VoIP Supply Q&A: How Big Is Your Business?

June 21, 2017 by Steve Lopian

Here at VoIP Supply, we know that not every business is the same. So, when it comes to VoIP service, the most important thing to keep in mind is the size of your business. Keeping this in mind will help guide you when looking to switch to VoIP. What does that mean exactly? Well, there are several different options to consider when looking to deploy and maintain VoIP in your office. In order to help better understand what options you should be considering, we put together this video to help narrow down your search!

VoIP News! The latest On The Mitel/Toshiba MoU, The Patton Smartnode 101 and More!

June 20, 2017 by Steve Lopian

Unless you have been living under a rock, I’m sure you have heard by now that Toshiba is exiting the VoIP business. If you or your business are currently Toshiba customers then you probably were about to fall into a deep despair, that is until Mitel swooped in and saved the day!

Mitel recently confirmed that they have signed a MoU with Toshiba to transfer certain assets and support obligations to Mitel. This Memorandum of Understanding means that Mitel will be honoring Toshiba contracts and warranties, along with honoring past Toshiba quotes and maintaining what is left of Toshiba’s inventory. Doing this will ensure a clear and easy path for customers who will be transitioning over to Mitel.

mitel-and-toshiba

But if you are someone who is looking at this as a reason to try something new, there are other options out there. One popular choice that can replace your Toshiba system is Digium Switchvox.

Digium Switchvox is easy-to-use, feature-rich, and cost-effective. If that is not enough for you to consider, we are offering special discounts off the US MSRP for selected Switchvox appliances or Switchvox software downloads when sold to replace a Toshiba system. This promotion also applies if you are looking to replace your Avaya system as well!

In other news, Patton Electronics has released a brand new ATA called the SmartNode 101. This is a feature-rich analog telephone adapter that enables you to connect standard telephones and make VoIP calls using your broadband connection.

These are easy to install and simple to use. The SN 101 is equipped with one FXS RJ-11 phone interface, and as for the size? These things are SMALL! You can really put this thing anywhere!

If you are just starting to look into VoIP, or looking to give VoIP a try without getting rid of your old telephone lines, then the SN101 is worth a look.

Lastly, we have one huge promotion that we have been running here at VoIP Supply that is coming to a close. Get one month of FREE VoIP service when you sign up through the CloudSpan MarketPlace!

This is a great deal if you are in the market for VoIP service, but you can also use this to your advantage if you are a VoIP Service reseller! That’s right! You can use this promotion to offer your customers one month of free VoIP service as well! This promotion is ending June 30th, so make sure you take advantage while you still can!

And that is your VoIP News Update for June! If you haven’t caught it yet, check out our video as well! And don’t forget to subscribe to the VoIP Supply’s YouTube channel for all the latest in VoIP!

VoIP Supply Q&A: What are my calling habits

by Steve Lopian

Being one of the leaders in VoIP, we get a lot of questions in regards to VoIP service. It is never an easy thing to understand and it takes time to learn the ins and outs. Thankfully, you have us!

There is no quick answer when it comes to the cost savings of switching to VoIP, so we put together a short video to help make you aware of how your calling habits can help you determine just how much you will save!

Mitel 6800 Series SIP Phones Now Certified in Edgewater Networks’ QuickConnect Interoperability Lab

June 16, 2017 by Ying-Hui Chen

Edgewater Networks announced that they have certified the Mitel 6800 Series SIP Phones with their portfolio of EdgeMarc Intelligent Edges.

This certification shows the interoperability between Mitel 6800 Series and Edgewater Networks’ Intelligent Edges, which includes Mitel 6863i, 6865i, 6867i, 6869i and 6873i and Edgewater Networks EdgeMarc Intelligent Edges and EdgeView Service Control Center.

“The certification process helps service providers and end users deploy the joint Edgewater Networks and Mitel solution with confidence,” says Jennifer Kidd, VP of Business Development and head of the QuickConnect Interoperability Lab for Edgewater Networks.

See more details here.

We are excited to see the seamless cooperation between Mitel IP phones and Edgewater Networks systems and looking forward to see more customers take advantage of this benefit for efficient communication!

How to Customize Your Wallpaper on the Obihai 1032

by Steve Lopian

Statistically speaking, most of us will spend around 90,000 hours of our lives working. Some of us will spend most of that time in an office, or at a desk. What I can’t tell you is how much of that time you will spend daydreaming about being somewhere else.

While I’m sure it would add up to a couple thousand hours, one thing we can say for sure if that it is important to have things with us at work that remind us why we get up and go through the grind week-in and week-out.

Maybe a picture? Or a souvenir from a memorable trip? No matter what it is, you have to have a little bit of your own personality on your desk, but what about your phone? It is not uncommon for deskphones to display images and if you have a phone that can do this, then you have to take advantage!

There are tons of different IP phones out there! Some of them work similar, most of them are different, but setting your own personal wallpaper is easy! For this blog, we are going to go through how to customize your wallpaper on the Obihai 1032! Just follow these easy steps!

Insert a USB flash drive into the Obihai 1032
Navigate to Storage in Settings
Once you locate your USB flash drive select the device and press Explore
Select the image you would like to use off of your USB flash drive by pressing Select
Press Copy and the screen will automatically switch to the destination drive “Internal”
From there, navigate to the folder called “backgnd” and open
Then simply hit Paste and your image will be added to the phone’s wallpaper collection

While there are several steps, as you can see it is an easy and most likely familiar process. Do you have an Obihai 1032 on your desk? If not, what phone do you use? And let us know what you have for your customer wallpaper! We want to know!

Patton 4114 FXS extension: Where do I set up a PIN paging code?

June 14, 2017 by Ying-Hui Chen

Our tech support team at VoIP Supply offers great pre- and post-sales support plus provisioning, consultations, configuration, and installation help. We get a lot of VoIP hardware and software questions and would like to share the solutions with everyone.

In the previous Mom’s calling Q&A Series, we have discussed: The Polycom VVX300: Where did the ghost calls come from? Today, we have more new real questions and answers from VoIP users just like you.

Where do I set up a PIN paging code?

Q: We currently have a Patton 4114 FXS extension connected to a Bogen UTI1 for our overhead paging from 3CX. Where do I set up a Pin paging code so that way only my end users can use those extensions?

A: You can utilize a prefix for the “pin code”. See here: https://www.3cx.com/docs/ring-groups-paging-intercom/

Stay Tuned

Come back for more VoIP questions and answers next time! If you have VoIP questions to ask us, please submit a technical support ticket or contact our VoIP experts today at 866-582-8591.

What are Voice Codecs?

June 13, 2017 by Ying-Hui Chen

voice-codecs Codecs stands for Coder-Decoder. It is an audio signal converter that compresses your voice into digital form in order to transport it over data networks. Compression is needed to minimize the bandwidth that’s used to transport the voice. Large volumes of calls that connect fit into the largest bandwidth pipes will need to be compressed.

There are many vocoders, differing by the amount of bandwidth they consume, the voice quality they produce, their resiliency to network impairments and license model (free or royalties based) for using them. See a list of the most common VoIP Codecs.

An SBC may receive one vocoder on one side of the call and need to convert it to another vocoder on the other side of the call. This conversion is called transcoding. A common example would be an enterprise with an IP-PBX system supporting G.711 (a coder type), where the service provider SIP trunk supports G.729.

How Does a Session Border Controller (SBC) Work?

June 9, 2017 by Ying-Hui Chen

A Session Border Controller (SBC) is a powerful back-to-back user agent device that sits at a point of demarcation for SMB and Enterprise businesses to provide services such as call control, security, interoperability and voice optimization. Let’s take a closer look at how a Session Border Controller works to optimize your VoIP performance!

Generally, the main duties of an SBC can be separated into four sections: Topology Hiding, IP Addresses Translation, Encryption and Transcoding, and Classification.

Topology Hiding

An SBC locates in the middle of the call path between a service provider and an IP-PBX. When a call is generated and arrives at an SBC from the PBX, the SBC filters out any sensitive information, so no outside intruders can exploit this information for hacking the enterprise VoIP network. This is called Topology Hiding.

IP Addresses Translation

An SBC also translates local IP addresses of the callers to the WAN IP address of the SBC and performs protocol normalization, a process that an SBC manipulates the call message to adhere to the service provider’s protocol implementation including possible number manipulation.

Encryption and Transcoding

Some SBCs also encrypt calls and perform transcoding when necessary. If an enterprise is connected to multiple branches and service providers, an SBC will decide where to route the calls to. It makes routing decisions based on multiple criteria: reachability, call cost optimization and path with the best quality.

Classification

So far, we have only talked about the outgoing calls. What about the incoming calls? It basically follows the same steps as for outgoing calls but with one extra layer of examination which is called classification, a process of careful inspection on the incoming calls to identify intruders and hackers.

More questions? Call 1-800-398-8647 to ask one of our VoIP consultants!

Polycom introduces the Pano – the easiest way to share content

by Ying-Hui Chen

Polycom introduces their new content sharing system: Pano. This is a new system that allows anyone to share up to four streams of simultaneous content in a meeting from any device. Users can connect Polycom Pano to any display to enable wireless content sharing from desktops, tablets, smartphones and more!

Polycom Pano is equipped with security safeguards to ensure privacy. It makes content sharing an easy piece and works with any existing video equipment so it’s really easy to add on to an existing conference room.

“Customers have told us that they struggle to share information in meetings – too much time is wasted trying to find the right adapter or cord for whatever computer or device they have,” said Mary McDowell, Chief Executive Officer, Polycom

Learn more details here.

It’s always exciting to see great new additions from Polycom product lines. We look forward to seeing how this turns out for their customers!

How to Pair Your Cell Phone to the Plantronics Savi w740

June 8, 2017 by Steve Lopian

If you have a desk phone, then chances are you have a headset. I can’t even imagine someone who still uses their handset at work. It is a thing of the past, and honestly, maybe we should get rid of the handset all together.

Okay, maybe that is going a little too far, but having a headset for your desk is something everyone should (and most likely does) have. It is something that is relatively inexpensive and can make your day flow much easier.

There are all types of headsets out there. Some people are fine with having a basic wired headset, while other people can’t live without the freedom of going wireless. The preference comes down a matter of how often you get up and leave your desk, but the differences don’t stop there.

There are even more options available when choosing a headset for your desk at work. One of the most popular features a headset can have these days is Bluetooth. Having Bluetooth on your headset allows you to pair devices other than your deskphone. Other devices like your personal smartphone!

This is an important feature for someone who is in, let’s say, sales and chooses to give out their cell number to clients in order to make themselves more accessible. Perhaps this is something that you might be interested in doing if you have not already done so.

With that in mind, let’s go over how to pair your cell phone to your wireless, Bluetooth headset on your desk. As an example, we will use the Plantronics Savi w740.

How to Pair Your Cell Phone to the Plantronics Savi w740

Press down and hold the Bluetooth pairing button for 4 seconds on the Savi base. A LED indicator will flash red and blue once it is active. It will remain this way for up to 10 minutes.
Make sure Bluetooth is turned on, on your smartphone and go into Bluetooth search mode. Select SAVI 7xx from the list of found devices.
If prompted by your smartphone, type 0000 as a passcode. The LED indicator will turn solid blue on the Savi base when it has an active connection with your smartphone.
While wearing your headset, short press base mobile button on the Savi base.
Dial a test call from your smartphone.
End the call by pressing the call control button on your headset.

And it is as simple as that! If you are familiar with using Bluetooth, then this should be extremely similar to other devices you have paired in the past. Once you are paired, you just might find that you have become the coolest guy or gal in the office!

Do you have a Plantronics Savi w740 on your desk? If not, does your headset have Bluetooth? What kind of headset is it? We want to know!

VoIP Supply Q&A: How Big Is Your Business?

VoIP News! The latest On The Mitel/Toshiba MoU, The Patton Smartnode 101 and More!

VoIP Supply Q&A: What are my calling habits

Mitel 6800 Series SIP Phones Now Certified in Edgewater Networks’ QuickConnect Interoperability Lab

How to Customize Your Wallpaper on the Obihai 1032

Patton 4114 FXS extension: Where do I set up a PIN paging code?

Where do I set up a PIN paging code?

Stay Tuned

What are Voice Codecs?

How Does a Session Border Controller (SBC) Work?

Topology Hiding

IP Addresses Translation

Encryption and Transcoding

Classification

Polycom introduces the Pano – the easiest way to share content

How to Pair Your Cell Phone to the Plantronics Savi w740

How to Pair Your Cell Phone to the Plantronics Savi w740

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