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Tag: Problem Solving

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Cloud VoIP Problem Solving Tips

Robocalls, Telemarketers, Tigers, and Bears

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Robocalls, Telemarketers, Tigers, and Bears

Have you had enough of telemarketers and robocalls pestering you at work, at home, and on your cellphone?

You are not alone. The YouMail Robocall Index™ estimates that 75.5 million robocalls were placed in the month of October, 2017 to telephone numbers in area codes 718,347,917, and 212.

By now you surely have added your telephone numbers to the Federal Do Not Call List, and that will notify legitimate telemarketers to stay away, but companies you have done business with, charities and political organizations can still call you.

And then there are the FRAUDULENT telemarketers. They don’t pay any attention to the Do Not Call list. Most fraudulent telemarketers are located outside the U.S. Therefore, they do not have to follow U.S. guidelines.

Here are some steps that you can take. Some are actually quite counterintuitive!

  1. Keep your number to yourself.
    Refuse every request to provide your phone number unless you are absolutely required to do so. Providing your number is a tacit invitation for companies to call you or to sell your number to a third party.
  2. Hang up right away.
    There is nothing to gain from attempting to reason with the people behind the calls.
  3. Don’t Press Numbers
    In the past, many people have recommended certain number combinations or the pound key to delete yourself from a robocall registry.
    But does pressing the right numbers really take you off the list? No, you’re actually making it worse: “By pressing a number, you are confirming that someone is actually responding to the call, and you will likely receive more of them.
    This seems like something that maybe would’ve worked at some point, but scammers have gotten smarter and improved their systems.
  4. Use a Service that Blocks All Robocalls
    Check NoMoRobo.com to see if your landline is covered by their service. For cell phones, search ‘call blocker’ in your app store.
  5. Remove Your Phone Number from whitepages.com, phonenumber.com and 411.com
    You can request the deletion here.

Any other questions? Give us a call at (718) 887-0300 or email us atsupport@compuvoip.com. We’re thrilled to help!

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Cloud VoIP Phone System Problem Solving Tips

Why You Should Buy Your Phones from CompuVoIP

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Why You Should Buy Your Phones from CompuVoIP

In any economic climate it is important to make sure that businesses get value for every dollar. When buying phones from a third party, be aware of the businesses’ needs at the phone level over and above the hardware purchase. It is important to know the risks involved in purchasing phones from a third party.

CompuVoIP’s approach covers all costs associated with hardware and labor in setting up the phones. CompuVoIP’s primary business driver is not supplying hardware or configuration costs. Although the hardware and implementation is critical to the service, CompuVoIP is most concerned that implementation establishes the sound foundation for a best-in-class service.

  • Boot ROM files must be installed on each phone. This is pre-imaged by our vendor if you buy the phones from CompuVoIP.
  • Firmware files must be upgraded on each phone. This is done through CompuVoIP’s custom automated system.
  • Each phone must be manually set up with a provisioning server. This is also done through CompuVoIP’s custom automated system.
  • CompuVoIP’s vendor scans the MAC addresses for each phone and provides CompuVoIP with an accurate spreadsheet to build the configuration file for each phone. Without this, the customer would need to manually document the MAC address of each phone. When done manually, this is a very tedious process and prone to errors that can lead to complications in the install.
  • Lastly, due to the volume of CompuVoIP’s purchases, CompuVoIP customers are provided with overnight RMA (replacement of the phone) for 30 days and phone warranty for a full year. Replacement phone requests are easily submitted by phone or via CompuVoIP’s online ticketing process. Many third party vendors who offer reduced prices do not provide these services. It is a good idea to ask this specifically when shopping a third-party,

Risks and increased costs over and above the hardware purchase in buying the phones through a third party:

⇒ Increased errors due to the customer’s manual entry of MAC addresses in the phone configuration spreadsheet.

⇒ Increased labor costs associated with the customer’s manual entry of MAC addresses in the phone configuration spreadsheet.

⇒ Increased complexity in dealing wit another vendor instead of dealing with a single point of contact.

⇒ Increased risks due to unknown consistency of outside hardware distributor. If this vendor changes product lines and does not continue to support your chosen phone model, hardware support may suffer. Most phones have a life of approximately eight years.

It is CompuVoIP’s desire to see your implementation go as smoothly as possible. We feel it is important to pass this experience on to our clients so decisions can be made with the best information available.

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Cabling Hosted PBX Premise Based Problem Solving Tips

What Monster Lurks in Your Wiring Closet?

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What Monster Lurks in Your Wiring Closet?

One of the things that never ceases to amaze (and confound) our technicians is the sorry state of low voltage wiring that they encounter when doing site visits at potential customers.

Here is an example of what one technician recently encountered:

The most pathetic part of this situation is that fact that these businesses see nothing wrong with it. Besides the aesthetics, if one can guarantee that nothing will ever change.

No new extensions added, or deleted. Ever. No new internet or WiFI connections. Ever.  Then it probably doesn’t matter, since this is hidden in a closet out of sight.

And the reality on the ground in any business is that NOTHING stays the same.

In fact, the hopes and aspirations of any business owner is business growth.. and with business growth comes changes in their phone system… and the need to unravel the spaghetti of installations like this one to figure out how to connect the new resources.

Let’s take a look at what wiring ‘done right’ looks like!!

Here are some pictures of the work done by our technicians when installing on-premise PBX systems.

 

 

 

 

Of course, for our hosted customers, where the PBX is in the cloud, the wiring pictures look even more impressive. Note the simplicity of the wiring; it reflects on the simplicity of using and managing a hosted VoIP system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give us a call at (718) 887-0300 or visit us at www.compuvoip.com to learn more about what are expert technicians can do for your wiring issues. We’d be happy to talk to you about some of the many other advantages of hosted VoIP if you are ready to make the move to a simpler world.

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Billing Issues Cloud VoIP Problem Solving Tips

Are You a Victim of the Telecom Billing Double Whammy?

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Are You a Victim of the Telecom Billing Double Whammy?

Imagine getting a copy of your phone bill and discovering two line items with official sounding names. Imagine further that after doing some research about those line items, you discovered that they were not really official at all, but, they were a sneaky way for your telephone provider to make some more money at your expense? That might be enough to ruin your appetite, wouldn’t it?

Well, what if we showed you an actual invoice where not only were those two line items present, but the telephone provider included them when determining the local taxes due on the service?

We’ve masked any details that would allow you the guilty party to be identified.

 

Let’s take a closer look at those line items

Regulatory Administrative Fee (RAF)
“The Regulatory Administrative Fee (RAF) is a monthly charge per line assessed to the end user for costs associated with regulatory proceedings and filings, compliance with regulatory orders and mandates, and administration of federally mandated taxes and surcharges.”
In other words, you, the consumer, are helping to pay the cost of their doing business.

Carrier Cost Recovery Fee
Despite the official-sounding description, this is not a tax or required by the government. The money goes to your phone company. “These are additional charges which are essentially a way to hide rate increases,” said Christopher White, chairman of the telecommunication committee with the National Assn. of State Utility Consumer Advocates.

The NYC 8.875% tax of 12.01 is calculated on the sum of all of the service charges and fees. This is where the double whammy happens. Bad enough that the provider adds on bogus charges to your bill, but they then go ahead and collect NYC tax on that amount. It is not clear that there is justification to charge tax on mandatory profit line items.

While we’re on the subject of double whammies.. A quick check of the web will reveal that a monthly fee for unlimited domestic VoIP telephone service of $45.99 is more than 200% of the ‘going rate’. The small 7.99 discount doesn’t do much to level the playing field.

So, what lesson do you learn from this incursion into the dark side of telecom billing?

At a minimum, you have become an educated consumer. Use your power to push back on any charges, taxes, and fees that you cannot identify.

CompuVoIP offers a free, no strings attached, audit of your telephone bill.  We can show you samples of our bills. You won’t find any bogus charges and fees there. And our monthly service fees are competitive and attractive.

Had enough? Give us a call at (718) 887-0300 or visit us on the web at www.compuvoip.com.

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Cloud VoIP Problem Solving Tips

A Beginner’s Guide to Disaster Recovery and your Telephone System

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A Beginner’s Guide to Disaster Recovery and your Telephone System

So how do you plan for Business Continuity around your phone system? In light of the multiple natural disasters that have plagued the US, it is prudent to review this now.

The world of telephony is changing. Subtly, over the past several years, there has been continual change as the convergence of voice and data continues. Everyone agrees about the need to have data accessible via some cloud strategy.   What I have discovered is that people think primarily about the data, and the idea of keeping the pulse of your business alive – your phone system, is relegated to a distant second place. Phones are taken for granted, and, as a result, most people do not even know the questions to ask.

The purpose of this article is not to provide you with all the answers but to help you start thinking and asking better questions. A checklist is included at the end.

We start with deciding between a premise-based system and a hosted one. The way Disaster Recovery (DR) is handled with Hosted systems IS NOT the same as with premise-based systems.

Premise-Based Systems

How do you identify a premise-based system? It is fairly simply. If the PBX is located in your building it is premise-based. Your carrier connects directly to that PBX. They have responsibility to deliver dial tone to that PBX only. Meaning if that PBX is not “there” to receive that call, the person originating the call will get a fast busy. For the customer to not get a fast busy that PBX will need to stay up. This means that you need extra protection, extra features and even a secondary PBX to protect you in case of a natural disaster.

You will want need to talk to your PBX maintenance person about an off site PBX or off site backups. You will also need to talk to your carrier about what to do when your PBX is off line. Where can you forward your calls? The most common answer is to a cell phone. You will need to keep in mind that one cell will get every call that comes on that forwarded number with no ability to transfer that call. Plus, juggling calls in a cell is not easy, and, typically, you can only manage two calls at a time.

Hosted Systems

Hosted VoIP is a model that leverages the Internet. The idea is that the call control is out of the building and in the cloud. You should make sure that the company that is hosting the PBX (call control server) has it housed in a facility like a carrier hotel and is, preferably, georedundant. Georedundancy means that the facility is operating at more than one geographical location, as a form of redundancy in the of case site failure.

Hosted systems have become more popular as VoIP has become a stable and effective business model.

But not all hosted VoIP providers are the same. It is very much caveat emptor when it comes to VoIP, especially if you are basing your choice of providers exclusively on price. When considering a telephony DR plan you must be an educated buyer and interview each potential vendor.  A separate article will cover how to interview VoIP providers.

Click here for a simple check list that will help organize some of your thoughts around DR. It is meant as a starting point and is far from an exhaustive list. A comprehensive DR plan will spell out hourly costs associated with downtime, a business impact analysis, and action guide that outlines the roles and responsibilities of each employee.

Most companies do not do this exhaustive planning and become comfortable as long as “most bases are covered”. The checklist below is designed to assist in helping you start to think through some of the major needs.  You can count on a high-quality VoIP provider to assist with DR planning. You can reach any of our experts at (718) 887-0330 to discuss your company’s specific Disaster Recovery needs. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Cloud VoIP Problem Solving Tips

Beware the Auto-Renew Clause

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Beware the Auto-Renew Clause

Here at CompuVoIP, we get calls every week from customers that are unsatisfied with their current dial-tone service provider or VoIP business telephone service providers. After spending some time with the customer to get a better understanding of their concerns, we generally share with them how the CompuVoIP VoIP service will better meet their needs. That’s when it usually happens. When the CompuVoIP representative asks the question “Are you under contract with your current provider?”, a period of heavy silence usually follows. Far too often, the silence is followed by the response “Yes, and our contract just auto-renewed and we are stuck for another 24 months!!”.

While often touted as a convenience for the customer with the promise of hassle-free uninterrupted service, auto-renewal or “Evergreen” Clauses are clearly advantageous to the service provider. They lock the customer in for the full duration of the original contract term.

Auto-renewal clauses are often referred to “boilerplate clauses” with the intent of giving the impression that they are fixed and cannot be changed, and most customers are sufficiently intimidated by the term to acquiesce to their presence in their agreements. The truth, however, is that EVERYTHING is negotiable. As the customer, you can leverage the power of the purse and the pen. Never relinquish that power unless it is to your advantage.

And what to do if your carrier tells you that your 24 month contract has just auto-renewed and you want out?

California Law requires that automatically renewing charges for subscription services be disclosed in a “clear and conspicuous” manner, which means that it must be more conspicuous than the surrounding text and in close proximity to the signature line. The extraordinary remedy for a service provider failing to comply with this provision is that any additional services provided to the consumer will be deemed an “unconditional gift. Illinois, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Oregon have similar “clear and conspicuous” requirements in automatic renewal provisions.

Are you located in New York State? Rejoice!

New York has taken the “clear and conspicuous” requirement one step further by requiring the service provider to notify customers at least 15, but not more than 30, days prior to the renewal that the provision in the clause is to be activated. See New York General Obligations Law Sec. 5-903. This notice must be served on the customer personally or via certified mail and failure to comply will render the automatic renewal unenforceable. The New York statute only applies to contacts for service, maintenance, or repair, but the customer can be an individual or a business.

There’s never a contract for our service at CompuVoIP. We ‘lock you in’ by delighting you so you’ll never go anywhere else. Looking to upgrade your service, or to move to a service provider that doesn’t lock you into a contract? Visit us at www.compuvoip.com or give us a call at (718) 887-0300.

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Problem Solving Tips

Six Things to Get Right in Your IVR

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Six Things to Get Right in Your IVR

Here are some key insights from Bill Price, Driva Solutions:

Keep IVR menus short and simple. Don’t have more than 3 options in a menu.

Our short term memory is limited in capacity. Be mindful and respectful of your customer and don’t overwhelm them with too many choices.

Only play messages when they are needed.

Your customer has a mission: to get what they need as quickly as painlessly as possible. Superfluous messages are distracting and confusing. Make sure that you only play what your customer absolutely needs to hear.

Always provide an option to exit to an operator.

Your IVR should not be a maze with dead-end paths. Make sure there’s an escape route available in every path in your IVR.

Make it clear how the customer can repeat options or get help.

Tell ‘em once, and then tell ‘em again at each level of the IVR.

Allow the customer time to act: – build in pauses.

If you are too aggressive in setting time limits for response, you will end up with higher abandonment rates and heavier loads on your customer service staff.

Provide touch-tone (DTMF) options.

Voice responses are not appropriate for all callers. High levels of ambient noise can confuse voice recognition systems and frustrate your callers. They may also not be comfortable speaking their personal information if they are making their call in a public space.

Keep the same voice across the IVR and in your ACD

Invest the effort to present a consistent voice to your customer for the entire time that they are interacting with electronic call control. Complement your use of the IVR/ACD by investing in professional voiceover artists and you will impress your callers with your professional treatment.

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Cloud VoIP

Problems with VoIP

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Problems with VoIP

Problems with VoIP
Are you considering making the move to cloud VoIP? You have, no doubt, heard your share of shining success and equally gloomy horror stories about colleagues that have moved to VoIP. And they are all true!

Let’s look at some of the things that can go wrong with a VoIP implementation and discuss what steps can be taken to fix them or avoid them completely.

LATENCY
Latency is the time between the moment a voice packet is transmitted and the moment it reaches its destination. When this time is long (roundtrip voice delays of 250ms), callers will notice echoes or other degradation in voice quality.

Remedy
Although the voice packets that make up a VoIP call travel within your network, they also are subject to delays outside of your network. You can reduce or eliminate latency by ensuring that voice packets are given high priority over other data packets in your network. Generally accepted guidelines tell us that if we can ensure that voice packets in your own network have transit latencies of considerably less than 150 ms, you can go a long way towards improving overall VoIP call voice quality.

There are a number of proven techniques for prioritizing VoIP traffic. And you don’t have to be a trained network engineer to make this happen. A quality VoIP router, like the CompuVoIP cloud-based managed router, can solve many of these issues and help you achieve high-quality VoIP calls in your organization.

JITTER
Jitter is the measure of variability of latency across a network over time. The sending side transmits packets in a continuous stream and spaces them evenly apart. Because of network congestion, improper queuing, or configuration errors, the delay between packets can vary instead of remaining constant. Jitter is another cause of poor VoIP call quality.

Remedy
We again look to the VoIP router to come to the rescue. When a router receives an audio stream for Voice over IP (VoIP), it must compensate for the jitter that is encountered. The mechanism that handles this function is the playout delay buffer. The playout delay buffer (aka de-jitter buffer) buffers these packets and then plays them out in a steady stream to the digital signal processors (DSPs) to be converted back to an analog audio stream.

POOR INTERNET CONNECTION
Most residential internet service offerings are optimized for web surfing, not for VoIP calling. Voice packet transmission requires an additional set of internet protocols

Remedy
These days, ‘business class’ internet service is just about ubiquitous. Make sure you are subscribed to your internet provider’s ‘business class’ internet service if you want to ensure high-quality VoIP calls. Chances are that you are already subscribed to this level of internet service as it usually includes symmetric bandwidth levels for both upload and download.

At CompuVoIP, we assess your network and make recommendations and adjustments to ensure the highest level of VoIP phone call quality. Learn more about us at www.compuvoip.com.

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Brooklyn, NY 11238

528 Patriots Way
Lakewood, NJ 08701

phone: 718-230-9292
fax: 718-230-9200
email: sales@compuvoip.com

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