Team Partners Telecommunications

06/05/2020

VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
One of the easiest ways to work from home or anywhere is with a hosted VoIP phone system. This means that the brains of the phone system are in the cloud and you simply connect your device (desk phone, portable handset, mobile or computer softphone) to a reliable Internet connection. You can then receive and make calls as if you were in the office.

There are various additional features that VoIP offers but we will not go into these now. You may however, find this video on VoIP useful.

The main issue with VoIP is that it does require a good Internet connection. This does not mean that it needs to be high speed but it does need to be stable. While most home broadband connections can handle numerous VoIP calls, when you start getting other family members streaming TV and playing on networked games consoles, calls can start to breakup and residential grade routers may not be able to be configured to deal with the problem.

Using a mobile data connection (the 4G data on your mobile) is an option but this does not guarantee good call quality. This is down to various factors that you have no control of; how many mobiles are connected to the local mast and what they are doing.

As with all systems, we recommend that you test them first to ensure that they will perform well when you need them.

If you already have a VoIP phone system, speak with your supplier about what you want to achieve. They should be able to help you out.

If you would like to know if VoIP is the right system for your business, call us on 033 33 58 33 33. We are here to help.

04/05/2020

Dial Through Service
This is used to make outbound calls and have them come from your business number.

It is great if your are stuck at home or out and about and need to make a work call and don’t want to display your home or mobile number. Since the call does not go over the internet the call quality is guaranteed to be as good as if you called from your landline or mobile.

It can be used in conjunction with other services such as Landline Redirect and Number Translation Service to achieve a truly flexibility and resilient solution..

If you would like to know the best solution for your business, call us on 033 33 58 33 33. We are here to help.

02/05/2020

Number Translation Service
This can be used to handle inbound calls and basically redirects (translates) one number to another.

The advantages this has over a normal landline redirect is that you can add various enhancements like:

- It can be set-up quickly
- Redirect to multiple numbers
- Time of day routing
- Voicemail to email
- Handle as many calls as you want
- You can control the divert / routing remotely

Since you can send it to any other number, it is guaranteed to work as well as that landline (home) or mobile (personal) works at a known location.

As with everything, there are some downsides. The main one being that once a call is answered, it can’t be re-routed. This normally becomes a problem when diverting to multiple mobiles and the voicemail on one of them answers the call rather than a human.

If you would like to know the best solution for your business, call us on 033 33 58 33 33. We are here to help.

30/04/2020

We are presently getting questions from lots of businesses about how they can work from home, so we will cover some options over the next few posts.

Landline Redirect
All landlines should have the option to redirect calls to another number. This is what you should be offered by your provider if your line has a fault.

Calls can be diverted to any landline or a mobile. This can be set on a permanent divert by your provider or you can add a service where you can change the diversion as and when you want.

While this is available on all landlines, is cheap and easy to set-up it does have some flaws. These include:

- It can take a day to add to your account

- Your supplier can change the divert destination but it does not happen immediately

- If you go for the enhanced option where you can change the destination, you need to do it from a phone connected to your phone line (in the office)

- It can only divert to one number at any time

- You are normally limited to the number of simultaneous calls it will divert

While all telecoms suppliers should be able to offer this, first check how much they will charge and confirm you are not entering a new contract!

If you would like to know if a landline redirect is the right solution for your business, call us on 033 33 58 33 33. We are here to help.

27/01/2020

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