Telecommunications: Voice by IP

How much could PABX fraud cost your business?

2011-12-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

I recently came across this article discussing PABX security issues:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1109/S00390/how-much-could-pabx-fraud-cost-your-business.htm

This is so true. Many of our customers constantly refer letters to me that they receive from their phone line providers that state the following:

"An unsecured PABX system can be compromised via an insecure voicemail system (or similar), that allows incoming callers to dial extensions directly and sometimes even outside lines. Hackers have targeted these systems, across the world, sometimes resulting in a large volume of international calls being charged to the PABX user’s account."

When I get alerted to this, my normal response to our customers is:

"VadaXchange PBX is configured with the best security measures in mind. The passwords generated on the system are secure. The system is patched against all known vulnerabilities as a part of your SLA with Vadacom.

The only step you need to ensure you follow is when creating new log-ins on the VadaXchange system to use "generate" button to generate secure passwords as opposed to make passwords up yourself."

I'd like to elaborate more here on security of telephone systems.

If you own or manage a phone system there are two types of attacks that you need to defend:

Attack from the telephone line that exploits the ability of phone system to relay calls via voicemail and interactive voice response systems.
Attack from the internet where computer based telephony is hacked in order to make calls.

The interesting thing is that both security risks affect both traditional TDM systems and the new IP systems. This is contrary to many statements made by old-school telephone sales people, who don't often understand IP phone systems and have even less understanding of IT security. Last thing you want to do is seek IT security advise from a telephone sales person.

I need to establish my own credentials here. Although I would not call myself an IT security expert, I do have a background in IT security, having (a) a tertiary qualification in IT and (b) having run a business before who's principal product was a firewall and service was looking after business computer network security.

To defend yourself from both types of vulnerabilities you do need to follow the guidelines that were provided by Telecommunication Carriers' Forum:

1. CHOOSE A STRONG PASSWORD

Voicemail and Direct Inward Systems Access (DISA) passwords should be changed on a regular basis, avoiding factory defaults and obvious combinations such as 1234 or the extension number.

2. CHANGE IT

Make sure all security features – passwords, PINS etc – are changed following installation, upgrade and fault/maintenance. Don’t forget to reset password defaults.

3. KEEP IT CONFIDENTIAL

Keep all internal information such as directories, call logging reports and audit logs confidential. Destroy them appropriately if no longer required.

4. REVIEW REGULARLY

Review system security and configuration settings regularly. Follow up any vulnerabilities or irregularities.

5. VENDOR TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Make sure you have the right terms and conditions reflected in your contracts with your PABX, VoIP and/or voicemail maintainer in order to keep your system regularly maintained and serviced to stay safe.

At Vadacom we provide regular security patches to our customers. We monitor vulnerability advisories. We also provide tools for generating secure passwords.

VoIP: the state of play in New Zealand

2011-09-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

Voice Over IP (VoIP) is probably not yet the most used way for people to call each other in New Zealand. But it will be - sooner rather than later.

I am often asked a number of questions about VoIP. What are the rates of adoption? Is the voice quality OK? Do you provide VoIP lines? Who else does?

This prompted me to put together this overview on the state of play of VoIP in New Zealand. The way I see it. No statistics or scientific method here - this is simply a report from the trenches.

Looking at the industry I split the telecommunication companies into three tiers. Telecom, TelstraClear and Vodafone are what I call first-tier telecommunication companies. The second-tier telecommunication companies are local internet service providers, now delivering phone services, such as CallPlus, Orcon, WorldXchange and Snap Internet. There are also many third-tier, smaller providers like 2Talk, Kiwi and others in the market today.

At Home

First, I will distinguish between the residential and business phone lines. The Plain, Old Telephone Service line (POTS line) is the type of line most people still use at home. Until recently this was the only option.

In the last few years some ISPs and third-tier telecommunication companies started offering a service where you could buy an IP phone and get a phone number from them. As this was not widely publicized and the set-up was quite technical, this service was only used by a few enthusiasts that knew what they were doing.

Now, with the arrival of Orcon's Genius product this home scene may change.

At Work

Now, to the business world.

Most businesses don't simply just rent a phone line. They normally use a phone system to connect to telecommunications companies phone lines and have company telephones connect to the telephone system.

VoIP is a method that can be used by the telephone to communicate with the telephone system, as well as the method that can be used by the telephone system to connect to the telecommunications network.

People often confuse the two. Lets split the two up. I will call the method of connecting telephones to the telephone system via VoIP as IP telephony; I will call the method of connecting telephone system to the telecommunications network via VoIP as VoIP phone lines.

When we talk about rates of adoption it is important to look at the two separately. IP Telephony has been steadily adopted in the enterprise since late 90's - early 2000's, while first VoIP phone lines only became available in New Zealand around 2005.

As such, the rate of adoption of IP telephony is much higher than the rate of adoption of VoIP phone lines. From my personal observations, both have now entered the mainstream business. While at home we still use POTS, at work both IP telephony and VoIP phone lines well passed the early adoption stage.

Despite this being the case, none of the first-tier telcos offer VoIP phone lines yet. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why second-tier telcos are fast gaining the market share.

One thing to say about the quality of VoIP phone lines in New Zealand is that it is excellent. New Zealanders are very much used to the best experience while using digital business phone lines. This means that in order to compete with the traditional phone lines, the second-tier telcos had to put together a service that would compete well. From my experience working with two of the major second-tier providers CallPlus and Orcon, their service is a good match to the Telecom's old ISDN service.

At Vadacom

Many people think that we provide VoIP phone lines. We don't. What we do, is develop world's best telephone system, called VadaXchange.

However, to make it work for our customers, we would partner with phone line providers do deliver a turn-key solution for business.

Our system would work in either just the IP Telephony mode, with the traditional phone lines (mostly ISDN), or it can do VoIP throughout, or a mixture.

We are amongst the most experienced in this area in New Zealand, as we started integrating VoIP phone lines back in 2005 when most other business phone system providers stayed well away from it.

So, talk to us, if you are investigating VoIP in New Zealand.

Vadacom launches VadaXchange Buddy

2011-08-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

It is official:

Vadacom launches VadaXchange Buddy

Also, here is our new advertisement for Buddy, feedback welcome:

VadaXchange for iOS v2.0 has been released in the Apple App store

2011-08-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

The long-awaited release of our VadaXchange iPhone app is finally here.

So, what's new?

1. Presence

Finally, your phone system presence is now easily changed from your iPhone:

...and you can see the presence of your peers:

In fact managing your presence is very easy with this application - the button is always there on the front screen, it is easily accessible.

2. Call Transfer

This is another big feature. You can see your call in your iPhone, either while you on the mobile call or on the desk phone call:

You can hold the call, or you can transfer it:

When transferring the call you have the choice of blind or attended transfer. You can also transfer straight to voicemail.

3. New Layout

All the same great features from v1.0, but now with a whole new layout:

It is much easier to follow as it is closer to the iPhone phone app layout. You can easily see and change your presence status. You have access to all the main features from the front screent with one tap.

I've been using this new layout for six months, and it is an absolute pleasure to use.

You will need VadaXchange Buddy to enjoy all the features of this brilliant app.

Enjoy!

Inquire today.

How mobile is your receptionist?

2011-08-08T03:41:00.000-07:00

Does your company receptionist answers calls all day every day without leaving the desk, or is the role mixed with other tasks needed to be performed around the office?

I found that many of our customers order wireless headsets mainly for receptionist use precisely for the reason that reception task no longer means that receptionist must sit in front of the computer the whole day. Ability to answer the calls by pressing a button on a wireless headset, away from the computer, is quite valuable. However, how do you transfer the call? You couldn't until now...

VadaXchange Buddy is unique in that it is the first browser based user interface for the phone system that is built to work with touch-screen devices. This means it will work on an iPad, or an equivalent tablet device, giving your receptionist the mobility they require.

However, some of them may find the tablet too bulky. In this case, they can use the VadaXchange buddy iPhone app on an iPod Touch:

VadaXchange iOs interface places the full PABX reception switchboard into the palm of your hand. That is quite unique!

The mobile receptionists use a cordless headset connected to their desk phone in conjunction with an iPod Touch with VadaXchange iOS software installed on it. The iPod touch is connected to the phone system using the office WiFi connection.

The actual voice call uses the traditional DECT wireless method on the headset. This way the call quality is not compromised by the WiFi network.

This delivers the ultimate mobility around the office while not compromising reception call quality and features for the reception staff.

Inquire today.

Every business is a contact centre. Not every business could afford to be one. Until Now.

2011-07-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

How does your business sell products or services? If you own a shop, probably you sell over the counter.

You have enough counters to satisfy enough people in the most demanding times, but not too many counters so it is not too expensive for you to run. So when you have more people in the shop than you have counters, you let them queue and wait to be served.

Many of my customers ask me to explain to them the concept of telephony queues and hunt groups. The explanation is simple: A hunt group is the row of counters. A queue is the place where people queue.

Hunt groups and queues are basic features of contact centre environments. The features to implement hunt groups and queues in traditional phone systems cost you extra and for many businesses are outside of their budget. Therefor traditionally many businesses have opted out of purchasing contact centre features from their telephony providers, siting that they don't need it for their business. This was the case until the arrival of software based telephone systems such as VadaXcahnge.

VadaXcahnge Buddy is the first browser based call control and instant messenger interface that is user friendly. VadaXchange Buddy enables you to have full contact centre features, where you can:

queue incoming phone calls

queue incoming instant messages
queue incoming faxes
queue incoming emails
queue any other incoming communications

Queueing communications enable you to service more people. It also enables you to measure and tune the performance of your team.

If you communicate with you clients and would like to service them more efficiently you need contact centre features. VadaXcahnge places contact centre features into the same price bracket as a regular telephone system. Further more, if you take into account the cost savings that VadaXchange offers on you running costs, you may end up not having to pay any extra to get those features at all.

Inquire today.

About time business phone system become user friendly

2011-07-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Businesses looking to lift their productivity and customer service require the tools necessary to achieve that. Unfortunately most telephony interfaces are complicated and cumbersome.

VadaXcahnge Buddy is the first browser based call control and instant messenger interface that is user friendly.

We spent considerable time developing this new software. I am very excited to see the first few of our customers actually using it.

With Buddy you don't need to learn how to use the phone. The call control interface is right there on the screen, guiding you through every step.

The system is easy to deploy and easy to use. Please request for one of our sales team to demonstrate this amazing new software to you and show you how it can assist your business growth.

Yahoo! connects over 8,000 employees to a distributed Asterisk PABX system

2011-06-09T03:55:00.000-07:00

If you have any more doubts about the scalability of Asterisk PABX, here is a proof that Asterisk PABX is one of the most scalable telephone system in the world.

According to Yahoo!, it has 8,477 employees on a distributed Asterisk system today, and we'll double that before they are done deploying the system. This has been shared in a discussion here:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=64049&type=member&item=51807149&qid=061542b2-a645-425d-896e-50d08f43c452&goback=%2Egmp_64049

And in a TMC keynote address here:

http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/videos/default.aspx?vid=1976

I've always maintained that VadaXchange, based on Asterisk, can scale to as larger deployment as is necessary.

Well, Yahoo! deployment is the best proof.

Why Linked IN is an important business tool

2011-04-12T03:44:00.000-07:00

Linked In and Twitter are great business tools for staying in touch.

I found this very interesting resource on Linked IN about people using it. The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Linkedin Members

It inspired me to write this post.

People have all sorts of theories about Linked IN. Some believe you should only connect with colleagues that you've worked with. Some think that you should know people that you connect with well.

I run a policy that if it is good enough for me to give you my business card, it is good enough for me to connect with you on Linked IN.

When you connected to someone on linked in you have much greater control over the access they have to you than if they have your business card. So it is better to just link than exchange business cards.

So what happens if you get a stranger connected to you on linked in? Nothing bad does. I've been asked for references for people that are connected to me. I declined to give a reference if I don't know them. I had some people email me newsletters I didn't request. I politely asked them to stop. You can't ask a true spammer to stop spamming you, can you? You can on Linked IN!

People tell me that if you have too many connections you can't keep up with all the updates. I find that I get all the updates just fine. Most people a reasonably inactive on Linked IN. I, myself, also find myself too busy to bother at times.

So if there are no negatives, are there benefits? Here are the benefits:

People that would normally fall off your radar will pop up in Linked IN every now and again and remind you of their existence. That can be very useful.
People will move jobs - you will be able to keep in touch
Linked IN is a great tool to find and profile organisations that you want to sell to, buy from or partner with
People's updates will keep you on top of the news in the industry

Most of the time I am reasonably active on Linked IN through Twitter. So, if you don't know me, Linked IN is a very good tool for you to get to now me. I can promise you, getting to know me will only benefit your business.

So, if you already haven't, please, link up http://nz.linkedin.com/in/igorportugal or follow me on twitter @igorportugal

We will be building in some of the social media links into our VoIP phone system

If you are using social media every day, I'd love to hear what features you are looking for from integrating social media into your communications system.

Is the desk phone dead?

2011-04-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Some of our customers ask me about the possibility of doing away with the desk phones and having the whole phone communications managed by mobile phones.

I came across this article, which is a very good analysis of the subject

From personal experience, even though I love my iPhone, I still prefer using desk phone when I have a chance. My personal reasons are:

The effects of holding a mobile phone to you ear are still unclear. A mobile phone has a number of radios transmitting at the same time. When talking on the phone I try and minimize the radios that are active - turn Bluetooth and WIFI off. If I have them handy, I use corded headphones. If I have an option to transfer the conversation to the desk phone, I do.
The coverage is not always 100%. Cell cites can "breath", depending on the amount of people using the site. A perfectly clear call can turn into a patchy one at any time. We've learned to accept this when using mobile phones but are less tolerant when using desk phones

I believe the desk phone will live for a number of years yet.

Good VoIP phones do make all the difference!

Wired telecommunications in decline

2011-03-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

People are still asking me every now and again about the rates of adoption of VoIP technology in the market. When this question is asked, to the person asking the question VoIP seems new as opposed to the mainstream technology.

Here is another bit of evidence that VoIP is much more widely accepted than many people think.

IBISWorld.com Identifies Key Sectors Set to Decline Even after the Economy Revives. As per the this report, the top of the list is Wired Telecommunications Carriers.

According to this analysis by FierceMarkets, VoIP cited as one factor in staggering decline of wired telecom industry

From my own observation, most businesses are now deploying IP based systems. I believe there are two reasons many people in New Zealand are still under the impression that VoIP is a new technology:

Most of us still have a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) phone line at home, and
You still need to remember and dial a phone number in order to reach someone

The first reason is simply in my view a deficiency in our New Zealand infrastructure. This will be remedied when the government's fiber to the home initiative is implemented.

The second is something our industry is yet to tacke.

What is in store for the New Year in Technology?

2011-01-14T01:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

This is already looking to be a great year.

The year started with:

Skype releasing video calling for the iPhone http://blogs.skype.com/en/2009/03/skype_for_iphone_yes_its_here.html.
I've been waiting for this feature for the last six months. I downloaded the update over 3G data connection while over in Australia and made my first video call from my mobile using 3G. The voice and picture quality was fantastic. Having a video call in the middle of nowhere in Australian outback produced lots of excitement.
The fantastic consumer electronics show http://www.cesweb.org/
Rumors about iOS 4.3 http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20110113/tc_pcworld/top5discoveriesinapplesios43beta_1

Here is what I believe we will see this year in technology:

There will be more competition of iOS vs. Android. Both iOS and Android will continue to grab headlines, market share and mind share. All other mobile and tablet platforms will move into the background and get confined to their niche markets.
There will be more VoIP. More Voice and more Video. I don't believe video calling will gain prominence this year in the same way audio calling does, but it will certainly make more inroads into the enterprise. Voice over IP will continue to grab market share, mind share and revenues.
Social media will become more important as a tool for every day communication. Business IT departments will start treating social media as another technology to integrate with and manage. Blanket bans on social media in business will no longer be viable.

What do you think the focus will be this year in information and communications technologies?

Comments welcome.

Demolish roaming charges when traveling overseas.

2010-11-29T03:06:00.000-08:00

When I travel, I typically turn my phone to the "airplane" mode when I step on the plane in New Zealand, and turn it off the "airplane" mode when I step off the plane... back in New Zealand.

The reason I do that is roaming fees are huge. Anybody who travels knows the meaning of bill shock.

To avoid the bill shock I restrict data use to WIFI. You can turn on your WIFI on the iPhone while the phone is in the "airplane" mode and still get the data connection.

However, if you are a business traveler, turning your phone off is a hard thing to ask for. Also, looking for WIFI hot spots is time consuming. So, what do you do?

I was asked exactly that question by one of our customers about six months ago. I went looking and found an answer with iPhoneTrip.com

My customer went away to Europe for a month. He was able to make calls and receive in most places using SIP soft phone connected to the VadaXchange back in New Zealand. Unlimited data connection also meant he could communicate via email, browse the web, get navigation tips etc... He was quite happy not having to pay thousands of dollars upon his return.

I was so impressed with the service, I pursued the goal of bringing this service to our part of the world. And now it is here:

Vadacom now distributes iPhoneTrip.com SIM cards!

Being Mobile

2010-11-22T02:37:00.000-08:00

In todays wireless world being locked to a desk in an office is no longer good enough for many people.

We want to enjoy work and enjoy life. We want to be able to socialise with our co-workers away from our desk. We want to be able to get away from the office.

We need to stay productive while we are not at our desk.

I spend a good chunk of my day away from the computer screen and away from the desk phone. Being able to be fully productive while away from my desk has made a huge difference to my working day:

I am always available in case someone needs to call me (unless I am on another call or in a meeting). This means our customers appreciate that they can always contact us, and get a human on the other end of the phone.
I can respond to most email queries and assign tasks to other members of my team. This means our customers get timely response to their requests.
I can attend to most emails and little tasks before I get back to my desk. This means that when I actually sit down in front of my computer I can concentrate on things I need to do at my desk, making me much more productive.

What does mobility mean to you? Does it make any difference to your day? Are you at your desk most of the time, or out and about? If you are at your desk more often than you would like to be, what stops you from being mobile?

Comments welcome.

Working from home

2010-11-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

I spend much of my working week working from home.

Working from home is not easy, it requires discipline. You must resist temptation of the fridge next door, and other distractions you have around the house. You must ensure that the other people in the house live you alone. You must ensure you don't get distracted with other house work.

I manage to create a routine and discipline to enable myself to be productive at home. I walk in to my home office as if though I traveled to work. I shut the door and ensure nobody distracts me. The benefits are enormous:

I cut out an hour a day of traveling. That is one whole extra hour in that day I can spend with my family and on those little 'distractions' I managed to resist all day - guilt free!
I save on parking and petrol expenses and help reduce pollution.
I save my lunch money - lunch is just in that fridge I am trying to avoid for the rest of the day!
Lunch is whole other hour I can spend with my family - so I save up to whole two extra hours with my family that day
I am more productive, I close the door to my office and get on with work.

There are definitely work benefits to being in the office together with the rest of the team. Not everybody will be able to spend as much time working from home as I do. However, the option of working from home, even if it is used occasionally will bring many benefits to any business.

The SUSTEL project provided the following findings on effects of teleworking at BT:

78% of staff say they are more productive - generally estimated at 10-20% more productive
90% were satisfied with teleworking
22% said they had worked when otherwise they would have felt too ill to travel in for a whole days work
BT say they have made £100 million per year space savings: teleworking staff are expected to give up having a permanent desk, and use touch-down areas when at the office.

Today, with the high penetration of broadband in the home coupled with advances in internet-based VoIP telecommunications systems such as VadaXchange, migrating employees from office workers to remote workers is not only cost-effective, it has also become a high priority with a large percentage of companies.

Your views and questions on working from home would be much appreciated - please leave a comment.

Reducing Telecommunications Costs in New Zealand

2010-11-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

New Zealand Market Overview

"Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.”

-- Henry Ford

When New Zealand Telecom was privatized in late 80s the phone copper network ended up in one set of hands. Telecom's monopoly position kept our costs relatively high and held innovation back. Almost two decades later successive governments started introducing measures to increase competition. Labor regulated the market forcing Telecom to split into three businesses. National are funding new fiber optic network.

The measures are working, which is why you are seeing more competition. This spells lower costs and exciting new products and services.

Six years ago you could only buy a phone line from either Telecom or, in some areas, from TelstraClear. Today there are more than 20 providers who can sell you a phone line in New Zealand.

Telecom, TelstraClear and Vodafone are what I call first-tier telecommunication companies. The second-tier telecommunication companies are local internet service providers, now delivering phone services, such as CallPlus, Orcon, WorldXchange and Compass Communications. There are also many third-tier, smaller providers like 2Talk in the market today.

The competition is high, and the costs are truly reducing. How can you take advantage of this?

Phone Lines

“Why go through all the hassle of dealing with airlines, hotels, and rental-car agencies yourself, only to see the arrangements get all screwed up, when with just a single phone call you can have a trained professional screw them up for you?”

–- Dave Barry

In business one of the larger figures on the P&L statement often is telecommunications. Your aim is to keep that figure very low, while being able to be productive.

To understand how to keep the costs low, you need to first know the different types of telephone lines that are available.

The Plain, Old Telephone Service line (POTS line) is the type of line most people use at home. This line is delivered to you via an analogue copper wire which is still owned by Telecom. It lacks essential services that business requires. One is multiple phone numbers associated with one phone line. Multiple phone numbers per line enable businesses to have a direct dial-in number (DDI number) so a call can reach the right person. This makes POTS the most expensive service on the market.

The digital lines that were created for businesses also utilize copper wires. They use a standard called ISDN. ISDN allows more than one call through single copper wire. There are two options – basic rate service, allowing two calls per line (basic rate ISDN) and primary rate service allowing up to 30 calls per line (primary rate ISDN). This service is also mostly available from Telecom, and is as expensive as POTS lines, except it does have all the business services.

The new competition to the old Telecom services (described above) comes through the digital lines that utilize data connections that are also capable of delivering the Internet service to you.

What are SIP Trunks?

“The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.”

–- Thomas Sowell

SIP trunks are a term you will be hearing more and more. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was created to enable voice connection to be established over a computer network. It has now been established as the industry standard for delivering phone lines. The phone line that is delivered to you via a data connection using that protocol is called a SIP Trunk.

SIP trunks are offered by the new phone companies to deliver outstanding savings. When you get a SIP trunk, the supplier doesn't need to pay Telecom for the service. The data links are available wherever Internet is available and can be delivered over a vast variety of physical links – copper, fiber optic cables, wireless....

Variety and choice breeds competition in the market, creating price wars, enabling you to negotiate the best deal for your business.

Cutting Costs

“In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running; if you stand still, they will swallow you.”

–- William S. Knudsen

If Telecom was the only option, would you be able to cut costs without affecting your business?

With the new competition you are in a better position to negotiate. A modern telecommunications specialist can go through your phone bills and show you the savings. If the last time you negotiated your contract was more than two years ago, chances are, you will be able to save 50%-60% of the costs you are paying now.

Everybody knows that when you are negotiating a contract you can get the best deal. However, what can you do when you are already in a contract?

This is where voice over the internet protocol (VoIP) comes in handy! If your telephone system is capable of connection to VoIP providers, you can have more than one supplier of phone calls and use the cheapest route on every call. You cut costs without breaking contracts.

But what about the call quality?

What about VoIP?

“If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more changes to learn and win.”

–- John W. Holt, Jr.

The call quality issues of bad VoIP implementations has given VoIP a bad name. However, it is widely accepted in the industry, VoIP is the future of all phone calls. VoIP has been around for many years and the industry had plenty of time to learn from its mistakes. A modern VoIP system can deliver the same, in some instances better, call quality as the traditional telephony.

There are many ways to implement VoIP systems and many types of VoIP phone lines available on the market.

SIP Trunks are a type of VoIP. The second-tier telecommunication competencies delivering a SIP Trunk to you provide you with both the data link and voice link. Effectively they are selling you a phone line in competition with Telecom. The quality of that line is equivalent to the quality of the business digital (ISDN) line, and is better than a POTS line.

Third-tier telecommunication companies often don't own network infrastructure and can't control quality. However, thy are often the cheapest. Implemented well a combination of good internet connection and third-tier VoIP can save you even more money.

To cut international costs many companies now use Skype. Some phone systems even integrate Skype as a telephone line. This enables millions of people around the globe to reach you for free and vice versa.

Improving productivity

A phone system can't make you a coffee. But it will let you have one, and still be fully productive.

How much time do you spend transferring calls to other people? Can you do it while you are out having coffee? Can you do it when you need to work from home? Do you need to be by a computer to help a customer? How many people do you need in the office to answer all the calls from your customers?

There are infinite possibilities to improve the way you communicate with your customers and suppliers and ensure that each member of your staff is fully productive at all times. I will give you a few examples here.

Direct Dials and Hunt Groups

“If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?”

–- Robin Williams

Incoming calls can be handled intelligently by the system if the system knows who the call is for. For example, if the call is for sales, your system can call your sales team. Alternatively, you can detect who is calling and put the call to the appropriate person. This can be done not just for sales, but with every function in the business – operations, finance, administration.

When you group people in your organization by function, the phone system will “hunt” for someone to answer the call. This feature is called a “hunt group”. Hunt groups can be used effectively to eliminate the need for transferring calls and save your valuable time.

Many business people prefer to talk to a person rather than a machine. They don't want menus to press one for this, two for that. This is where DDI can be used effectively – you can have a phone number for every business function and every person that needs to answer calls.

A combination of DDIs and hunt groups can save valuable time for both you and the caller.

Mobility

“Birds have wings; they're free; they can fly where they want when they want. They have the kind of mobility many people envy. “

-– Roger Tory Peterson

The world is becoming increasingly mobile. Your desk at work isn't the only place you work from anymore.

Answering calls on your mobile phone is one way to be productive everywhere. However, how much will it cost you to forward calls to your mobile? It depends. If you simply call forward all the calls, you may end up with increased bill. To keep phone bills low you need calls from your office to your mobiles to be free.

There are two ways to achieve that. One way is to have free calling between your company mobiles and your land lines. Telecom, Vodafone and TelstraClear will offer that to some of their customers.

The other way is through a 0-rate-calling plan between your mobiles in combination with what is called a “Cellular Trunk Unit”, (CTU). The CTU will make your office phone system into another mobile phone in your group, so the calls between the office and your mobiles are free.

Will hunt group calls follow you? Many phone systems by default are configured not to allow hunt group calls to follow the call forwarded to your mobile. You need to remember to ask you PBX supplier to allow that.

The fear of answering group calls on your mobile, is “what if the call is not for me”? If your phone system allows full mobile extensions, you will be able to transfer those calls.

What about calling from mobile phones? You can make the phones always dial the office first, which is a free call, then ask the phone system to call the destination. This way all your calls are charged at land line rates. This can be automated on most mobile phones and really reduce your mobile bills.

Remote Working

High cost of petrol in conjunction with increased amount of traffic jams make working from home an attractive proposition for many people.

From telephony perspective, you need a good broadband connection at home. Modern phone systems will allow for a telephone to be connected remotely. You need a remote IP phone connected to your phone system as you don't want to be only using your mobile phone for the whole day.

With good systems in place you are free to work wherever you choose without it costing you the earth.

For more assistance on cutting telecommunications costs, please investigate VadaXcahnge phone system

How to choose a good IP phone

2010-10-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about a review of different IP phones and was coming back to the fact that Polycom probably makes the best business IP phones. While we are selling a range of phones, we found Plycom to be the best. However I couldn't justify writing a review of different phones when all I am talking about is benefits of Plycom phones, until I discovered the following review:

How to Choose a Quality IP Phone for Your Business

Basically under the pretenses of giving an overview of different phones the author is talking about how good Polycom phones are. I must admit I agree with the assessment in that article and will not repeat the material here.

We offer a range of Polycom phones that can be found here.

However, to give a balanced view, I must highlight the weaknesses of Polycom phones and also the benefits of some other phones.

Let me start with the main weakness of Polycom phones. The main weakness of the Polycom is lack of support for STUN. STUN is the most commonly used method of deploying SIP phones in remote locations. Here is a more technical explanation of what STUN is:

STUN overview on voip-info

So when we need STUN we use other phones.

Thomson ST2030 is a great all-around phone that offers top features like BLF fields at an entry - level phone price.

Same with the Grandstream range of phones - if you need more features at a lower cost, which I must admit not all of our customers do.

VoIP is capturing the market away from traditional phone lines.

2010-10-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

People are often asking me about the rates of adoption of VoIP technology in the market. Finally, I've got some real figures to report.

According to FierceVoIP analysis of the Point Topic report, Broadband and VoIP bundles could push market to saturation.

More than one in five consumer broadband lines already come with VoIP and it has reached 100 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2009.

So, here is the summary of the adoption figures:

22% of worldwide market has access to VoIP
Over 100,000,000 have subscribed to it and are using VoIP instead of PSTN (that obviously doesn't include services like Skype that have over 400 mil. subscribers)
Over 70% of French households now have a VoIP service available

Open source PBX systems also help business adoption, leading all other PBX vendors in the markets share for phone systems:

Open Source PBX is 18% of North America Market!

Not all open source PBX systems are deployed in conjunction with VoIP phone lines, but all are capable of connecting to VoIP, future-proofing your investment.

Interested to know how you can cut costs in your business by adopting VoIP? Here is a link to an article I published on Vadacom website earlier this year:

Reducing Telecommunications Costs

Asterisk PBX Success News

2010-10-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

Asterisk is going from strength to strength.

From AstriCon Speaker Highlights:

Asterisk Solutions Offer Low Costs, Improved Flexibility
Asterisk Has Increased Awareness and Interest in Open Source Telephony
Asterisk Success in Israel

Also, in other Asterisk news:

New Asterisk 1.8 - Major Release Sports 200 New Features

The next iPad model

2010-10-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

Before the hype about what is going to be the next iPad has completely overwhelmed everyone, I must put a stake in the ground and make some predictions.

Here are five predictions I am going to make about the new iPad. This is not anything I heard from anyone, or have read anywhere. This is not based on any knowledge - this is pure speculation, along with some analysis as to why I believe the prediction.

Prediction #1. The screen form factor is going to be the same.

Contrary to some speculation around I believe that Apple will keep the same screen form factor. They may make the device lighter somehow, but they will keep the same screen size. There are number of reasons for this.

Number one is that Apple wants its fan base to buy the new hardware and sell their current one second hand to those who want it but can't afford the new one. We've seen it with both iPhones and Macs - this has been happening every year for a number of years now. This is the easiest way for Apple to make quick win in the market and declare the new product a success. The people who bought the original iPad will spend money on the new one and since they've deemed the form factor as something they like - why spoil a good thing.

Number two is that applications that were developed for the current iPad, will run on the new one, unmodified. Since the novelty factor of the new gadget has worn off and Apple is facing some competition in the area, their best defense is apps. Keeping the apps the same gives them solid market protection.

Number three is this keeps the developers happy by not increasing the variety of platforms and form factors they need to develop for.

Prediction #2. There will be a front facing camera.

Yes, I think there will be at least one camera in the iPad and I believe FaceTime is coming to the iPad. That will be one of the top reasons for people to upgrade.

The second camera doesn't make much sense, but than I didn't think they'll put one into iPod touch and they did. Although the back camera does make more sense in an iPod touch than in an iPad.

Prediction #3. iPad is getting the Retina display.

I love the display on my iPhone 4. iPhone has got it, iPod has got it, iPad is going to get it and it will be touted as another reason to upgrade.

Prediction #4. iPad is going to be much faster.

There will be a CPU upgrade to make it faster. Not for a reason that iPad is not currently fast enough, but simply because that is what Apple does with every new device, every year - it makes them faster. iPad is no exception.

Prediction #5. There will be a new surprise feature that we haven't seen in any of the devices yet.

All of the above features are kind of predictable and are already in the iPhone and iPod touch. They may not be enough reason to upgrade for many of the current iPad users. However, Apple is known for creating demand for its new products and for bringing something new to create the iWant factor.

The new feature will either be software or hardware based.

Watch this space.

iPhone vs. Android is Alien vs. Predator: whoever wins... we lose

2010-10-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

I love that quote: "iPhone vs. Android is Alien vs. Predator: whoever wins... we lose"

I love my iPhone. However, as an open source specialist and advocate, I am a fan of Android's success. So, naturally, the war between the two platforms is not something I particularly enjoy. Unfortunately that war is the fact of life and I wish that neither platform ends up the absolute winner - we need both of them.

So far, commercially, iPhone wins the battle for me as the business decision maker. I must admit the fact that the development is reasonably straight forward and support overhead is very low is a big plus for the developer.

Here are some latest developments in the war of iPhone vs. Android:

Steve Jobs fired some shots at the Android camp when he hijacked Apple earnings call

Jobs hijacks Apple earnings call - transcript

And here one of the responses from the open source community:

A misguided rebuttal to Steve Jobs' Android attack

I don't believe Steve Jobs was actually talking about open source vs. proprietary.

A more social Skype

2010-10-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

I have advocated for a long time that social communications media will start to converge and become more relevant to business.

Here is a recent development in our industry worth checking out:

Facebook and Skype Readying Deep Integration Partnership

Facebook, Skype Talk Social Network VOIP Deal

Skype’s VP Of Enterprise On Future Strategy, Products And Competitors

22 Oct. 2010: And here it is, Skype with Facebook:

Full review: Skype 5