VoIP service. Once they contact you back, use the advice above to evaluate the best option for your company and then follow that providers lead.

(via Garrett Smith)

VoIP Provides Access to the Previously Unreachable

Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) has provided businesses a new means of communication. It has moved phone calls off traditional phones lines and onto the internet. VoIP can be more cost efficient than legacy options and can help call centers provide better customer service.

According to what IP telephony professional Itay Rosenfeld wrote in Telecom Reseller, it seems like VoIP is taking over the world. In reality, research found that 143.2 million people and businesses subscribed to public switched telephone network (PSTN)-style VoIP services in 2012, with the majority located in the United States, France and Germany.

Firmology said that with a premium VoIP system, call center employees can gather customer information before the call is even answered. They can see who’s calling, what services the customer has previously used and any issues experienced. Call activity is logged automatically in CRM and notes are updated if taken.

With these great innovations, it’s a surprise more companies are not making the switch, said Rosenfeld. One main reason is because there’s been a lack of access to emergency services like 911. Businesses love saving money but not losing access to the fire and police departments.

According to Fox affiliate WXIN, however, some areas in the U.S. have new high-speed systems that allow emergency officials to make phone calls, send text messages or distribute emails to people subscribed to the IP-based system.

But what about reaching officials? Rosenfeld reported that there’s a new option that supports phone capabilities from a single IP-based interconnection and provides access to emergency services. Whether a company uses cloud communications, VoIP or SIP trunking, this new option connects emergency calls via the PSTN. It also creates access in locations where cell coverage is poor or where a phone number is needed that’s not tied to a specific provider or place.

VoIP has emerged as the new standard for enterprise communication, and vendors (such as Telephone Magic Inc.) offer the media gateways and other solutions to ensure seamless and reliable integration of IP-based communication regardless of an organization’s size or its current telecommunications environment.

(via Sangoma)

Business Telephone Tips – Easy to Implement, Customer Pleasing, On Hold Messages

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Ask any business what they’re investing in, and most will say their website. But even though internet sites and ecommerce are growing at an enormous rate, you may be surprised to know that “telemarketing” dwarfs the amount of sales generated by websites. That’s because consumers have generations of experience getting exactly what they want when they call a business. The phone is still faster that looking it up on Google and then trying to find the right answer on a website.

Right now, customer service provided by telephone is the dominant way for customers to reach businesses like yours. So before you invest everything in your website, consider how inexpensive it can be to increase sales and satisfaction with a few telephone tips for customer service representatives:

Answer the phone with a “live” person: “call centers” (especially the ones in India!) have an increasingly poor reputation. Just answering the phone with a live person starts you off on the right foot.

Don’t use a speaker phone! Pick up the receiver, or use a headset (they’re great for comfort and ease of use) and your caller gets a personal sound. We’ve all had our calls answered with a speaker phone: it sounds like they can’t be bothered, the audio quality is poor, and we end up shouting to be understood. Treat your caller like you’d like to be treated

Create a “phone answering script” that is personal and polite. Don’t try to say too much (Thank you for calling XYZ company, home of the widget. My name is Joe and I’m here to provide excellent service. How may I help you today?” Is that really any way to answer the phone?

If you use an automated answering system, limit the number of options: 3 or 4 should be plenty. And do you really need to have several levels of options? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. They are the customer, right?

Train your customer service reps so they know more than the customer does! How many times have you called a call center to ask questions, and the rep has had to constantly “check their sources” for “additional information”? With just a little experience you can understand your “Frequently Asked Questions.” The 80/20 rule usually applies: 80% of your callers will ask the same questions covering just 20% of the information. Train, and test, your customer service reps. By the way: what are your customers’ biggest problems? If you don’t know, try working on the phones yourself. Then you’ll be able to train your reps better!

Staff your phones properly. We’ve all been told “We are experiencing a higher than normal volume of calls” way too many times. We all know that it’s not higher than “normal.” Great customer service builds great customer loyalty.

What if you do answer with an automated system, and your customers do have to wait (in a “queue” which is like waiting in line) for their call to be answered? What should your caller listen to? Some people like silence or music so they can do other things. I’ve had the experience of waiting in a queue for a few minutes and completely forgetting what I called for. Even when it was important. So consider giving your caller helpful information while on hold. Don’t make it a pushy radio commercial, and don’t try to record it yourself (it won’t sound professional).

Telephone Magic USB Message On Hold Player



A Message On Hold System can make all the difference in the world, as it plays CUSTOMIZED messages about YOUR business with appropriate background music. The latest digital On Hold Message player type utilizes USB Flash Media stick to easily transfer On Hold Messages from an emailed file. Telephone On Hold Messages will inform and entertain your clients when they have to wait On Hold for your business staff.

Try different recording for different groups of callers. For sales lines, feel free to talk about product features and benefits. “Cross marketing” can be very profitable (increasing you average order size) and helpful to the caller. Talk about product features, and educate your caller about how to understand the difference in features and what it means to them. Use the opportunity to show how you’re different (and better) than your competition. 

For customer service or tech support lines consider answering FAQ and offering advice on fixing the most common problems. Do you list this information on your website? Tell your caller exactly where to look. Don’t just assume they’ll hang up. They can just look while they’re waiting for help.

Keeping up with the Social Media "Jones’s" a Full Time Job

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At Telephone Magic, we sell business phones at wholesale prices.

We are currently in our 25th year in business and we love what we do – it’s exciting, always changing, we get to work with cutting edge phone system technology from worldwide leaders such as Avaya, NEC, Cisco, and Nortel.

Nortel BCM50 Avaya BCM telephone systemThe new world of Internet marketing does not just require additions, changes, and updates of HTML code and pages for our websites though. Now as much time is being spent updating the many and varied sources of Social Media Marketing.

Like other savvy and successful online companies, Telephone Magic is on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, and – oh yes – we also Blog!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually quite a bit of fun reaching out and touching the people who utilize our business telephone products every day in their day to day life. We appreciate our clients and we strive to give them the best personalized service in the industry. We feel, more than others, we create long-lasting relationships with our customers and they tend to come back time and time again due to the personalized rapport we forge with them.

On the other hand, Social Media is, in itself, a full time job, equal to, and in many cases, much more work than our websites they drive. I am certain many of you, as small, medium, and even large businesses, struggle to find the time in the day to juggle all of their social media sites, trying to be as responsive as possible while also trying to get their regular work done in a timely fashion.

I have talked to many business owners/managers/CEO’s that wonder how anyone is supposed to do all that social media demands without employing the full time efforts of a dedicated person. No doubt, it is tough. On one hand you don’t want to drop the ball, fail to make regular posts, and not get back to potential customers when they come knocking at your various social media outlets. On the other you have to deal with real world financial constraints driven by the economy which prevent you from carving out yet another salary from a potentially diminishing pie.

On top of this, your products are almost always evolving and new information is coming out regularly and needs to be updated on your actual website. Now let us try to keep up with as much of that work as possible to ensure the site you wish to promote with all your social media venues is not itself becoming stale and outdated, causing it to fall in the rankings of our friends at Google, and other search engines.

The Social Media challenge is certainly a real one and we all have to either deal with it in the best way we can with the limited time we have or, God forbid, simply ignore it and the world around us that has embraced and promoted it. Right, that is not an option. Time to get back to our Facebook page!

Our New Website Design is Coming Soon!

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We are REALLY pumped about our new website design for TelephoneMagic.com and TelephoneMagic.ca!


Avaya IP phones IP Office VoIP telephones

In approximately 1 week our websites will be transformed from the older 780 pixel width to a new HTML5/CSS3 1000 pixel width format. What does that mean to you?

  • The site will be CLEAN and less cluttered
  • Find the phone system, telephones, and accessories you need EASIER and FASTER
  • The site will be more graphical in nature, highlighting the wide variety of products we carry
  • Fast and Convenient CONTACT information – including our Toll-Free Quotes
  • Highlighted Social media buttons and access
Nortel, Norstar, BCM, MeridianAvaya, IP Office, IP 500, Partner, Definity
NEC Univerge SV8100 business telephone system
Cisco IP phones sip hosted IP-PBX platform telephonesShoreTel IP phones, voice switches
Polycom, conference phones, conference telephone, IP phones, SoundPoint IP desktop SIP telephonesMitel IP phones
Teledex hotel phones motel room telephonesTeleMatrix hotel phones motel room telephonesScitec hotel phones motel room telephones
Plantronics phone headset wireless cordless corded wired telephone headsetshotel phones, hotel telephones, hotel pbx, hotel voice mail, call accounting, property management, pms, teledex
Telephone Magic has been in business since 1989, and we are just 14 months away from celebrating our 25th anniversary! We carry all the major brands of telecom gear at WHOLESALE prices. If you don’t see it on our site, simply call us TOLL FREE @ 1-855-929-9199 – we stock virtually EVERYTHING telecom, and can find anything you require for your business telephone system platform.

Stay tuned for more information about our new website template release date!

Nik Wallenda walks over Niagara Falls!

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Way to #WalkTheWire, Nik!

Just a few blocks from our offices at Telephone Magic and Hotel Telecom, Nik Wallenda made history tonight, walking across a high wire over Niagara falls!

Wire walking over Niagara Falls was outlawed in 1890, and many thought this day would never come, but a couple of months ago Nik Wallenda received permission to attempt the feat.

This was the first time in history that a wire walk was actually performed over the Falls. Previous attempts were made farther down the lower Niagara River or lower in the Niagara gorge. Wallenda had his wire about 20 stories above the Niagara River and walked right over the American Falls and all the way to the Niagara Parkway on the Canadian side.

Nik Wallenda is from the famous first family of funambulists. The signature performance of the group in the 1940’s was the seven-person chair pyramid in which two pairs of performers walk the wire, each supporting another aerielist on a pole. Those two aerialists, in turn, carry a pole upon which the seventh member of the troupe balances in a chair.

Wire walking danger is not unfamiliar to Nik Wallenda. The family patriarch and Nik’s great-grandfather Karl Wallenda fell to his death in 1978 while attempting to walk between two hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Tonight the biggest challenge was the thick mist rising up from the water below Niagara Falls and pushed by a swirling wind, drenching the wire and causing visibility problems for Nik Wallenda. The water literally POURED off the wire as Nik carefully put one foot in front of another in what was termed “The Wet Zone”.

Congrats to Nik Wallenda on his historic walk across Niagara Falls… in a world where we have become jaded to the spectacular, this was truly an amazing thing to watch… All of us at Telephone Magic feel truly lucky to have our offices located just a short walk from this tremendous event.

SV8100 Phone System – The ultimate in Unified Communications!

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SV8100 phone system
The NEC SV8100 business phone system is the BOMB! There is officially NO GOOD REASON to keep hanging on to your old Nortel Norstar or Avaya Partner telephone system when you can trade-in and get a hard cash credit towards a new NEC SV8100 system. 
I just LOVE the new features like “Voicemail to Email” – when I am out of the office my voice mail messages show up on my smart phone! I can listen to them without wasting mobile minutes as it uses my data plan to deliver the messages as email attached audio files. I can then save or delete the messages and they automatically do the same back at my office! 
Another awesome feature is Mobile Extension – which allows your calls to ring on your office phone AND your smart phone – so your clients can reach you no matter where you are. When you need to stay in touch and want to avoid telephone tag, Mobile Extension is perfect for you – and here’s the best part – it’s built in at NO EXTRA COST!
The NEC digital phones and NEC IP Phones are incredibly well designed – with modular construction that allows you to add function keys, DESI-less displays, and even a Bluetooth wireless handset so you NEVER outgrow your phones.
SV8100 telephone system
Business today demands efficient, seamless communication to enable rapid decision-making and customer responsiveness. NEC’s SV8100 helps small to medium-sized businesses like yours succeed by placing your staff at the center of communications.

NEC SV8100 Telephone System

The SV8100 phone system is a unique IP communication solution for any small and/or medium businesses today.

Whether you are 5, 25 or up to 500 employees… just getting started or already established… have a single office, a home office or multiple stores/sites.

The Univerge SV8100’s expandability means it can work at any level, from a technically superb phone system, to a truly advanced unified communications platform.

The SV8100 phone system unifies your communications, providing your employees with a solution that lets them handle all their business communications on the device of their choice: their laptop, mobile phone, office phone or home phone — all this while using wired, wireless or broadband connections.
SV8100 phone system - Internet Telephony Product of the Year award
NEC Software Assurance

Suitable for growth: Modular construction

The UNIVERGE® SV8100 Communications Server is a key component of this foundation and is the ideal system for businesses that wish to compete and grow.. You can deploy a pure IP solution or any combination of IP and traditional circuit-switched technology with a single SV8100 system.

Free Mobile Extensions

System functionality straight to your mobile. The SV8100 Mobile Extension feature is like being in when you’re out. Treat your mobile like your desk phone and enjoy system features while you’re on the move. Best of all, Mobile Extensions are built in at no extra cost to the SV8100!

Customisable terminals and handsets

UNIVERGE® SV8100 terminals and handsets are like no other. Their modular construction means you can chop and change the design for exact business requirements. They can then be upgraded at a later stage without having to replace them – a great investment protection.

Serving Customers Effectively with Unified Communications

UC for Business helps unify an entire organization, enabling individuals, departments and locations to work more efficiently by ensuring seamless internal and external communications. Users can connect and show presence from wherever they are via phones, PCs, mobile devices, faxes and the web – effortlessly.

True Business Mobility

The SV8100 range of IP DECTs offers a more flexible way of working. Access to the main system features mean employees are more reachable, more quickly.

NEC Software Assurance for your SV8100 Phone System

With NEC Software Assurance, your SV8100 telephone system will NEVER grow old – it will always be up to date with the latest software version and features.

Summary

The SV8100 business phone system from NEC is flat out the best telephone system I have ever come across – and I have seen a ton of system come and go over the nearly quarter of a century I have been in this business. Call us today for a quote at Telephone Magic Inc. @ 905.356-9199. We will custom configure a system to your exact requirements.