GETTING STARTED GUIDE The affordable phone system for businesses & freelancers Whether you work on your own or in an office full of people, the Dial 9 phone system is the perfect solution for you. Making & receiving those important business calls has never been more affordable.
hello. For all our contact details, please see the back of this guide. We re more than happy to hear from you at any time. Dial 9 is a vibrant and energetic communications company offering a reliable & cost effective way to move your telephone systems into the 21st century. The Dial 9 phone system can offer your business a vast array of features & benefits at a tiny percentage of the cost you may have come to expect. Using Voice over IP technology, you can easily set up a phone system to work exactly the same way you do. Please take a look through this booklet which contains all the information you need to get started and if you have any questions, please don t hesitate to get in touch and we ll be happy to help. Adam Cooke Managing Director, Dial 9 Communications These are just some of the great reasons to choose Dial 9 for your business phone system... An enterprise quality system without the enterprise prices. Exceptionally cheap call costs - see page 16 for further details. Manage everything yourself or just let us manage your whole system for you. Connect your phones to your phone system from anywhere in the world. Instant access to your call logs and call recordings through our online management interface. Our friendly and knowledgeable support team is with you all the way. All accounts are set up instantly allowing you to get started right away. Works with your existing internet connection with no need to change your current internet provider. Fully flexible - only pay for what you need right now - we ll grow with you. Easily forward calls from your phone system to mobiles or any landline numbers. Set up multiple geographic or nongeographic numbers allowing you to route your calls to the right department. Our website contains a wealth of extra information which we didn t have space for in this booklet so we d encourage you to visit: www.dial9.co.uk What is Voice over IP (VoIP)? Voice over IP is a method of making & receiving telephone calls over your internet connection. Traditionally, voice calls are made using separate lines however with VoIP, this data passes over the same connection as your normal internet data. This allows you to make vast savings when compared with more traditional solutions & systems. 2 3
Key Features The Dial 9 phone system provides a wide range of features allowing you to configure your phone system to work in the most efficient way for your business. The list below outlines the key features, however, if you require something which isn t listed do get in touch, because our system allows us to create bespoke solutions for individual clients. Voicemail Time-based Routing Global Address Book Set up per-phone or global Depending on the time of day, Maintain a list of contacts which mailboxes allowing you to route your incoming calls to can be accessed from your record your own greetings and different destinations, recorded phones. We ll also display the receive messages by e-mail. messages or voicemail. name on your screen when they call you. Call Groups Complete Logging Set up groups of phones which Music on Hold Easily keep track of all the calls can be called simultaneously. Upload MP3 files and whenever made on your phone system you place a caller on hold or in a including any costs which are call queue, we ll play the caller Menus incurred on a per-call basis. the audio. This could be music Ask callers to select from a or a marketing message. range of options using their Call Conferencing telephone keypad. You can Most phones we supply Fax-to-email then route the call based on support three-way conferences You can set up incoming their selections. allowing you to easily create adhoc numbers to receive faxes and multi-party calls. You can then deliver them to your e-mail also set up conference rooms address as an attachment. which callers can dial into. Call Forwarding Call Recording Set up call forwarding directly Any inbound or outbound call from your phones allowing can be recorded and made calls to be redirected to other available to listen to through extensions, voicemail or the web-based call logging external numbers (e.g. mobiles interface. or other landlines). Signing up for an account If you haven t already signed up for a Dial 9 account, you can do so by visiting our website and selecting the Start Using Dial 9 Today button. Your account will be set up straight away and you ll be e-mailed with a username & password allowing you to login. If you don t want to manage the system for yourself and would rather just concentrate on running your business, we can set up everything for you so you don t need to worry. We ll handle everything including setting up your account & configuring your phone system and then we ll send you the hardware you need to get started - you ll just need to plug it in. If you need to make any changes to your setup in the future, just give us a call and we ll arrange it for you. For further details and to get started with this, just give our sales team a call on 01202 912 444. Logging into your account www.dial9.co.uk/signup Don t want to set everything up yourself? Our Customer Area provides you with full access to manage your phone system, access your invoices and request support from our technical team. In order to login to this area, just visit our website and select Customer Area from the navigation bar. Enter the username & password you were provided with when you signed up for an account. If you are unsure of your credentials, please contact our support team. You can make a note of your details below if you wish. Username Password Some of these features depend on features of the individual phones used with your system. If you require additional information about whether a feature is supported or not, please contact us. 4 5
How does the billing work? To start with, all new accounts are set up on a pay-as-you-go basis - this means that you need to top-up your account in order to pay for subscription charges and the calls which you make from the system. You can top-up your account and see your balance at any time by logging into our Customer Area and you ll be e-mailed whenever your balance is running low. If you d prefer, we can set up a credit account and invoice you at the start of each month for the usage incurred in the previous month. To set this up just get in touch with us (details on the back page) and we ll be happy to sort this out for you. We limit your account to protect you Bank Account Number 51555022 Bank Sort Code 40-46-11 Bank Name HSBC Bank Plc. Account Name Dial 9 Communications Limited In order to protect you from unexpected charges, by default, we enforce various limits on your account. These limits can be changed on a per-customer basis so if you anticipate needing any higher limits than those shown below, just contact our support team and we can increase them for you. You can spend up to 5 per day on call charges. Any outgoing calls which cost over 10p per minute or with a connection charge over 10p will be rejected. If you reach your credit limit, any outgoing calls in progress will be ended immediately and you will be unable to make any further calls. Setting up public telephone numbers We can provide a wide variety of different numbers for you to use with your phone system. You can have as many different numbers as you want and can route them to different destinations - extensions, menus, call queues etc... We can provide numbers in pretty much every area code in the UK as well as non-geographic numbers. The table below shows the different options available: Type of Number Description Typical Calling Charges* 0845 xxx xxxx UK Local Rate From 5p/minute 0844 xxx xxxx UK Basic Rate From 8p/minute 0870 xxx xxxx UK Higher Rate From 10p/minute 0330 xxx xxxx Non-Geographic Standard Landline Calling Rates 01xxx xxxxx Geographic Standard Landline Calling Rates 02xxx xxxxx Geographic Standard Landline Calling Rates You can purchase new public/incoming numbers through our online management interface by selecting Numbers followed by Purchase Number. I already have a number, can I bring it with me? We can port numbers from various providers including BT, Cable & Wireless, Virgin and others. We charge a one-off set up fee for each number you wish to move over and in order to port numbers from other providers, we need a signed letter of authority which can be downloaded from our website and should be e-mailed back to porting@dial9.co.uk in order to begin the process. An important note about access to the emergency services In order to provide access to the emergency services from your connected phones, you must ensure that you provide us with the full address where each of your numbers is used. This information can be updated through our management interface and you should ensure this information is up to date at all times. * These charges will vary greatly depending on the network operator. 6 7
How your phones connect to us All the phones on our system connect to the service through your internet connection which means you don t need any infrastructure at your premises other than the phones themselves and your existing Internet/broadband router. The arrows on each side of the diagram show the direction of data for each type of call. Setting up new phones Your Dial 9 phone system allows you to configure multiple phones (or extensions ) which are all able to make internal calls between them and receive calls from your public incoming numbers. There are no lower or upper limits to the number of extensions you can configure - a system could contain one extension or a thousand. Equipment on your premesis Phones can plug directly into your router or into a network switch connected to an internet connection. OUTGOING CALLS Using our online management system, set up your new extension, choosing a number to use internally as well as a description. To set up extensions select the Extensions option from the left-hand navigation. I do not already have any VoIP hardware for this extension I already have a VoIP phone I wish to use for this extension Your existing broadband router or network switch You can connect as many phones within your network as you require however the number of simultaneous calls which can be supported will depend on your available internet bandwidth Order yourself a new phone or adapter from us and we ll ship this out to you within 24 hours (see next page for details). When the phone arrives, plug it into your existing network or your broadband router. The online management system will provide you with the credentials you need to configure your existing phone. Using the phone s management interface, enter these details. Our service supports most SIP-enabled devices but some will be unsupported by our team. Your Internet Service Provider Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will route your voice calls, as data, over their network to or from our infrastructure. Use your new phone to make & receive calls through your new Dial 9 phone system. You can then use our online management system to configure other extensions and many other aspects of the system (including call groups & queues, menus etc...). Dial 9 s VoIP Infrastructure Our servers will look at your configuration and dial plans and work out where to send your inbound & outbound calls. INCOMING CALLS Public Telephone Networks If you make a call to a number which is not within your phone system, we will route this out to a public telephone network for you. 8 9
Our VoIP Hardware Catalogue We stock a wide range of VoIP & networking hardware - from phones to network cables - we can provide everything you need to get up and running with your new phone system. Dial 9 supplies & supports a range of products from a collection of excellent and trusted manufacturers including: VoIP Phones & Adapters If required, all our VoIP phones are shipped out to you pre-configured and ready to use with your new phone system. We offer a range of phones to match different requirements. T18P T20P T22P T26P Availability & Delivery We aim to keep most products in stock and available for despatch on the day of order. All our shipments are sent by courier on a 24 hour service so should be with you on the next business day. Problems with your hardware If you have any problems with any of the products supplied by Dial 9 - just get in touch with our technical support team and we ll be happy to help resolve the issue and, if nessessary, replace the offending hardware (terms & conditions apply). S370 S821 SM9 E49H For a complete product list and to place an order please visit our website at www.dial9.co.uk/shop SMP1 PAP2 Accessories & Network Hardware In addition to the phones above, we can supply various accessories including headsets and expansion keypads for the desk phones shown above. EX39 SEP YHS32 MM2 EX38 SV1 We can supply a range of Cisco switches in rack or desktop form between 8-48 ports. 10 11
Using your phones on a day-to-day basis Once your phones have been set up and configured, you can start to use them to make & receive calls in the same way as you have always done in the past. The biggest difference between VoIP phones and more traditional phones is that you may need to press Send after you have dialled the number. Calling other phones on your system Calling external numbers To call other extensions which have been configured on your phone system, just dial the number into your phone. A full list of all the available extensions are available within the online management interface and are automatically included in the global address book. Just as you would on a traditional phone, you dial the number into your phone. If you are dialling an international number, just add 00 before the number. For example, if you see +33 1234 56789, it should become 00 33 1234 56789 when dialled. Setting your Caller ID When you set up your phone/extension in the management interface, you will have to select which public number should be used as the caller ID whenever an external call is placed. When the phone makes internal calls, the internal number will be used along with the name of the extension. Simultaneous calls By default, each phone can make or receive up to 2 calls at a time. If you require additional simultaneous calls, please contact our support team. Restricting outbound calls If required, you can restrict individual phones from making external calls. You can do this from the management interface by selecting Do not allow outbound calls from the caller ID drop down on the extension properties dialog. Setting up voicemail From the management interface you can select which voicemail mailbox is associated with specific extensions as well as the length of time the phone should ring before being forwarded to this mailbox. Listening to your voicemail messages Listening to your music on hold Dial *55 from your handset in order to enter the voicemail menu. Follow the instructions in order to listen to your messages or change your greeting. Dial *50 from your handset to listen to the on hold music which has been configured for your phone system. Using the global address book Some phones can be configured to connect to a global address book enabling users to browse a list of contacts (as well as other extensions) directly from their phone. The global list is managed from the online management interface and supported phones which are automatically configured by us are already set up to use this functionality. If you require assistance adding this to your own phones, just get in touch. Forwarding calls to another number Most phones support configuring call forwarding from using the phone s interface and you should consult the device s user guide for instructions. If your phone does not support this, you can dial the following to set up and manage call forwarding. You can call the emergency services from your phones by dialling 999 12 *21* followed by the number you wish to forward to will set up a new forwarding. *21 will cancel any call forwarding. *22 will playback the current forwarding number. Remember that your VoIP phone system requires power & an active Internet connection in order to make calls. You should always ensure that you have suitable provisions in place (such as a mobile phone) in order to contact the emergency services in the event of a power or network failure. 13
Configuring advanced features Your Dial 9 phone system can do so much more than just making & receiving calls - our online management interface provides you with a wealth of options. Some of these are detailed over the next couple of pages. Call Queues & Groups Call queuing allows you to place your incoming calls into a queue before they are answered. Each queue can contain multiple extensions who are responsible for answering the incoming calls. While the caller is in the queue they will be played the music on hold which you upload. If a caller is left in a queue for too long you can optionally play an audio file and/or forward them to a voicemail box so they can leave a message. Call groups are a more simplistic feature allowing you to create groups of extensions which will all ring simultaneously while the caller will just hear a standard ring tone. These are ideal for department ring groups where voicemail or timeouts are not a requirement. Time-based Routing If your office is only open between certain hours, you can set up routes so that when callers dial your public numbers, they will be greeted with a different response during certain periods. For example, you can configure the system to play a message apologising for the fact the office is closed between 5pm and 9am on weekdays and during the weekend. This allows you to ensure callers are not needlessly waiting for an answer when nobody is available to take their call. Fax-to-email Would you like to receive faxes from your customers & suppliers but without the need for a fax machine in the office? You can easily set up a virtual fax machine which will automatically receive faxes and forward them straight to your e-mail inbox. Fax machines can be configured on any of your public numbers, giving you a dedicated fax number which you can provide to those who need it. Menus/Virtual Receptionist The online management interface allows you to create menus which consist of an audio file and a set of routing options for each number available on the caller s keypad. For example, you can set up a menu so that when the caller presses 1 they will be routed to your sales team and when they press 2 they will be connected to the accounting department. Callers can also be routed to other menus, queues, extensions, external numbers and any other destination supported by the system. Music on hold You can upload an unlimited number of MP3 audio files which will then be used whenever you place an external party on hold or into a call queue. These MP3s could be simple music or include a marketing message which you wish to convey to your callers. The online management system also includes access to other advanced features and documentation for these are provided within the web-based interface. Custom solutions for your business If you require anything more advanced from your phone system, we have the flexibility to develop solutions to fit around your business requirements. For example, we have created custom systems enabling schools to broadcast a single voice message to multiple recipients with tracking when the messages are received. We have also implemented a solution for a company who required a single telephone number to connect to the appropriate on-call engineer based on a fully customisable rota which could be updated with ease. 14 15
Call logging & recording Every external call is logged including the source & destination, the length of the call and, if appropriate, the cost. You can also opt to have your calls recorded. If a call is recorded, you will be able to download the entire call recording directly from the call logging pages. To view your call logs, just login to the online management system and select Call Logs from the menu on the left of the interface. You will be presented with three tabs: one for outgoing calls, one for incoming calls and the other for searching your call logs. If you have recording enabled, you will see two icons in the right hand column of your call logs table. The first of these icons will download/play the recording and the other will remove the recording from the system. Call recordings are charged per minute and per month. For example, if you have 200 minutes of recordings, you will be charged for this monthly. How much will a call cost? The amount you are charged for an outgoing call depends on the specific rate which has been applied to the number. For example, the cost of international calls varies from country to country and even the cost of calls to other UK numbers can change depending on the destination. If you d like to find out how much dialling a specific number will cost, just login to our online management system and select Pricing & Transactions from the left menu bar. At the bottom of this page, you will see the Rate Calculator; just enter the number you wish to dial into the box and press Go. You will be presented with the per minute cost of the call as well as any connection charges. The call charges for our most common destinations can also be found on our website www.dial9.co.uk/charges. Frequently Asked Questions I don t know much about computers, can I use your service? Of course! We can configure everything for you and leave you to focus on running your business. We ll send you the phones you need and all you need to do is plug them in. What happens if something goes wrong with the service? We do everything in our power to keep the service online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Should anything happen we have staff standing by to investigate any issues and provide feedback to customers. What if I move office/home? Don t worry, you can simply plug your phone into an Internet connection anywhere in the world and receive exactly the same service. If you have an incoming number, you can take it with you, or choose a new one if you d prefer. What happens when I reach my credit limit or my account runs out of pre-paid credit? When making a call, you will be informed if you have reached your credit limit and will need to either top up your account or contact us to increase your limit. This will not affect your ability to receive incoming calls. Why are you so much cheaper than other providers? We provide a service which leverages much of your existing infrastructure which means we don t have high overheads and therefore we can pass these savings on to you. Our call charges are so low because we take advantage of least cost routing which allows us to route your calls as data which is much cheaper than voice over the internet before transferring it to a traditional voice network. Will I be tied into a long-term contract? Not at all - we don t tie you into any long term contracts, you just pay for your usage each month and can cancel by simply giving us 30 days notice. If any of your questions aren t answered here, please don t hestitate to get in touch (our details are on the back of this guide) and we ll be happy to answer them for you. 16 17
About Dial 9 Communications We re a small company specialising in the provision of telecommunication services throughout the UK. Our mission is to provide a cost-effective telephone system for businesses & freelancers requiring a professional solution for making & receiving calls wherever they are in the country. We operate from sunny Bournemouth on the south coast with a dedicated and hard working team of software developers & experts in the VoIP arena. As part of the atech Media group, we are supported by a company with extensive experience in providing reliable & easy to use solutions to businesses throughout the world. Our ITSPA Membership The ITSPA was formed in March 2004 as a trade association to represent UKbased network operations & service providers involved with the supply of VoIP services to business & residential customers. As members, Dial 9 adopts their code of practice and follows their best practice documents. If you have a problem... In the unlikely event you need to make a complaint, you can always email our support team and we ll handle any complaints fairly and as quickly as possible. If you still feel your issue hasn t been dealt with please refer to our complaints procedure which can be found on our website and the issue may be escalated to our alternative dispute resolution service. 18 Our network & infrastructure We use best of breed Dell branded hardware on a super-fast network hosted in Bournemouth. This provides excellent connectivity throughout the UK and internationally. The data centre here provides us with backup generators, redundant air conditioning and diverse 10 gigabit uplinks back into London. Dial 9 Communications Limited is registered in England & Wales. Our company registration number is 774092 and our VAT Registration Number is 118 570 611. Part of the atech Media group. Booklet design & content 2011 Dial 9 Communications Limited. All Rights Reserved. Third-party logos remain their respective owners All information correct at time of going to print. E&OE.
Give us a call Our telephone lines are open between 9am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). If you have any questions at all, feel free to give us a call for an immediate answer. 01202 912 444 Drop us an e-mail You can drop us an e-mail at any time. Our team monitor our mailboxes outside office hours and will usually be able to get back to you within a few hours during office hours and little longer outside them. For all sales enquiries sales@dial9.co.uk For all technical support enquiries support@dial9.co.uk For all accounts or billing enquiries accounts@dial9.co.uk Staying in the loop Our Blog We post regular updates about new features, tips & tricks and tutorials to our blog which you can find at www.dial9.co.uk/blog Twitter If you happen to use Twitter, you can follow us at @dialnine. Our Newsletter Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter by visiting our website at www.dial9.co.uk