VoIP SMS Text Messaging – A convenient way to communicate

December 5, 2016 by Ying-Hui Chen

You may have noticed that almost everyone is texting around you, or, not surprisingly, maybe yourself is also one of the heavy text message users like me.

83% of American adults own mobile phones and three-quarters of them (73%) send and receive text messages. – According to PewResearch Center‘s research.

Why do so many people love SMS text messaging? Quick answer – it’s simple, clear and fast. Text messaging is a way to communicate privately and precisely. Compared to talking in person, it’s a better way to communicate without being heard by others around you.

One time I had to contact an online bookstore to ask if they had the book I needed. I was in a quiet library so I had to rush out to make the call. Unfortunately, the person who answered the phone had me wait out in the cold for 20 minutes and came back with a 2-second disappointing answer: “No, we don’t have it”. I was frustrated and gave up my book search for a while.

Luckily things are different now. With a lot of businesses offering instant messaging customer service, I can contact them anytime and work on other things while waiting for the answers. Communication is easier than ever.

Giving customers a convenient way to communicate is how a business stands out among their competitors.

VoIP is your best way to give your customers a preferred way to communicate. VoIP service not only provides you instant messaging, chat and SMS tools but also integrates them all together in one place for easy management. You are able to message customers, your co-workers or employees right from your own desktop computer.

Even better, VoIP service also offers voicemail to text features, which transfers your voicemails into a transcription for you to read whenever it’s convenient. You can simply save the important information in a text format for future reference.

A quality customer service and efficient work environment start with VoIP service. Do you prefer SMS text messaging? What are your reasons? Share with us!

Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Xact Dialer, Appointment Reminder, Parking Pro, Voicemail and Pin Set Pro

by Jeff Quinn

Note: This is part 3 of the 4-part Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules blog series. This blog series was co-written by Cody Blackley.

Last time, we talked about Paging Pro, VM Notify, Fax Pro, Call Recording and Q-Xact. Today we will look into more Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules including Xact Dialer, Appointment Reminder, Parking Pro, Voicemail and Pin Set Pro.

Xact Dialer

Make your outbound dialing easier and remove any room for dialing the wrong number. Simply create a campaign list and which extension you would like these calls sent to.

Upload CSV lists
Schedule call times
View service call thresholds
Complete reports on person/voicemail and duration
Route calls based on whether person or voicemail answered
Pause active campaigns

Appointment Reminder

With this add-on you’re able to schedule appoints within your PBX and have them automatically call the specified number at a certain time.

Appointment Reminder Example

Get all the details for FREE for Appointment Reminder

Parking Pro

This module gives you the ability to have multiple parking lots for calls that can be handled right away and also automatically announces to your team that a call is in the parking lot.

Learn more for FREE about the Parking Pro module

Parking Pro Example

Voicemail Reports

Allows you to quickly view the voicemail greetings and settings for each user, see who needs to record greetings, and see who is set up to receive voicemail to email.

voicemail-reports

Learn more for FREE about the Voicemail Reports module

Pin Set Pro

Pin Set Pro gives you access to an exportable call detail report and billable hours summary. This information is simple to generate and can be exported to your favorite spreadsheet application.

Pin set Pro

Learn more for FREE about the Pin Set Pro module

Wondering if there’s more to come? Of course. We will be introducing more Sangoma’s FreePBX modules in the next blog: VQ Plus, Conference Pro, High Availability Disaster Recovery and Class of Service.

VoIP Supply Named To Top 100 Western New York Private Companies 2016 List

by Angela Burgin-Logan

AMHERST, NY (December 1st, 2016) – VoIP Supply, North America’s leading Voice over Internet Protocol solutions provider, has been named to Buffalo’s Business First Top 100 Private Companies in Western New York list for 2016.

VoIP Supply Logo

Since that time, VoIP Supply has exploded with growth expanding its product offerings and services including introducing VoIP Supply’s CloudSpan Marketplace allowing the company to be a true VoIP one-stop shop and providing businesses of all sizes and residential customers everything you need for VoIP.

“Our mission at VoIP Supply is to build a great company, with great people, doing great things. It is a tremendous honor to be named to the top 100 private companies in Western New York list and is a testament to the hard work that the great people on our staff do daily and the great customers that we serve,” said Benjamin P. Sayers.

VoIP Supply became Western New York’s first certified B Corporation, is a three-time 500/5000 honoree and has been consistently ranked as one of Western New York’s Best Places to work.

For more information about VoIP Supply, please visit https://www.voipsupply.com.

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, 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 (VoIPSupply), Twitter (VoIPSupply) and LinkedIn (VoIPSupply)

The Grandstream UCM IP PBX Product Review: Asterisk and Auto-Provision

by Marc Spehalski

Note: This is part II of a three-part blog series. See Part I here.

In the previous blog, you’ve learned why PoE, FXO and FXS matter to Grandstream UCM. Now let’s talk a little bit on Asterisk.

To be brief, Asterisk is a free open source telephony platform. What that means is that it can be used either by itself for no cost (install it on your own server, and you must manually edit config files), or can be built upon like a foundation by companies like Grandstream. Grandstream has added to Asterisk’s code and provided a graphical interface on the UCM series that makes deploying and managing a system a task that most people can accomplish easily. Granstream is not alone in using Asterisk to provide a cost-effective solution, but where they do stand out is how simplified they made the interface, in a good way. For many, VoIP is an obscure and somewhat alien subject, but the UCM makes basic setup very manageable.

Grandstream also makes some pretty great IP phones as well, which conveniently will auto-provision when paired with the UCM series IP PBX. If you’re not familiar, auto-provisioning is the process of configuring a phone centrally, via the system rather than having to configure each phone individually. This is particularly useful for when you are deploying a lot of phones, possibly in different geographic locations. However, you are not restricted to Grandstream phones. As mentioned before, the UCM is a SIP based system, meaning it built on the open SIP standard. In my years of using the Grandstream UCM, I have not run into a SIP IP phone yet that I could not get to work with it. Of course, you will need to manually provision (log into each phone and configure). That can be a big pain if you want to use Polycom phones and have 100 of them to configure. However, it can be a HUGE money saver if you just threw your old phone system in the trash, because it was terrible, but have 100 Polycom phones that you do not want to replace.

The current generation of the Grandstream UCM series is the 6200, and the 6510. You will still see some 6100 series (first generation), but they will eventually phase out. With that said, you can probably get a great deal on the first generation which is essentially identical to the new series, with older internal hardware. If you’re on an extreme budget, look for a 6100 series UCM in VoIP Supply’s Refresh department.

Let’s talk about features. You might expect a skimpy feature set in such a small package, but you’d be wrong. It does just about everything you need a phone system to do. But the best feature is that there is no licensing. Everything is included. You are not limited by concurrent calls, or how may extensions you are able to add. Here are just some of the features:

Extensions
Ring Groups
Call Queues
Conference Bridge
Voicemail to Email
Analog Trunks
Multi-Level Auto Attendant
Follow Me
Dial by Name Directory
Automated Callback
Call Recording
Call Monitoring
Paging/Intercom
Call Detail Records
Automated Backups
Integrated LDAP and XML Phonebooks
SRTP/TLS Support

In the next blog: The Granstream UCM Product Review – Choose the right UCM, I will guide you to the right UCM you need for your system.

The Grandstream UCM IP PBX Product Review: Why Do PoE, FXO and FXS Matter?

December 1, 2016 by Marc Spehalski

I am what you might call a “phone geek”.

I’ve developed, supported, and tinkered with just about every popular SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) based VoIP platform out there, and I’ve been in search of a system that every day IT Pro’s, business owners, and even homeowners can install and manage without any real training. I think the best systems are intuitive and un-restrictive. They should be feature-rich, and most of all, competitive in their price point.

I ran across the Grandstream UCM back in 2013, before I had an affiliation with VoIP Supply. I bought a UCM 6102 just because I thought it was interesting, and I was just starting to sink my teeth into the VoIP field. It was a small (similar in size to a consumer wireless router) PoE powered IP PBX with two FXO and two FXS ports. It was Asterisk powered (arguably the leader in open source IP telephony) and therefore SIP based. That meant I could use any SIP based IP phone with it.

So, why does any of that matter? A small form factor means you can put it just about anywhere. This is especially useful for small businesses, who might not have a server room, with a network rack. Something very unique is that you can power it with PoE. What’s PoE? It’s when a network switch delivers power to devices, like phones, wireless access points, or IP cameras over a standard network cabling. The UCM comes with a 12V DC power supply, but, of course, it’s optional since you can just plug it into your (PoE enabled) switch to run it. This gives you a lot of options when deciding where to place, or mount it in your building.

The FXO and FXS ports also add to the flexibility in that you can continue to use your analog service (FXO port), and also use analog devices such as a fax machine, wall phone, door phone, etc (FXS). For a detailed explanation of FXO and FXS be sure to watch VoIP Supply’s video:What is FXO/FXS? You are not restricted to using analog service on the system, as you can also use SIP trunks, but it allows you to transition for one to the other, or use a hybrid of both.

In the next blog of the Grandstream UCM IP PBX Product Review series, we will talk more about Asterisk and some important features.

Smart Ways To Spend Your Year-End Budget

November 30, 2016 by Angela Burgin-Logan

Maximizing monies left in your year-end budget is top of mind this time of year. The clock is winding down on capturing leftover funds and the opportunity to use it before you lose it! But having some surplus savvy is what smart managers are looking to do.

VoIP Supply has smart surplus solutions that will help you to save while you spend. How businesses communicate with customers and how they communicate internally is the number one key to success. Enhance your business communication with VoIP solutions that range from corded IP phones, cordless IP phones, VoIP headsets, IP conference phones, video phones and more. Now through December 31, 2016 receive FREE shipping on any web orders over $499 using our promotion code #USEIT. Maximize your budget and your ROI with smart VoIP solutions.

Here are smart VoIP products to purchase from VoIP Supply with your year-end budget.

The Sangoma s700 SIP Phone is an executive level VoIP phone with (6) Session Initiation Protocols (SIP). The s700 is equipped with Zero Touch technology that allows for fast and easy out the box configuration with FreePBX.

The Plantronics HW251N is part of the SupraPlus family a corded wideband headset. With an adjustable T band headband and foam ear cushions for all day comfort.

The Polycom SoundStation IP 6000 is an advanced IP conference phone that delivers superior performance for small to midsize conference rooms.

Connect Multiple Agents to the Same Softphone

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 previous Mom’s calling Q&A series, we have discussed: UCM 6102: How Do I Keep all the Call Recordings?. Today, we have more new real questions and answers from VoIP users just like you.

How Do I Connect Multiple Agents to the Same Softphone?

Q: We currently use softphones but collectors must share headsets when verifying a payment. Is there a splitter or application you recommend that allows multiple agents to connect to the same softphone? we currently use Plantronics headphones with USB port. Do you have any possible solutions?

A: Unfortunately, there is no such splitter. The problem isn’t that there are none manufactured, it’s with the computer itself. PC’s only allow one audio path and device.
I would suggest purchasing the Jabra LINK 265.

Q: Does the connection work with only certain types of headsets? Will they work with USB? We also have some old Plantronics headsets with regular phone jacks if that works? Please advise. Thanks.

A: It is compatible with other headsets that have QD ends.

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.

Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Paging Pro, VM Notify, Fax Pro, Call Recording, Q-Xact

by Jeff Quinn

Note: This is part 2 of the 4-part Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules blog series. This blog series was co-written by Cody Blackley.

In the previous Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules blog, we talked about Extension Routing, UCP for EPM, PBX EndPoint Manager and more, Today we will focus on Paging Pro, VM Notify, Fax Pro, Call Recording, Q-Xact features. Let’s get started!

Paging Pro

With the additional module your paging features will be greatly expanded. FreePBX comes standard with paging features, but if you’re using the intercom system often this is a great investment. Add features such as:

Outbound notifications – If 911 is dialed an automated page can go out to a certain group notifying them of the call.
Valet Style Paging (Airport Style) – Record your message and have it send once you hang up.
Prepend Recording – Have the ability to start the message with a pre-recording before the user can start speaking.
Scheduled Pages – This is how school bells work!

Check out a FREE more detailed guild from FreePBX about Paging Pro

VM Notify

Easily set up call notifications for multiple numbers when a certain voicemail mailbox receives a new message.

Check out the FREE how-to guide for VM Notify

Fax Pro Module

Sending faxes are still necessary for some forms of business. Make sending a fax simple and easy with this commercial module. Simply attach a pdf to an email and send the email to a certain phone number. The fax is completed easily all from your inbox.

Outbound Faxes from PDF’s
Simple web interface to manage inbound and outbound faxes inside the ARI module of FreePBX.
Have all inbound and outbound faxes stored on the server for easy viewing and archiving.
Create company-wide fax cover sheets that allow easy customization for each user.

A FREE guide to a reliable Fax Pro module

Call Recording Reports

Easily manage, sort and listen to call recordings. You’re able to view your recordings by year, month and date.

Directly listen to and download all call recordings that exist on your system
Auto-archive calls recorded by Asterisk in FreePBX
Sort Recordings by Call Type, Source, Destination, Time, or Duration

call-recording-reports

Check out this FREE guide explaining Call Recording Reports

Q-Xact

If you’re using multiple call queues or are interested in analyzing call queues with ease, this is the commercial module for you. There are two parts to Q-Xact, templates and reports. Create a template for each queue of how you would like to analyze that particular call queue. Then run the report against any or all of your agents and queues.

qxact-report-templates

Check out the FREE guide to learn more about Q-Xact

Want to learn more about other Sangoma’s FreePBX modules? Follow our next blog- Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Xact Dialer, Appointment Reminder, Parking Pro, Voicemail, Pin Set Pro!

#DoGreatThings This #GivingTuesday With VoIP Supply!

November 29, 2016 by Angela Burgin-Logan

#GivingTuesday is a global movement that is celebrated annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But it didn’t start that way. It started with an idea that one New York organization had to create a call to action for people to donate during the holiday season. Donations range from food, blood and clothing banks to random acts of kindness and more. At VoIP Supply we provide the best in VoIP phones, products and services. So, we are literally about answering the call. The call to do good is something that is a part of the culture at VoIP Supply and is part of a yearlong initiative to #DoGreatThings. Our company was founded by Ben Sayers who wanted to create a great company, with great people who do great things.

For us doing great things is about more than selling skus it is about building the communities that we serve. We strongly believe that providing you with everything you need for VoIP will help all of our customers do great things.

Kicking off this #GivingTuesday November 29 through December 31, 2016 for every web order that you place with VoIP Supply we will donate one meal to the Buffalo City Mission.

For every web order, we fill we will be filling an empty plate and giving hope to others this holiday season. For every web order that you place, you join us in answering the call to #DoGreatThings.

But that’s not all! Join us in spreading the word by using social media to #DoGreatThings this holiday season. For every retweet, like and share that we get on Twitter and Facebook using the joint hashtags #DoGreatThings #VoIPSupply we will donate another meal to the Buffalo City Mission.

Together this holiday season we can #DoGreatThings!

Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Extension Routing, UCP for EPM, PBX EndPoint Manager, and more.

by Jeff Quinn

Note: This blog series was co-written by Cody Blackley. This is part I of the four-part series.

Sangoma’s FreePBX keeps getting better! They have designed a number of modules to fit your needs to make your experience with their solution superior to their competitors. To make things even better, many of these modules can be purchased, with no recurring costs. There are a lot of them to go through so we decided to break this into a four-part series.

In this blog, you will find: Extension Routing, UCP for EPM, PBX EndPoint Manager, SysAdmin Pro, Web CallBack, Outbound Call Limiting, CallerID Management.

Access all FreePBX commercial modules here

Extension Routing

By dragging and dropping you’re able to adjust which extensions are able to use specified routes. Without this module, the process is complicated and not easily recreated which can lead to error.

Check out more info. and screenshots with the FREE guide for Extension Routing

UCP for EPM (User Control Panel for EndPoint Manager)

Easily control of endpoint from one central panel. If you decide to use the Sangoma s-Series phones you’re able to receive this module for free!

sangomapbx

PBX EndPoint Manager

With over 220 popular endpoints to choose from you’re able to auto-provision and configure any device directly over the GUI interface. If you decide to use the Sangoma s-Series phones you’re able to receive this module for free! A couple of the benefits you receive are:

Create New Templates, Import, Export Edit
Use Templates for individuals or share across groups of phones
Easily Program Phone Keys & Button Assignments with drag and drop enabled templates
Firmware Management – allows you to choose which firmware to load on a per device/template basis, valuable for testing new firmware

Click to check out the free guide to EndPoint Manager by FreePBX

SysAdmin Pro

The System Admin Module allows you to make changes to your Network Settings, DNS, Intrusion Detection System, Notification Settings, and Time Zone. It also allows you to power off or reboot your system, register a license to use Commercial Modules, and see the usage of your hard drives.

Web CallBack

Add “Click to Call” features on your website. You can have calls directed to any destination you would like.

web-callback

FREE Guide from FreePBX on the details of Web CallBack

Outbound Call Limiting

This module is self-explanatory, it limits the amount of times a certain number is called within a set time period. You can easily adhere to any restrictions on how much consumers are called.

Assign Call Limits to Outbound Routes
Control how many times you can call a phone number during a set period of time
Set your own limits of both number of calls and time period.
Outbound Call Limiting is compatible with the FreePBX Xact Dialer Product

Check out more FREE info. about Outbound Call Limiting

CallerID Management

Adjust the outbound caller ID per extension by inputting a code before dialing.

callerid-manager

That’s not all…in the next blog- Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Paging Pro, VM Notify, Fax Pro, Call Recording, Q-Xact, we will continue to introduce more features that help you stand out!

VoIP SMS Text Messaging – A convenient way to communicate

Giving customers a convenient way to communicate is how a business stands out among their competitors.

Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Xact Dialer, Appointment Reminder, Parking Pro, Voicemail and Pin Set Pro

Xact Dialer

Appointment Reminder

Parking Pro

Voicemail Reports

Pin Set Pro

VoIP Supply Named To Top 100 Western New York Private Companies 2016 List

The Grandstream UCM IP PBX Product Review: Asterisk and Auto-Provision

The Grandstream UCM IP PBX Product Review: Why Do PoE, FXO and FXS Matter?

Smart Ways To Spend Your Year-End Budget

Connect Multiple Agents to the Same Softphone

How Do I Connect Multiple Agents to the Same Softphone?

Stay Tuned

Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Paging Pro, VM Notify, Fax Pro, Call Recording, Q-Xact

Paging Pro

VM Notify

Fax Pro Module

Call Recording Reports

Q-Xact

#DoGreatThings This #GivingTuesday With VoIP Supply!

Sangoma’s FreePBX Modules: Extension Routing, UCP for EPM, PBX EndPoint Manager, and more.

Extension Routing

UCP for EPM (User Control Panel for EndPoint Manager)

PBX EndPoint Manager

SysAdmin Pro

Web CallBack

Outbound Call Limiting

CallerID Management

Featured Posts

Popular Posts

Read Our Feed

Latest

VoIP Post Categories

Archives