I attended a business lunch recently where Graham Hill made a presentation. Who’s he? He’s the Founder and Director of Verbatim The Phone answering Service. Graham is an interesting man with an interesting business - answering phones!
He presented us with some statistics - For example: On average, a business will miss 15% of incoming calls.
He later emailed me a couple of documents:
The Facts behind UK Telephone Behaviour
and
Basic Telephone Skills
So if you thought you knew how to answer the phone, think again!
This is the latest addition to the DSX-10 range, the DSX-10v. V because it’s VoIP only - there is no provision for PSTN hardware in this box - and you can see why - at 215mm square it’s tiny!
Small in size, but big in features. It’s capable of handling up-to 60 extensions with all the features you’d expect from a modern PABX. Call-groups, hunt-groups, music on hold, voicemail, etc. All controlled by simple star codes from any phone, or via a web interface.
And remember, ‘v’ is not just for voice, it’s for video too. This unit supports video phones (eg. the Grandstream GXV3000 and ATL IP400) out of the box.
Ever had a call from someone who just hung up? The chances are that it’s a marketing call system and alas, you’re going to get more …
What to do… Firstly if they didn’t withold their number, then look it up. How? Several ways and they might not even cost you anything. Firstly, find the location - if it’s a UK number (starting 01, 02, or even 08, 07, etc.) Try this site: Magenta Systems. That will tell you where (in the UK) the call originated from. Maybe it was just your long-lost Aunt Flo from Durham?
Then… Google the number. The chances are you’ll either find the companys website (if it’s legit!), or you might find the number listed it a “Who called me” website. One I’ve used in the past is: Who Calls Me.
And if there is a human on the end of the phone? Well, Speak to them. Tell them that you’re not interested (which you won’t be!) ask to be added to their do-not-dial list. They’re paying for the call, so just waste a little of their time and get on with your life.
And if by-chance you hear a robot saying something like “Please press 9 to be connected”, then don’t wory about and rumours that you might hear or read about - there’s no-way you can be charged (yet) in the UK for an incoming call, so go-ahead and press 9 - it’s just their way of making sure there really is a human at your end, and then waste a little of their time, then get on with your life.
Do not call the number back. Especially if it’s an 09 or 070 number. (Note: 070 is NOT a mobile number, it’s a premium rate service!). All that’ll do is waste your own time.
Finally, register every number and address you have with the Telephone and Mail preference services.
Took delivery of a pair of Grandstream GXV3000 video phones this morning with a view to seeing if they work, and how well they work with my DSX PBX system…
And what can I say… I plugged them in, gave them a simple configuration, assigned 2 accounts on my office DSX PBX and made a call.
And they “just worked”. Fantastic!
(OK, so I had to tell the PBX to expect a video phone, but after that it really did just work!)
I have to say they’re even better than I imagined them to be. For under £300 for a pair you seem to get a fantastic amount of technology. The phones have a built-in photo gallery feature - digital photo frame if you prefer. And how do you get data into them? via USB sockets at the back of-course. They even have video and audio out connectors and I’ll plug one into my TV later - just because I can.
They also can take RSS feeds and display them on the screen when idle, as well as act as a simple web browser, although using it is somewhat tricky!
A quick update… Just had a video conversation with someone who has an ATL IP400 Videophone (After a somewhat tricky set-up procedure!) all went as well as it ought to. Shame the ATL phone is twice the price of the Grandstream )-:
It’s not often I’m impressed enough with a shop to actually write about them, however Orkney PC came to my attention recently and I’m pleased to say that they were friendly and efficient…
The story was that I’d been asked to set-up a new broadband connection for a relative who lives in Orkney - that’s a group of islands off the north Scottish coast from those who don’t know. I’m based in Devon which is down in the South West of England. We’re about 1000 miles apart.
The connection was duly provided by Entanet, who I resell - not without hassle as BT hadn’t updated their post-code database, and there was a pending cancellation from Orange on the line, however the last thing required was a router… Normally, I’d buy one locally and take/post it to my customers, however something a bit quicker was required here…
Enter google and a quick search of PC shops in the Orkneys, and Orkney PC in Kirkwall came to the top of the list. Their website is just a single page right now, but it had 2 important details on one - one was their phone number, and the other other a statement saying that they program routers for their customers. So a phone call and an email later and there’s now a Netgear Wi-Fi router, with the right information in it and a WPA key set on the Wi-Fi and it’s all ready to plug in and go!
Now that’s what I call a good local computer shop.
Further to my recent post about call recording, I’ve been looking about for places where you may have to record calls.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) looks after the general rules and regulations for running any sort of money services companies such as money lenders, banks, mortgage companies, insurance brokers and so on, and they have produced a code of conduct in which they make recommendations about call recording. You can download consultation paper here, and the section we are most interested in is chapter 19: “Telephone Recording – recording of voice conversations and electronic communications”.
A relevant extract is 19.4:
19.4 We propose firms be required to record telephone lines used for voice conversations that involve the receipt of client orders and the negotiating, agreeing and arranging of transactions across the equity, bond and financial commodity and derivatives markets, and to retain electronic communications relevant to these activities. The term electronic communications has wide application and includes fax, e-mail, chat and instant messaging – but, obviously, is not limited to those.
So if you’re in the financial business then make-sure your current or next telephone system has the capability to take call recordings. Drogon Systems would recommend that you take call recordings in any business where you take orders, or deal with clients over the telephone.
for a change, I thought I’d write about an installation I did recently in a local independent school…
They wanted a small system to replace an ancient Panasonic PBX. Their existing set-up comprised of what might be considered fairly “normal” for a lot of small businesses - 3 standard analogue lines, a Panasonic PBX and a dozen desk phones.
Features they they were looking for were primarily a voice mailbox facility for most members of staff, (up to 70 staff members), even if they don’t have a phone on their desks. Additionally, they are looking at remote phones - they have a rather odd 2-site set-up (administration building separate from the main school with independent broadband connections) and wanted to link both sites over the Internet to save phone bills, and look at placing outgoing calls via the Internet in the future to save of call fees.
From my point of view, it was all fairly straightforward - I was able to do the installation during half-term break, so the school was quiet, then come the following Monday morning when we’d gone live, I was on-site to guide them through the new system. (They had a new receptionist too!) Everything went well on the morning, I was able to make some “tweaks” to the system for them and talk to them about what was important for them - pupils being late or absent was one area where things get very busy in the morning with parents calling in, so we’re looking at a time-based automated system to manage that. Tracking down absentees - automatically phoning their homes is another thing we’re looking into.
An immediate advantage was the ability to install the desk phones anywhere where they had existing Cat-5 Ethernet cabling. Moving an existing phone had always proved troublesome as it was done using standard telephone cabling back to the existing PBX - structured cabling hasn’t quite made it into the administration building of the school yet - but they did have a rather good Ethernet network already in-place and working. The phones we chose had 2 Ethernet ports and acted as an Ethernet switch, so could go in-line with the desktop PCs, and working to a budget, we chose a nice console type phone for the receptionist and more basic phones for everyone else. An inexpensive ATA was used to make an existing analogue DECT phone work.
Job done!
Or are we? Not quite - Looking to the future, we’re lookiing to migrate them over to a pure VoIP solution in the fullness of time - I’ve been monitoring their broadband usage for a few weeks now to make sure it’s going to be suitable, but the plan is to migrate them to a good business quality ISP with a router which can manage QoS/Traffic shaping, then we can migrate outgoing calls over the Internet connection (Incoming still via their BT lines), then once we’re confident it’s all working, port their number into the VoIP platform and we can then cancel the BT lines.
One thing I noticed almost right away was that their existing 3 analogue lines do very occasionally become all busy - especially in the mornings, so already we’re putting excess outgoing calls over the Internet, but migrating their ISP will give them a much more resilient connection to place all their calls over.
Will they save money? Interstingly, I’ve never sold VoIP on money saving, but rather on features and benefits, but in this case; Yes. Even if the call costs over the Internet were the same as they pay BT, what they’ll save is the cost of 3 BT phone lines, so £35 a month (approx). Not a lot, but in the long-run it’ll mount up. Of-course call-costs over the Internet are generally quite competitive with BT, so there will be savings to be made there - especially calling the teaching buildings of the school using their Internet connections rather than the PSTN.
Imagine going into a pub and asking for “Up to a pint of beer”. If the landlord gave you a thimble-full, would you have course to complain?
But for the past few years, we’ve been sold on the “Up to 8megabits” broadband connection.
Now, from a technical point of view, this is correct - the speed that we can get is dependant on the technology which depends on the copper wires connecting out premises to the local BT exchange, and the longer these wires are, the slower the speed. 8Mb is the maximum speed you can get with an ADSL+ product, but how many people actually get the full 8Mb?
Not that many - of-course it really depends on where you are… A recent survey suggests that if you live in a city then you’ll get faster speeds, than living in a rural location - What can I say to that? How about (to use an americanism), “Well, Duh”… It’s patently obvious and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out why - Cities have a higher population density, therefore more telephone exchanges, therefore the chances of you being closer to an exchange is higher.
Back to the point. Ofcom is now asking ISPs to be more up-front with their advertising and numbers. They’re also asking them to be honest (what, an ISP lie to you? Never!) when they use terms such as “unlimited”, and so on. (And what do you think “unlimited” means?) It’s very hard these days to get a truly unlimited Internet connection - well, actually, it’s not that hard, but no-one is willing to pay for it!
So if you’re getting or changing your broadband connection, READ THE SMALL PRINT! and use the various checkers to give you an estimate of the maximum speed your line will support. A very good one is the Sam Knows site. Get your phone number and postcode handy, then jump in, so some research, ask friends and neighbours, pester your local ICT geek, and go for it!
In my last posting, I talked about BT owning all the kit in the exchange. Well, this isn’t strictly true - sometimes when you look for an Internet company, you’ll appear to have a choice of several companies, with BT being just one of them… What to remember is that via BT, it’s the BT Wholesale network, and through that, you have a choice of over 100 resellers of the BT wholesale network products, and BT Internet is just one of those resellers.
But what about the others? These are companies who’ve put their own equipment into the BT exchanges. They rent space off BT, they pay BT to connect the copper wires from the exchange to your premises to their kit instead of BTs kit, then provide your Internet connectivity directly through their network, from the exchange back to their own headquarters, rather than through the BT wholesale network.
LLU means Local Loop Unbundling. The “Local Loop” is the fancy name for the copper wires that go from the exchange to your premises. These providers “unbundle” the copper and take them off BT and into their own network. The local loop is sometimes called the “last mile”.
There are two levels of LLU - the first is simply piggybacking their Internet service on-top of the BT telephone service, and the second level is taking over the Telephone service as well. What’s best for you? Well, who knows, but lets’ put it this way… Here in Drogon Towers, we have a standard BT line which we pay BT for every month. We buy our Internet through Entanet (which we’re a reseller of, so we’re obviously prepared to put our money where our mouth is!) Incoming calls come via BT, but outgoing calls go out over the Internet line via our own VoIP service. This costs us the bare minimum BT charge (We pay a little extra for the privilege of having incoming caller ID), the ADSL broadband costs us £25 + VAT and then there’s the call charges on top of that. OK for a small business? We think so!
Interestingly this is something I’m asked a lot. You do a quick search on-line and find that you have a BT broadband enabled exchange, so think that your only choice for a broadband provider is BT. Worse, you’ve called BT and they’ve said that that’s the case - it’s BT or no-one.
Well, that’s not true, and it hasn’t been for a long time!
Here’s how it works: BT Wholesale own the copper wires and the equipment in the exchange, but they then resell this through a group of over 100 resellers. BT arrange the broadband signals via the copper to your home or office, through their network and then plumb it into the resellers own network, and from there it’s off to the global Internet. BT Internet is just one of those 100+ resellers and they’re treated in exactly the same by by BT wholesale as all the others.
So now you have a choice of over 100 ISPs to choose from… Confused? Yup, you bet you will be - especially if you’ve not had the time to do research and so on. Here at Drogon Towers, we resell products from just one of these 100+ BT wholesale resellers - a company that specialises in dealing with resellers, rather than direct to the public, and in-general it’s a good arrangement. They have a technically excellent network themselves and really seem to care about it too.
But where do you go if you still haven’t a clue? Obviously if you’re a customer of Drogon Systems, you’re paying us to make that decision for you, but what if you aren’t?
Think Broadband and Sam Knows are two excellent sites to get information from, but take your time, read the reviews and make your own mind up, but take note of this: Cheap, Reliable, Fast; Pick 2 of these three, because that’s what your choices are. We’d rather have a reliable and fast connection, but those don’t come cheap, but if you’re a small/medium business and your business relies on email and Internet connectivity, then why should you pick cheap?
