VoIP FAQs GENERAL QUESTIONS. VoIP4Cloud voip4cloud.com

Transcription

1 VoIP FAQs GENERAL QUESTIONS What is VoIP? VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over the internet instead of using traditional phone lines. Many companies now use VOIP as it offers much lower rates than traditional phone companies. How do I make VOIP Calls? Especially if you are making long distance digital VoIP calls over the internet, it not only provides you with much cheaper rates but allows you to call from your smartphone or the desktop via a softphone. If it is an free innetwork call, you simply dial the extension. What are the benefits of VoIP? The rationale for adopting VoIP services is the reduction in overall operational costs, especially in cases of international calling. It is also far more versatile in that its features include call forwarding, voic and autoattendant, all managed from an online interface. For enterprise businesses, it allows for the shortening of provisioning over that of a traditional environment and to better connect employees via Unified Communications. What are the benefits of using VoIP4Cloud s services? VoIP4Cloud is a VoIP telecoms provider that delivers an advanced, feature-rich communications system with international business class routes worldwide that is fully integrated with our recommended Bria mobile app. All calls are delivered via premium routes at the very highest BT/Verizon quality. We also offer a VPN solution where all VoIP traffic is wrapped in secure, encrypted voice packets. What is the call quality like? The call quality of VoIP calls is now so good most users find the quality of calls to be indistinguishable from a standard PSTN phone service. This much depends on your bandwidth, which will affect your sound quality if insufficient. The most common cause for poor quality calling is that bandwidth is being consumed by the computers on your network. However, if your system is working effectively then your VoIP experience is likely to be of excellent quality. How can I judge whether VoIP4Cloud is the right solution for my business? As more and more IT departments migrate to the cloud to take advantage of lowcost, scalable and reliable phone systems, VoIP4Cloud offers a service that provides you with cheap, best quality calling and a 30-day risk-free trial after signing up to test our system before you buy. Why can t I simply use Skype? Skype is a free software program that utilises a peer-to-peer VoIP application, which is primarily meant for home use. It is not sophisticated or secure enough for professional business use. Furthermore, Skype does not use pure SIP and so Skype is more of a one-size-fits-all product, whereas VoIP providers work with business owners to tailor the system to their specific needs. What equipment do I need to use VoIP4Cloud s hosted PBX? All you need is a broadband internet connection and either an IP softphone or mobile. There is no other equipment you will need as your IP PBX phone system will be hosted in the cloud.

2 What router will I need? Generally, adding IP phones to your network will not require any special networking equipment. However, some equipment on the market has been shown to have issues with VoIP in general or SIP specifically and may consequently cause connection problems. If you are upgrading or setting up a new office and wondering which networking equipment to buy, D-Link, Linksys or Netgear routers work well with VoIP traffic and require minimal configuration. Please contact us for more specific information. How can I test my connection? We can provide a free 30-day trial so that you can measure upload and download speeds, consistency of service and jitter which due to network congestion can cause improper queuing and delay as the stream between each packets becomes lumpy and packet loss. The test wil also measure the clarity of using VoIP4Cloud s services and its functionality. How can I configure my VoIP account on a smartphone? Bria is a SIP phone app for the iphone and Android platforms that uses a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection to make and receive calls that fully integrates with our IP PBX solution Fuse Professional. Bria facilitates effective communication management that accommodates multiple calls, call swapping, call merging and splitting and performs attended and unattended transfers. Simply download the Bria app and the G.729 codec and enter your SIP details as provided and you can then start making calls. Why do I also need a G.729 codec for Bria? The G.729 codec is an audio algorithm for voice that compresses digital voice in packets of 10 milliseconds. Because of its low bandwidth requirements, G.729 is used in VoIP applications to minimise bandwidth to enhance your communications experience. What is X-Lite 5 for? You can download CounterPath s X-Lite 5 to make calls from your desktop. You must first have an account with VoIP4Cloud, which provides you with your SIP-enabled IP PBX phone system. X-Lite provides you with some of the most popular features of CounterPath s fully-loaded Bria and EyeBeam softphones so you can take them for a test drive before you make your softphone purchases. How many extensions do I get with Fuse Professional? Fuse Professional is able to accommodate as many lines and numbers, with as many IP phones in your office, as you like. Each phone is an extension that is set up with a unique phone number and customers can start as small as a single extension. When you sign up with VoIP4Cloud, we offer one of the cheapest per-extension charges around. What is Fuse Professional? Fuse Professional is VoIP4Cloud s flagship product, a world-class business phone system with all of the features you would expect from a top-of-the-range IP PBX. It is built and hosted on cloud technology for businesses to manage high-end telephony services (see the Fuse Professional section for more information). What is SIP? In the world of VoIP, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a call setup used for controlling communication sessions and to establish and terminate VOIP telephone calls and to facilitate the connection of a private branch exchange (PBX) on the internet. One of the advantages of SIP is its ability to combine data, voice and video in a single line.

3 How does a SIP phone work? A VoIP system consists of an IP PBX server and a number of SIP phones using either mobiles or softphones. When you sign up with a cloud hosted VoIP service provider such as VoIP4Cloud, the IP PBX establishes the connection according to the corresponding SIP addresses. What are the advantages of using virtual phone numbers? A virtual phone number is generally used to make international and long distance telephone calls at local rates and can be redirected to an office phone, mobile or voic to . So for example, if your sales office is in Beijing but the head office is in California, you can purchase a local DID so that anyone dialling the local number in Beijing would connect to your phone in California and only pay at local phone rates (see the International DID section for more information). What is an auto-attendant? An auto-attendant, IVR or digital receptionist is a voice system that allows callers to be transferred to an extension without going through a telephone receptionist. If a user is not available, the auto-attendant directs callers to the voice mailbox of the user. Recorded greetings messages can be professionally recorded and uploaded to your account as a.wav or.mp4 file. What is an API and what are the benefits? API is an acronym for application programming interface, which is a method for a telecoms service provider to allow third-party developers to use applications based on their own specific needs. With APIs, you just call the functions or tools to effectively tailor a company s telephony in many simultaneous directions. Why should I use secure VPN communications? Companies can be at risk if calls are exposed to an environment that is unprotected because data is unencrypted. The primary reason for setting up a VoIP VPN (virtual private network) solution is to encrypt your calls over the internet to secure communications across your network. A VPN avoids the risk of having your digital transmissions open to the threat of abuse or interception. How much does your service cost? Up to 100 call extensions our Business Plans rates are priced from $10 per user extension month, after which it is free. We offer tiered extension plans and as more are added it reflects in the charging increments. The plans also include storage disk space and Platinum Support for a month. Are there any hidden charges I can expect each month? No, VoIP4Cloud s calling plans delivers flat rate extensions pricing of $10-$15 per month. Airtime needs to be purchased separately. What level of call credit do I need? Call Centers need to buy a minimum of US$500 Prepaid VoIP Airtime to start making calls but there is no limit set for the Office Mobile and Office Pro packages. The level of credit really depends on the size of your business and call usage but you should have sufficient credit to cover the cost of all business calls. Remember, you can make free calls between head office and branch offices but need to pay for local and international calls you make. For example, the rate per minute to call say Arizona is $0.0220, or for example calls to an Irish mobile costs only $ a minute.

4 What methods of payment do you offer? Payments of up to US$500 can be made via PayPal. If higher, you will need to make the payment via a bank transfer. What do I need to do to sign up for your service? First, you need use the sign-up form and register an account with us. You will then receive an with a verification code. Once you have clicked on that you will receive another with your account details. The next step is to go to the VoIP Plans page and select the right Plan for your company. We offer additional services such as a dedicated server platform and secure VPN, which can be requested. You then need to buy airtime to start making calls. What level of technical knowhow is needed to use Fuse Professional? Very little. Fuse Professional is an intuitive userfriendly online interface and account settings can easily be administered from any browser. IP phones are plug-and-play and for mobiles all you need do is go to the app store and download Bria and the G.729 codec. How do I manage my extensions? The home page of Fuse Professional displays all your extension accounts including contact details, routing rules, SIP devices, charging plans and call screening. After you have finished setting up an extension, you will be asked if you want to provision them right away. Extension Groups can also be managed here to enable the assignment of extensions. What call reporting does Fuse provide? One of the most consistent advantages of using Fuse Professional is its wide range of reporting and statistics. The system provides you with real time information about available accounts, call flow, users sessions and much more. You can monitor statistical information for certain periods of time that include call distribution on destination and extension type and average success rate. What level of support do you provide? In the Support area we have a download library of all the manuals, programs and other files that you may need to get you up and running. There is also a knowledgebase, a Ticket Center and FAQs on practically everything you would ever need to ask. And, of course, you can call us directly if you ever experience a problem. Can we keep our current phone numbers? If your company has used a phone number for years you certainly don t want to abandon it for a new one. Switching to VoIP means that yes, number portability from your previous phone provider is possible in most countries. Will there be any interruptions to our existing phone service during set-up? No. VoIP4Cloud takes every precaution to ensure existing phone numbers from your current provider are ported into our IP PBX system as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. Are the phone numbers individual? Yes, VoIP4Cloud provides exclusive phone numbers to each customer, which belongs to them for as long as they want them. How does VoIP4Cloud keep its rates so low? We endeavour to offer the best possible rates and VoIP4Cloud continually strives to negotiate superior deals with suppliers with a view to passing on this discount to our customers. By purchasing in bulk from major carriers and utilising cutting-edge technology, VoIP4Cloud is in a position to significantly undercut other international call providers. Furthermore, low overheads and a no frills approach means

5 that our customers benefit even more. Are caller IDs displayed on outbound calls? Your account page gives you several options when sending the caller ID (CID) number with outbound calls. These options include: Anonymous: anonymous is sent. Caller ID DID Number: the selected DID number will be sent. Set by user device: a valid CID sent by the user device will be sent. Note that the manner in which recipient networks choose to display CID is not an issue that is under our control. For example, certain networks will not display a CID unless the CID number originates from the termination network. Certain issues exist that are caused by what is known as Caller ID Name. Only some networks support CID name. We set CID name as anonymous. If CID is Set by user device we will pass on the CID name sent. Should you select Set by user device, this may only work if the CID is correctly sent and probably more appropriate to PBX users. Can I access call records? Yes. At VoIP4Cloud, call records are available to you via our secure user account portal. The information available to you includes source and destination numbers, date and time of each call as well as the call duration and cost. What are the benefits of using Fuse Professional for business? Fuse Professional offers the following benefits: Delivers consistent communications to increase company productivity Expedites team performance and controls costs Provides the same quality calling features of a Fortune 500 company Reliable, scalable hosting helps companies adapt and grow No set-up costs or on-going administration charges Zero roaming charges International mobile calls can be made at a fraction of normal rates User friendly and easy to set up, understand and manage Quality assured, secure and robust network infrastructure, managed 24/7 Advanced IP PBX functions and features Unified mobile solutions for employees on overseas business trips No local or international overseas call charges between offices Built to scale up with your business growth instantly Hardware installation planning is centrally managed by our IT administrators via a web interface Streamlines all communications on all media platforms What are the benefits of using Fuse Professional for call centers? The benefits of using Fuse Professional for call centers are: INBOUND Improve sales and services with the Virtual Call Center s sophisticated inbound calling features Leverage Business Presence to make the most of your field sales staff Connect customers to the most suitable agent based on availability and automatic call distribution via skillsbased routing Introduce offshore personnel to extend coverage or reduce labour costs, using SIP lowcost voice transport Queued callers will hear custom greetings and where they are in line Companies benefit by a scalable system that uses highest grade, business-class VoIP routes worldwide

6 OUTBOUND Live monitoring of calls and agents On-demand call recording Agent monitoring where a supervisor can monitor a call in progress Includes a whisper feature to allow the supervisor to coach the agent and give suggestions without the customer hearing them Our barge-in feature allows the supervisor to intervene silently during the call GETTING STARTED Creating an account Before you are able to connect to VoIP4Cloud s network you will first need to sign up, choose your plan and add airtime to your account. You will be given access to Fuse Professional to set up your SIP extensions and you will then be ready to make and receive VoIP calls. You can use a deskphone, a SIP-compatible IP phone such as X-Lite, or download the Bria app to make calls from your mobile phone. Sign-up process VoIP4Cloud s sign-up process involves registering your account and selecting a package plan depending on the number of extensions for businesses and call centers. You can also request extended services such as encrypted VPN for secure calling. You then need to add pre-paid airtime. Can I test the service first? Yes, we offer a 30-day risk-free trial of our system to test the voice quality. All you need to do is select this option in the order process. If you are not completely satisfied with the results, you can simply cancel the service. What is Fuse Professional? Fuse Professional is an advanced virtual business phone system with all of the features you would expect from a top-of-the-range IP PBX. It is built and hosted on cloud technology to easily manage your telephony services with features such as auto attendant (IVR), call queue, intercom, faxing, conferences, voic , callback and follow-me. Fuse Professional also delivers multiple APIs and integration capabilities that allow third-parties to control the call flow, management and the software interface. How do I access Fuse Professional? As soon as you have purchased your package plan and added airtime to your account, simply sign in to VoIP4Cloud s system to manage your account. Our VoIP services can be accessed from anywhere in the world if you have an internet connection. From the Support area you can download all of our user guides you need to manage your phone system. How do I manage my Fuse Professional account? We will shortly be creating training aids that will show you everything you need to know to easily manage your Fuse Professional account. This includes setting up extensions, editing your contact information, managing sessions and caller IDs, setting up charging limits and credits, managing your sounds for IVRs and full reporting capabilities. In the meantime, once you have signed up with VoIP4Cloud you will need to download our user guides from the Support area. What features does Fuse Professional have? Feature-rich Fuse Professional is a complete IP PBX solution that owes its efficiency to a series of proficient features. Its platform has a simple architecture with an integrated carrier grade SIP server, with services such as call forwarding, voic , IVR, auto-attendant

7 and has superior NAT traversal services. Gateway redundancy and failover are also a vital part of its functionality. How do I set up SIP extensions in Fuse? On the Fuse Professional home page you can manage all your account related features and control the extension accounts, including your contact details, OpenID identities, routing rules, SIP devices, charging plans or call screening. Fuse Professional displays the following information about each extension: Enabled, All local calls are permitted, Only incoming calls are permitted, No calls are permitted and Disabled. You can also manage the number of groups an extension belongs to and the extension s group membership using controls from the pop-up panel. How do I set up my company s greeting message? There are two sound types in Fuse Professional: music on hold and announcements. The music on hold sound files are played when a caller is on hold waiting for someone to answer their call. These sound files are not language specific because they are usually melodies. An announcement sound is played when the user is notified on an event or when information is requested from the user. These sounds have different files for separate languages, allowing the user to listen to the sound version specific to their language preferences. If the files in the requested language do not exist, then the default sound will be played. This type of sound can be either uploaded or recorded over the phone. What reporting and analysis tools does Fuse have? Fuse Professional offers you a wide range of reports and statistics that provide real-time information about the system where you can find details about the available accounts, call flow and user sessions. Statistics include call cost, public phone numbers cost, total length of outgoing calls, total length of incoming calls, maximum length of an outgoing call, maximum length of an incoming call, account overview, accounts created, total extensions, enabled extensions, suspended extensions, registered extensions, phone terminals, queue extensions, IVRs, voic centers, conferences, callbacks, calling cards, intercom/paging and SIP trunking channels used. Can I integrate multiple APIs? Yes. Fuse Professional provides SystemAPI Control, which is required to globally grant users access to SOAP API. This is used to set the authentication method or to mange the remote applications or plug-ins that are authorised. It also provides the tools required by third-party applications to access the system resources on behalf of a resource owner via CallAPI Control. The remote applications will be able to handle local and external calls using the Fuse Professional extensions and will be authenticated with the OAuth protocol, an open protocol that enables websites or applications to access protected resources from a Service Provider via an API without requiring users to disclose their service provider credentials to consumers. Which codecs does the system support? VoIP4Cloud supports the standard codecs G.711a, G.711u and G.729 for DID calls. MOBILE APPS & SOFTPHONES How do I set up a SIP account? SIP or Session Initiation Protocol is a signalling protocol used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over the internet and is an account you get from VoIP4Cloud, much like you would get an account from your internet service provider.

8 A SIP account allows you make phone calls on your smartphone or softphone. Once you have an account with us, we will send you the codes so that you can start making calls from your smartphone. How do I set up a deskphone? IP phones are plug-and-play so when setting up a deskphone such as a Cisco IP Phone, simply plug your phone into a power socket and connect your phone to the internet with a broadband connection. You will need to configure the phone with the SIP settings VoIP4Cloud will provide you with. How do I install the Bria app? Bria is a SIP-based phone app uses a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection to make and receive calls that facilitates easy and effective communication management with an intuitive interface that accommodates multiple calls. Call functionality includes the ability to swap between two calls, merge and split calls and perform attended and unattended transfers. Simply download the Bria app, together with the G.729 codec, from Apple Store or Play Store, enter the SIP information sent to you and start making calls from your mobile. What is Counterpath s X-Lite? In order to use CounterPath s X-Lite, you must have a SIP account already set up with VoIP4Cloud. X-Lite 5 is a free download for your desktop that helps you seamlessly transition from a traditional phone environment to VoIP using a convenient popout dialpad. It also provides you with some of the most popular features of the Bria and eyebeam softphones. What smartphones support the Bria app? We recommended you use the Bria app which integrates seamlessly into our IP PBX solution for mobile business calling. The models it supports are the iphone, ipod, ipad and Android mobile phones and the Bria and eyebeam softphones. Users can forward calls directly from the office to their mobile anywhere in the world which work on 3G and Wi-Fi using the G.729 data compression technology codec for high-quality calls. Can I use my ipad to make VoIP calls? Yes. If you use Apple s ipad you can save a lot of money by using VoIP instead of expensive GSM calls to make international business calls. INTERNATIONAL DID NUMBERS What is a DID number? A DID number (also called a virtual number) is a local telephone number for any particular country or city. Calls to these numbers can be forwarded to a telephone on a traditional network or to Voice over IP (VoIP) phones or computers anywhere in the world. Can I elect to forward calls only when I m unavailable? Absolutely, configuration of your call forwarding could not be easier using our webbased interface. You can elect to forward all your calls or just forward them when you re busy. How do I buy DID numbers for my VoIP service? Buyers can purchase DID numbers for their VoIP services, such as internet telephones or associated VoIP-related products easily through our website. Geographical DID numbers bought at Voip4Cloud are fully compatible with your SIP provider (if applicable). All you need to do is update your phone number SIP settings from your VoIP4Cloud user account. Once you ve done this, all incoming calls will then be forwarded to your chosen SIP provider.

9 Can I select any DID number from a list? Our DID numbers can be purchased during the sign-up process where you can select local DID numbers from a list. However, we have no facility for providing premium or vanity numbers. What if I have problems receiving incoming calls? If you can successfully register your SIP device but are not able to receive incoming calls or incoming calls arrive intermittently, the problem is usually a result of your VoIP client being behind a NAT router. Check the configuration of your device and set the registration period to 60 seconds (or 120 seconds). This typically resolves the issue since the registration interval is now less than the DNS timeout between the NAT router and your VoIP phone. You can also attempt to use a stun server such as stunserver.org Make sure that any other keep alive options, or NAT support features, available in your VoIP device configuration are enabled. If possible, log into your NAT router s configuration system and ensure that any NAT support features are enabled. Do the DID numbers display Caller ID? 99% of the DID numbers feature accurate Caller ID information for inbound calls. This means that they will tell you the Caller ID of the person calling the DID number. Nevertheless, we cannot guarantee accurate information from some countries or areas, since the infrastructure is out of our control. Countries like Singapore and Malaysia DID numbers feature inaccurate inbound Caller IDs at this time. Caller IDs for outbound calls is set by VoIP4Cloud s server depending on the settings you choose. Caller IDs displayed on outbound calls is controlled by us so it will be 100% accurate. BILLING What is the billing cycle? We charge you for extensions on a monthly basis and you will also need to buy airtime for your calls. At the end of each calendar month we generate an invoice for the due amount. You can easily check your billing history in Fuse Professional. What are billing increments? There are three billing increments: 60/60 means that the first sixty seconds is at the rate per minute shown in our VoIP Calling rates page and billed at sixty second increments thereafter; 30/6 is billed for first thirty seconds with six second increments thereafter; and 6/6 is billed for first six seconds with six second increments thereafter. So, if you are a customer billed at 60/60, you re going to pay twice as much as a customer billed at 30/6 if your call lasts for less than 60 seconds. Generally though, average business call lengths are at least a few minutes which means the difference between packages is negligible, but if you are a call center that makes very short calls, the difference would be significant. How do I pay for extensions and airtime? After you have signed up with VoIP4Cloud and have an account with us, you will need to pay for your extensions and select the airtime you estimate you will need in the first month, depending on the destinations, regularity and call volumes your company is likely to make. Payment for smaller amounts can be made via PayPal, while for larger accounts you will need to make payment via a bank transfer. Where can I access my charging limits history? Fuse Professional allows you to view detailed information such as the recharges made by

10 your parent account to supplement the charging credits set by your charging plan and displays the remaining credit that you can still use for external calls. The system also offers you detailed information about your charging limits, including the extra money or minutes offered by your parent account. Where can I download Fuse Professional user guides? As soon as you have an account with VoIP4Cloud, you can log into your account and in the Support area you will find the download library which has all the manuals, programs and other files that you may need to get Fuse Professional up and running. BECOMING A VOIP RESELLER How can I become a VoIP reseller? On our Resellers page, all you need to do is sign up with us and our support manager will give you a call to discuss your business needs. You can then try out all of Fuse Professional s features within the 7-day trial period. Once we have established that being a VoIP4Cloud reseller is a going to be a great business opportunity for you and your business we will send you our Agent Program Agreement to sign. You will then immediately be able to start generating revenue from your customers. How do I set up a reseller website? Our Resellers program offers additional services of professional design templates to add your branded company livery into. We can also provide you with editable site copy so that you can set about writing your website very quickly. If you require any further advice about buying the right domain name for your business and hosting, just us. We can also provide expert SEO consultancy services. How do I write about VoIP services? We do provide a basic, editable template from which you can start writing about VoIP for your business, but if you need to research other aspects of VoIP to gain a fuller understanding, we can point you in the right direction. Any queries you may have with regard to VoIP4Cloud, we will gladly speak to you about whatever you need to get you started. How do I market my VoIP website? VoIP4Cloud provides resellers with a cloudbased VoIP solution, enabling you to sell private label VoIP services to your customers. In order to market your VoIP website successfully you will need to have identifing the keywords for each page and ensure the SEO is in place. But that is just putting your site together. You will then need to publicise it with tactics such as writing articles and press releases, creating and writing blogs with keywords associated with your website, engage in social media and other microsites to build up as many relevant, interesting links to your website as you can. Do you offer commissions or discounted rates? We ask for a small setup fee for us to get your site up and running and offer discounted rates rather than commissions so that the greater volume of calling your customers makes the more revenue you will generate. What contracts do you have in place? We provide no contracts for your company to sign up for our products and services, either directly or otherwise to existing or potential customers. The only proviso is that as a reseller you agree to make your best efforts to market and promote VoIP services. However, you do not have any right to represent your company on our behalf and there should be no obligation or liability in connection with any services not purchased through VoIP4Cloud.