How-To Restore Factory Default Settings on the Grandstream GXP2130

March 2, 2017 by Steve Lopian

There comes a time in everyone’s life where we have to say goodbye. Whether it’s saying goodbye to the car you’ve been driving for 10 years, the leftover pizza you have been saving in your fridge for a week, or even sometimes it can be time to say goodbye to your desk phone!

But saying goodbye doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Maybe you’re saying goodbye because you are getting into your first brand new car! Or maybe you are ordering a new pizza from your favorite pizza joint! Or maybe, just maybe, you are upgrading your desk phone to something more modern and more user-friendly!

I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to finish this blog writing about all of the wonderful and magical things that come with ordering a hot and fresh pizza, but until someone invents pizza over Internet Protocol or PoIP, we have to stick to talking about getting a new desk phone.

There are many reasons why you might be ditching your current desk phone, but the better question is what happens to the desk phone once it’s off your desk? I don’t think there is IP phone heaven? So, where do they go?

Most of the time they can be passed down to other employees and sometimes they can even be sold! Much like VoIP Supply’s Reclaim Buy-Back Program, where we buy your gently used VoIP phones so you can save on something new.

No matter what the case may be, one thing is for sure – before an old phone gets sent to “the farm” it must be reset back to its factory default settings, which leads us to today’s easy How-To lesson.

How-To Restore Factory Default Settings on the Grandstream GXP2130

Let’s use the Grandstream GXP2130 as an example of how easy it can be to reset your phone back to default so it can brighten someone else’s day.

GXP2130

All you have to do is press the MENU button. Once you are in the phone’s menu, scroll down using the Down arrow key and select System. From there, you will then select OperationsFactory Reset.

Once you hit this, a warning window will pop up to make sure this is really what you want to do. This is because once you reset the phone….there is no going back.

Press the Yes softkey to confirm, and then the phone will begin to reboot. If by chance (when you are face-to-face with the warning window) you begin to have second thoughts, simply hit the No softkey instead.

That’s really all it takes to wipe the phone clean, but please remember that restoring the factory default settings will delete all configurations made to the phone, so it might be a good idea to backup your settings before you do so.

Once everything is said and done, it will be time to say goodbye. But hopefully, just as fast as it took you to bring back those factory defaults, you will be saying hello to your new desk phone.

Are you looking to upgrade your office phones? What are you using now? What are you interested in? Or more importantly, what is your favorite kind of pizza?

 

The VoIP Addict’s Guide – VoIP Security Fact and Fiction

February 28, 2017 by Marc Spehalski

mobile-phone-1875813_1920VoIP security is a hot topic, and rightfully so. A compromised system can cost you $$$ in phone bills, so how do you prevent a breach? Well, the answer isn’t as complicated as you’d expect. There are a lot of opinions floating around on the subject, so let me address some truths and falsehoods that may be of importance when securing your VoIP system.

 

Fiction: You NEED a session border controller (SBC)

If you are a small business or are installing a VoIP system in your home, there is no need for an SBC. An SBC is a great device (or virtual appliance) because it masquerades your internal VoIP infrastructure. In basic terms, a SIP trunk from a provider terminates to the SBC, which then connects to your phone system via a SIP trunk.  The SBC acts as the middleman in the transaction. To an outsider, SIP header information sources from the SBC and not your internal equipment. Although an SBC is a great extra layer of security and reduces overall attack vectors, it’s not required to make VoIP reliably secure for the majority of small deployments. Terminating a SIP trunk directly to your phone system behind a hardware-based or virtual firewall provides the security that would be deemed required to keep you incurring fraudulent toll charges.

 

Fact: You NEED a firewall

On the same topic as above, if you are going to be using SIP trunks to talk to the outside world, you’ll need a hardware or virtual firewall appliance to secure what is allowed in and out. In addition to the basics of protecting SSH, Telnet, and HTTP/HTTPS access to your phone system, you should always restrict what IP addresses can communicate directly to the phone system when it comes to SIP, and IAX (if you use it). What that means is only allowing IP addresses from your SIP provider, any remote extensions, or remote branches. Never ever expose your system directly to the internet without some type of firewall in front of it.

 

Fiction: Remote extensions MUST use a VPN

This is not true but isn’t a bad idea. A VPN will allow you to bypass NAT, which is the culprit in most one-way audio issues. The trick here is to tell the phone system all of the local IP subnets that it will be talking SIP. You’ll find this to be configurable on just about every Asterisk based phone system. A VPN also allows you to encrypt your session if you’re worried about the NSA listening in. An alternative would be using TLS and SRTP without a VPN, but you’ll just lose the benefit of avoiding NAT. The best way to securely deploy remote extensions is to use either a VPN or TLS. If you’re not using a VPN, make sure to define your inside IP subnets (as mentioned before), as well as your external IP address. These are all also configurable on just about any Asterisk system. Make sure you port forward SIP and RTP in your firewall to your phone system and secure your inbound rules by source IP addresses. Every system is a little different, but most Asterisk systems use 5060 UDP (SIP), and 10000-20000 UDP (RTP).

 

Fact: VoIP is NOT set it and forget it technology

If you’re going to take on the task of managing an IP phone system in your IT infrastructure, you need to adopt the mindset of monitoring it. Especially if you have port 5060 open to the outside world, you need to be logging and enabling alerts. In the past, phone systems have been bolted to a wall in a closet that no one ever went into except the PBX vendor. Now your system is racked next to your switches and servers. For those of you who are FreePBX users, Sangoma has just started to release their RMS platform, which simplifies centralized remote monitoring of multiple FreePBX and PBXAct systems. Stay tuned for a review on this!

 

Fiction: Not using port forwarding makes your phone system more secure

This isn’t actually a common belief, but it comes from a post I recently read on Spiceworks. It was claimed that a system has been made more secure by not forwarding port 5060 UDP from the firewall to the actual PBX. If this configuration was actually working, it was a minor miracle. The fact is there are usually two components of sending SIP traffic through your firewall. There is a firewall rule, allowing the traffic, and a fixed NAT association with the protocol and a device within your network. As long as you’ve made appropriate rules allowing SIP to your system, the port forwarding is simply a mechanism to help keep consistent NAT associations. In general, SIP and NAT do not play well with each other. Pro TIP: when you experience one-way audio, always look at NAT first.

 

Fact: You do not need to restrict RTP traffic to specific source IP addresses

I bet you never thought of this one. If you have, bonus points. While you should ALWAYS restrict SIP traffic by source IP address, it’s not necessary to do so with RTP. RTP is simply a media stream and doesn’t have the capability of initiating a SIP session, or any kind of session. Dare I say, you can leave the RTP port range open on your firewall. However, it doesn’t really hurt anything to place a source IP restriction on it.

Channel Partners Is Around the Corner Again!

channel-partner-banner

We can’t believe it’s that time of year again! Channel Partners is right around the corner and we are thrilled to announce we will be exhibiting.

Time: April 10-13th, 2017

Location: Mandalay Bay, Convention Center, Las Vegas

Booth Number: 250

Schedule Time to Meet with Us!

We have so much to talk about, so in order to make sure you get a chance to hear about it all, book a time with one of our team members.
Schedule a Meeting

What You Can Expect

Our team of VoIP experts will be there to highlight some of the latest and greatest additions to our products and service offerings.

  • Fulfillment by VoIP Supply – Over the years VoIP Supply has added, and expanded on our provisioning and fulfillment capabilities to meet our customers’ needs and stay ahead of changes in technology.
  • VoIP Supply Partner Program – The VoIP Supply Partner Program is designed to assist all of our partners who want to offer the perfect telecommunications solution to their clients. Our straightforward program and commission structure makes it easy for you to choose what is best for your business.
  • Reclaim – VoIP Supply’s Reclaim equipment buyback program is your outlet for selling off your used, rented and excess VoIP equipment.

We are looking forward to the conference and to seeing many of our customers and partners. If you’re interested in attending, take advantage of the discount pricing that’s available. Just use promo code: VoIPsupply

Best IP Phones Optimized for Skype for Business (Formerly Lync)

February 27, 2017 by Ying-Hui Chen

skype 4bAre you a Skype for Business (SFB) user but not using SFB-optimized IP phones? Then, you are really missing out!

Using a SFB optimized VoIP phone can not only increase your call quality, but also make your work more effective and efficient. In this multi-media world, communication is more than just talking on the phone. Outlook integration, Instant Message, Voicemail and Videomail are just some of the useful features countless professionals are benefiting from using an optimized IP phone.

So, follow us to explore the best SFB-optimized IP phones that can give you a better communication experience!

 

The Polycom VVX600

Polycom VVX 600

The Polycom VVX600 is one of the most popular options for Skype for Business users. Built with executives and managers in mind, the VVX600 features a 4.3” gesture based, multi-touch cable capacitive touchscreen LCD display. This powerful solution comes with the capabilities to manage Microsoft Exchange Calendars, receive meeting reminders/ alters, access the corporate directory and Instant Messaging/presence status, etc. With the web-based, intuitive configuration tool, users can deploy and manage the system easily and quickly. Click here to download the Polycom VVX 600 Datasheet.

Core Features:

  • 16 line registrations
  • 4.3in LCD gesture based, multi-touch capable capacitive touchscreen
  • Voicemail and video mail support
  • Dual USB ports (2.0 compliant) for media and storage applications
  • Dedicated RJ-9 headset port with EHS support
  • Two-port Gigabit Ethernet switch

 

The Mitel MiVoice 6725mitel-6725

Choose the Mitel MiVoice 6725 if you are looking for a full featured IP phone optimized for use with Skype for Business. The MiVoice 6725, a certified Skype for Business compatible VoIP phone, offers full color 3.5” LCD screen and a separate Unified Communications (UC) presence icon for direct access to features and presence indications in Lync. Its exceptional voice quality allows you to hear and be heard clearly. Professionals love its easy integration with Lync destop, Outlook calendar, contact, click to dial and much more!

Popular Features and Functions of Mitel MiVoice 6725:

  • Embedded Microsoft Lync 2010 Phone Edition Software
  • Color Screen
  • Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports
  • Direct desktop integration
  • Personal presence indicator
  • USB interfaces
  • Speakerphone

 

The Snom D725

snom 725

The last but not the least is the Snom D725. Coming with 12 identities and 18 two-color multi-purpose LED keys, the Snom D725 is a flexible Skype for Business certified solution designed for busy multi-taskers just like you. If is a Gigabit VoIP phone that offers wideband HD audio, PoE, USB port and more. The D7 expansion module and the 18 programmable keys give users the highest flexibility to meet their business needs. Access to the Snom D725 datasheet. Watch the product video below to learn more!

The Snom D725 Features and Functions:

  • 4-line B/W display
  • 18 LED function keys
  • 12 SIP identities
  • Wideband audio
  • Hands-free operation
  • Power over Ethernet (PoE)

What kind of IP phone are you using for your Skype for Business? What’s your experience? Visit our website or contact one of our VoIP experts at 1-800-398-VoIP to learn more Skype for Business optimized IP phone options today.

VoIP Supply Volunteers at the Community Missions of Niagara Frontier

February 24, 2017 by Mary Cheney

volunteer-1

Amherst, NY – For the month of February VoIP Supply, North America’s leading Voice over Internet Protocol solutions provider, donated time serving the Niagara Frontier community lunch!

As WNY’s first certified B Corp, VoIP Supply is committed to helping the communities that they serve. The VoIP Supply team joined with other local community members to help out at the Community Missions of Niagara Frontier.

volunteer2

Since 1925 the Community Missions has been serving the Niagara Community in many different ways, from providing meals to a place for people to get back on their feet. The agency serves a diverse set of populations, including youth, adults, families, homeless, youth involved with the juvenile justice system, youth and adults with psychiatric disabilities, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and ex-offender parole individuals.

The team at VoIP Supply had a great time helping to serve meals and spending time with local community members and volunteers at this organization.

About VoIP Supply

VoIP Supply, LLC (www.voipsupply.com) is North America’s leading VoIP solutions provider. Since 2002, VoIP Supply has delivered valuable solutions for some 125,000 customers worldwide. With passionate employees, over 6,500 products, 20,000 square feet of office space and an unlimited number of VoIP solutions to meet your needs, whether you are a consumer, business, service provider or reseller, VoIP Supply has everything you need for VoIP. For sales and media inquiries contact [email protected].

To learn more, call (800) 398-8647, or visit voipsupply.com and follow us on social media: Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn

About Community Missions of Niagara Frontier

Since its founding in 1925, Community Missions (CMI) has provided a unique blend of services to address the needs of the Niagara community. In general, CMI serves a vulnerable population of individuals that, through a variety of circumstances, have been underserved, marginalized, overlooked and challenging in their presentations and behaviors.

VoIPisms: Episode 2 – What is BYOD?

One phrase that you might find popping up more and more these days is “Bring your own device.” As an acronym, or VoIPism, this is also known as BYOD. While this VoIPism has been around for almost a decade, it is more relevant today than ever before. The term is simple. Bring your own device, and it means exactly that.

More and more businesses are allowing employees to use their own devices at work. In fact, more and more businesses encourage it! By employees using their own laptops, tablets and smartphones, this not only cuts costs for businesses, but it allows employees to bring their office with them, wherever they go!

No matter if you are working from home, traveling, or vacationing on a sand beach, a ground number of businesses are allowing your devices to access privileged company information and applications.

So, now you’re probably wondering how this applies to VoIP? Or why this would be considered a VoIPism.

VoIP Technology is rapidly becoming the norm in the business world, and it goes hand in hand with BYOD concept. Many VoIP providers, like Nextiva, offer apps that can be installed on your smartphone, desktop, laptop and tablet. This allows you to stay connected to your office with voice, video and text chat. Basically, having VoIP takes BYOD to the next level.

Are you thinking of integrating a BYOC policy into your business, but are not sure where to start? Let us know! VoIP Supply can help! But if you are one of those business owners who says “No thanks, I want my employees in the office everyday” then you could find yourself outdated, and out of the game.

Does your business use a BYOD policy? What is your experience? We want to know!

The Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800: How to Format Numbers

These days it seems that conference phones are becoming more and more flashy. Some of the newer conference phones that I’ve seen remind me of spaceships, or at least something that you would expect to see on the Star Trek Enterprise.

Even with all the bells and whistles these new conference phones have, it can be easy to sometimes overlook the basic things that a phone can do.

Let’s take the Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800 for example:

RealPresence Trio 880

This conference phone is really awesome, and with a price point of just under $1,200 – it should be. This thing has everything from video calls, recording audio calls and content sharing to being able to connect to Bluetooth devices like laptops and tablets. All of these features, to go along with its futuristic drone-like look.

But what if I told you this phone still has some basic features? Some basic and small things that can add up to make your life easier. Because, after all, isn’t it the little things that count? And who wouldn’t appreciate a little extra ease to go alongside your first cup of coffee before your company meeting on Monday morning? I know I’d take anything I can get!

So, in an efforts to help out those in charge of leading their team to success, let’s talk about the RealPresence Trio’s ability to format numbers.

By default, the phone will list the numbers that you enter for a phone call on its screen. So, if you were calling VoIP Supply, the numbers would appear something like this:

18003988647

This can get confusing, especially when dialing a number you are not used to. Did I enter it right? Did I hit the 8 before the 6? But what if the numbers could be formatted to look like, you know, a phone number?

Simply go to Settings followed by Preferences then go to Number Formatting. From there, switch this setting to Enable.

Once this is completed, go ahead and call VoIP Supply from the homescreen. It should now look like this

+1(800)398-8647

Ahh, that’s better, right? Now that looks like a phone number. It is also very easy on the eyes and you can be sure you have entered it correctly into the RealPresence 8800 before hitting that call button, on a Monday morning, in front of all of your coworkers….

Have you used a Polycom RealPresense Trio 8800? How do you like it? What are some of your favorite features? We’d love to know!

VoIP News! The Latest On Digium’s D80 IP Phones, ITEXPO 17 Recap, VoIP Fulfillment and More!

February 23, 2017 by Steve Lopian

Big news has come out of Digium headquarters in Huntsville Alabama last week as they have announced the upcoming release of their new IP phone, the Digium D80. This is Digium’s first all-touch phone that is sleek in design and packed with features.

d80The phone is basically a 7-inch, high definition touchscreen tablet. While this phone has the normal features like HD voice, headset, and speaker functions, we thought one of the phones most impressive abilities is that it can scroll up to 100 BLF keys. The phone can display 20 BLFs at a time, which is impressive in itself, but the fact that you can have up to 100 is something that we feel will separate this phone from the rest of the pack.

fulfilment-by-vsThis episode of The VoIP News Update also covers VoIP Fulfillment by VoIP Supply. This service offers the shortest turnaround times, ordering and integrations, Provisioning and professional services, just to name a few. VoIP Supply has you covered on the west coast and east coast with warehouses in Las Vegas and New York. If you are a service provider, then you might want to look into Fulfillment by VoIP Supply today.

Lastly, in VoIP news, ITEXPO has wrapped up for the year in Fort Lauderdale Florida. VoIP Supply was exhibiting in the Asterisk World Pavilion and had tremendous success. It was an incredible turnout and we were able to introduce ourselves to brand new customers and interact with current customers alike.

With ITEXPO behind us, we are now switching gears to get ready for a successful trip to Las Vegas where we will be exhibiting at Channel Partners from booth 250. This year’s Channel Partners event will take place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and we expect to have a tremendous turnout. If you are interested in attending, check out VoIP Supply’s special offer here!channel-partner-banner

Is There a Report that Outlines Grandstream Call Logs?

February 22, 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: What SIP Phone Could Connect Wirelessly? Today, we have more new real questions and answers from VoIP users just like you.

 

Is There a Report that Outlines Grandstream Call Logs?

A: Is there a User Guide that outlines the various data fields the Grandstream captures on calls in and out? We are looking for good data that we can parse into a reporting package to manipulate/ report on that data.

Q: Basically, it is the API/CDR report, call log. You are able to capture the data and export a csv. file. However, for more advanced features you would need to utilize AGG software shown here:

 

Stay Tuned

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

Get Refreshed with Refresh – Our Refurbished Line of VoIP Phones

February 21, 2017 by Youleidy Vega

Are you looking for an affordable way to update or get started on your VoIP solution? Then you are on the right page (literally!)

Refresh is our own line of Refurbished products that offer end users and businesses an affordable way to equip their offices or homes with VoIP equipment. VoIP Supply has a great array of Refresh products that have been examined for functionality and that underwent a 10-step reconditioning process before being repackaged. This month we are featuring three great products. Check them out below!

 

Polycom VVX310

Polycom vvx300This Polycom favorite is a 6-line IP phone that is perfect for call center environments and/or secretaries and receptionists handling a low to moderate volume of calls. The VVX310 features HD Voice for lifelike conversations and an intuitive, easy to use interface. This phone also brings unified communications (UC) features and productivity tools.

For instance, the VVX310 complements workplace applications by allowing the users to view and manage their Microsoft Exchange Calendars, receive meeting reminders and alerts and access Instant Messaging/presence status right on their VVX phone display. Get the datasheet here.

 

Polycom IP 5000

ip 5000The Polycom SoundStation conference phone turns ordinary conference calls into crystal-clear conversations that will have you thinking you are in the same room as the person on the other side of the call. This conference phone is perfect for executive offices or small conference rooms. Features of the IP 5000 include HD Voice, 7-foot microphone pickup and compatibility with a broad array of SIP call platforms. Get the datasheet here.

 

Snom 870 Black

SnomThis Snom phone is a great option for users looking flexibility and future-oriented technology.

The Snom 870 supports 12 lines and has a 4.3″ color TFT touchscreen display. But the best part of this phone is that it is Gigabit and it can support a WiFi card through the integrated USB port so that you can bring your Snom 870 wherever your wireless local area network (WLAN) can reach. Get the datasheet here.

Worry Free Guarantee: We stand behind our Refresh line and know that our products are quality products that will look great and work even better. But for your peace of mind, all Refresh products come with a 6-month guarantee, so that you can buy with confidence knowing that any mechanical failures and defects will be covered.

To learn more about Refresh or any of our product lines or services give our VoIP experts a call at 1-800-398-8647.

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