The Evolution of Phone Systems

“I believe in the future wires will unite the head offices of telephone companies in different cities, and a man in one part of the country may communicate by word of mouth with another in a distant place”-These are the exact words written by Alexander Graham Bell in 1978. He invented the telephone to connect people from different places. The development of this communication device has been then unveiled before our eyes. 

Ages ago from the very first telephone Alexander Graham Bell invented, to the most recent smart phones out in the marketplace today, the intention of connecting people anywhere is visible.  There are several features of a phone system that caused a great impact on the industry. The ability to make concurrent calls using one phone number is one.

Phone systems like VoIP and IP PBX are one of the best inventions yet. Leaving the concept of which Mr. Bell has written “being able to pass from one region of the country to another place”. Surely, from the typical analog phone to the current mobile and VoIP phones, charges have increased dramatically as the years pass. Almost everything you do with the telephone (PTSN based) seems to add on to your tab. Things like adding an additional telephone line (with a different phone number) voice mail services, number block or sms (applicable to mobile phones) create additional charges on your monthly subscription bill. 

This is pretty hard if you are running a business with ten employees each requiring a telephone on their cubicle. You will be taking in ten separate monthly bills as well. Unlike the most talked about VoIP phone systems, you can have all ten phones using one phone number under one subscription fee. These characteristics of VoIP have made this phone system the number one choice of jobs worldwide. 

Almost all businesses use VoIP because of the big savings they produce. Imagine experiencing all the characteristics of a traditional PTSN phone (clear reception) plus the add on that you can avail.  Like any other phone systems, VoIP also allows you to use voicemail, call forwarding, call redirecting or re routing (transferring calls to an assigned working phone number you can access wherever you are). 

Other features like the automated machine, which moves like your virtual secretary, segregating all calls diverting it to the correct extension number the caller dialed, or to the correct name of an employee the customer mentioned during the call. No need to hire an employee on this type of business. The automated phone system can manage all that saving you from hiring or designating someone to do all the chores. There is no risk of party lines and intersecting lines. With VoIP all lines are secured and private. Encryption may be from the owner or the service provider, but however you like it it will definitely be secured from online hackers. Thank you Alexander Graham Bell for inventing the telephone. Then a need, now a necessity.

Top 5 Considerations in Choosing an Office Telephone

Choosing the right office telephone system is not easy. There are so many things to consider and so many options to choose from. If you have a business, carrying a big corporation or a plain employee and one of your responsibilities is to choose the right office telephone system for your company, then this article might help you. Here are the top five considerations in selecting an office telephone:

1.       Analyze what your company needs.

In selecting an office telephone system, consider your company needs. Does your office require multiple connections? Is voicemail necessary? What about voice conferencing? It is best to research and check on the things that your company need in an office telephone. Also consider checking on the features of an office telephone system you’re eyeing to get. Find out if it fits your company needs and if your business will benefit from it.

2.       Look for Bundles and Packages.

If you want to save big on your monthly phone bills check out the bundles that a service provider offers. Always check out the best deals, the lower the call rates the better it is for your company. If you can find an internet and telephone bundle at a lower monthly rate it would be better. For an office telephone VoIP system is ideal. It is powered by internet, therefore monthly rate would only depend on the bandwidth you’re subscribing and not on the number of telephones you own.

3.       Get VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol based Telephone system.

As I have mentioned, VoIP is powered by internet, meaning you can do a lot of things besides incoming and outgoing calls. If you want to make use of all the features of an ideal office telephone like video conferencing, sms, chat, PC-to-PC calls, simultaneous outgoing calls, and so forth; then consider becoming an IP phone system.

4.       Mobility

Let just say features and functions of a mobile phone, analog phone and the internet rolled into one. This breakthrough phone system gives you an option to make all calls redirected to your mobile phone or home phone if a client called after business hours. This feature allows you and your employees to connect wherever you are, creating a good working relationship which is obviously good for whatever business.

5.       Return of Investment Fast!

Being mobile allows you to not lose an important client call. Meaning, even after business hours you still work on getting more investors and converting more earnings. With the great saving you get from subscription and the ability to re-route callers to any mobile or working phone, this will give you an increase of 35%-50% turnover within a month. See, choosing an office telephone system could be a bit crucial to your business, so think and choose wisely!

Office telephone system - Is VoIP the Best Option?

As high speed internet becomes cheap, increasing number of businesses and enterprise ditching their old traditional phones and jumping off to VoIP as their office telephone. Significantly affordable than the traditional phone lines the hype over VoIP makes it sound like a magic. It is flexible, cost effective (low call rates) and full featured.

If you’re looking for a hosted service, VoIP is pretty simple. All you need is VoIP ready equipment, and then the service provider will do all the rest. From delivering calls to your phone and software clients your service provider can handle all that. No need for additional on-site hardware besides your phones, you just need a little space for the small box (enclosure). Though VoIP is as perfect as it sounds, there are certain things you need to consider before making VoIP your official office telephone system.

Maintaining a self-hosted onsite VoIP system requires a private branch exchange IP (IP based) like PBX phone system for example. Used by many offices, this VoIP friendly system route your calls to the appropriate phones on your network and to PSTN gateway. PSTN gateway converts analog signals to digital. You can ask your provider on how to encrypt your VoIP for a more secure phone usage. This type of office telephone just need a little tweaking for more advanced options which requires accessing your service provider's online account interface.

Using VoIP could cost your company next to nothing especially if you already have an infrastructure in place. The more concurrent users you have, the more bandwidth you need. If you work from home or if you only have few employees, you won’t have to worry much. VoIP is one good office telephone. Your capacity to call simultaneously normally lies on your service provider.

VoIP consumes at approximately 64kb of data every second you talk. You can actually use chat on VoIP without having to worry about hitting your bandwidth caps, but make sure to keep close tabs on your data usage to avoid over spending on exceeding cap.

Business Phone Plans - What Suits You?

What is your business phone plans? Do you want a cost cutting or sales driving machine? If you have a business big or small, choosing the perfect business phone plans for you and your employees is pretty challenging. With so many things to consider, it’s difficult to find a service provider that offers everything that you need. 

Things like free local and long distance calls, a lower monthly rate and mobility or the ability to bring your phone even outside the city and still receive calls from clients and office workers. 

The best thing to do if you are planning on getting a business phone plan is to research on which service provider offers the lowest rate. Also check on the internet for the latest equipments and services that your company could avail. Do not limit your company to incoming and outgoing calls only. Find a plan that can do more than that. If you want a sales driving machine, look for internet based phone plan like VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol based business plan. 

Using VoIP and PBX your business could grow up to 35% ROI (return of investment) in two months. PBX through VoIP can allow you to connect more than ten lines even twenty or more depending on your subscription. In this way you can have all your employees and branches connected to one system only. This is easier to track, cost effective and could actually make your employee enjoy their phone connection. 

If you want free calls, a pc-to-pc call can be an option. If you want a guilt free conversation, chat can be done with most subscription. Other offers also include unlimited group conferencing, an auto attendant, voicemail transcriptions, etc. 

You can also have an option of having another number because some service providers has two phone numbers allotted in business phone plans. Make sure to get a no risk long term commitment business phone plans to service provider that you feel is sincere in helping you grow your business, in cutting phone costs and drive more sales into your company. 

VoIP Office Telephone System – Simply the Best Communication System to Date

If you want to grow your business and get connected with the world, get a good if not the best office telephone system that could do that and more. Make sure that all the features you wanted for an office telephone is covered by top telephone enterprise you'd get your phone from. Normally an analog phone, plus a digital phone plus a virtual phone is included in the package if not at least you have an option to include any of the three. If you want to retain your company's phone number you can do so, as well as your analog phone. 

The super in demand VOIP or voice over IP office telephone is taking the business world by storm making small and big enterprise use this telecommunication system. In fact there is what they call business VOIP system that features almost a hundred ways to upgrade your office telephone system without any extra or hidden charges. One of the things this business VOIP could offer is the automated attendant services. These enable callers to be transferred to the department they are calling in, through an extension based on their selected number on the menu. No need to hire a receptionist or an operator. There are also options for callers to reach the person they are calling in by punching in their office number or extension number. 

Some VOIP activated office telephone program their system with "dial by name" set up. The caller can enter the first three letters of the first or last name of the person they are calling in. All unanswered calls to either extension or number are directed to a voice prompt which gives callers another set of options to choose from.

The capabilities of a VoIP powered office telephone system are endless, make sure to ask from your service provider and dealers how to make use of it for the benefit of your business and to earn bigger ROI and great savings too. Other features included in these type of office telephone are call coverage, calling features like incoming and outgoing calls free of charge, ability to do conferencing, voicemail and messaging, an ability to integrate with PC's and other office systems, track call logs, directories and phone books.