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 )-:
You might see a few companies (especially BT!) offering deals in return for a “Rolling one year contract”, but what does this mean, and how it it different from an ordinary “One year contract”.
Well, in simple terms it’s a lock-in from the supplier of one year, (just line any other one year contract), then at the end of that year, it’s a another lock-in for another whole year, and so on.
Traditionally, we’re used to taking out a contract with a telephone company for one year, then after that it’s on a monthly (or sometimes quarterly) basis after that. Not so with the latest deal from BT…
But is it worth it? That’s for you to decide - there’s usually an incentive from the supplier (but not always - check the small print!) In BT’s case, the current incentive is free evenings and weekend calls if you sign up for a rolling contract.
So always read the small print and make sure this is what you really want to do before signing up for one.
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.
Something that’s asked frequently is the legality of call-recording….
Well, the good news (?) is that in the UK it’s perfectly legal to record your own telephone calls, and you don’t even need to tell the other end that you’re making a recording. As long as one party of the call is aware that the call is being recorded (and that can be you!), then there isn’t an issue.
If you want to publish the recording, then you may have issues, however a written (or typed!) transcription is normally perfectly usable - E.g. in a court of law, and in that instance you can always back it up with a copy of the recording if you are challenged.
So feel free to record your calls! There are numerous devices available for traditional analogue phones, and most VoIP systems have the facility to record if required too.
But beware - now when you call someone, you should always be under the assumption that the call is being recorded. Every financial institution does it, as do all the utility companies. “Calls may be recorded for training purposes” they’ll tell you - and while this may well be true (it generally is when talking to “sales” people as their supervisors will want to check up on them and give them praise or a bolocking, depending on their success rate!), it’s really done for their protection, so they can sue the pants off you if you get abusive to them or claim you lied to them.
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.
When it’s going through the “Spook Call” service, of-course…
So this is a company, setup with the intention of letting you place a telephone call, but fake your caller ID number to the far-end. Not only that, but they’re offering a voice disguise function too.
Is this good? I don’t think so. It completely de-values caller ID, meaning that when someone calls you and you see their number (which might even go into your system and produce a name or even be integrated with your address book, or CRM system and produce more details), you can now no-longer rely on that number being who it says it is, and in todays world where we’re all fighting against identity theft, spam, and other nuisance phone calls, this is just too much.
A lot of people PAY BT, etc. for the privilege of receiving incoming caller-id too - are these people going to carry on paying for something that’s now a joke?
Fortunately “something’s being done” or at least it’s being brought to the attention of the press, MPs and so on.
For more reading, have a look at The Registers take on it, but for now, trusting incoming caller ID is going to be somewhat tricky now 
Update: Friday 13th June
It looks like the Spook Call company have turned themselves off. Hurrah! (or words to that effect 
Why, to India, of-course….
And what happens when they get there?
Well - have a look below …
