Introduction

In today’s digital age, communication has become an integral part of our personal and professional lives. Traditional phone systems are gradually being replaced by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, which offers numerous advantages over conventional telephony. While the essence of VoIP lies in its software infrastructure, the hardware devices that facilitate VoIP communication have also witnessed significant advancements. In this blog post, we will explore the evolution of VoIP phone hardware and its role in enhancing communication efficiency.

  1. Basic VoIP Phone Hardware

At its core, VoIP phone hardware includes the essential components required for voice communication over the internet. Initially, basic VoIP phones resembled traditional desk phones, featuring a handset, a speakerphone, a dial pad, and programmable function keys. These devices connected to the local area network (LAN) or the internet via Ethernet cables, enabling voice communication over IP networks.

  1. Advanced VoIP Phone Features

As VoIP technology matured, so did the hardware devices. Modern VoIP phones come packed with advanced features that streamline communication processes. These include:

a. High-Resolution Displays: VoIP phones now incorporate high-resolution color displays, offering a user-friendly interface for call handling, directory browsing, and accessing various applications.

b. Programmable Soft Keys: VoIP phones feature programmable soft keys that can be customized to perform specific actions, such as speed dialing, call transfer, and conference calling, enhancing productivity and user experience.

c. Presence and Status Indicators: Presence indicators allow users to see the availability and status of their contacts, helping them determine the best mode of communication—whether it’s a call, chat, or email.

d. Voicemail and Call Recording: VoIP phones can seamlessly integrate with voicemail systems, allowing users to access and manage their messages directly from the device. Additionally, some advanced models support call recording, providing a valuable tool for training, compliance, and documentation.

e. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Connectivity: To facilitate mobility and flexibility, many VoIP phones now come equipped with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities, enabling wireless connectivity and integration with other devices.

f. HD Audio and Noise Cancellation: The audio quality of VoIP calls has significantly improved over the years. VoIP phone hardware now includes features like high-definition (HD) audio and noise cancellation technology, ensuring crystal-clear conversations even in noisy environments.

  1. Expansion Modules and Accessories

To cater to the diverse needs of different users and organizations, VoIP phone hardware offers expansion modules and accessories. These additional components can enhance functionality and scalability. Some common expansion options include:

a. Sidecars: Sidecar modules provide extra programmable buttons, allowing users to handle a larger number of calls, monitor additional lines, or access more speed dials.

b. Busy Lamp Field (BLF): BLF expansion modules display the status of multiple extensions, indicating if they are available, busy, or on hold. This feature assists receptionists and administrative staff in managing incoming calls efficiently.

c. Wireless Headsets: Wireless headsets provide mobility and freedom of movement while on calls, enabling users to multitask and maintain clear communication.

  1. Integrations and Unified Communication (UC) Solutions

To optimize communication workflows, VoIP phone hardware can integrate with various unified communication solutions. These integrations enable features such as:

a. Contact Management: VoIP phones can sync with contact management systems, allowing users to access and update contacts seamlessly.

b. Calendar Integration: Integration with calendar applications enables users to view and manage their schedules directly from their VoIP phones.

c. Instant Messaging and Presence: Unified communication solutions often include instant messaging and presence capabilities, enabling users to chat and see the availability of their colleagues, further streamlining communication.

Conclusion

VoIP phone hardware has come a long way, evolving from basic devices to sophisticated communication tools. The combination of advanced features, high-quality audio, and integration options has revolutionized the way we communicate. As businesses and individuals continue to embrace VoIP technology, the hardware devices supporting this communication infrastructure will undoubtedly continue to advance, offering even greater efficiency and productivity in the years to come.

Have you ever heard of Unified Communications (UC)? Even if you haven’t, there is a good chance you are already using it or will be soon.

Unified Communications is a solution for unifying the growing assortment of communication and collaboration tools in modern businesses. It can combine voice, messaging, video calling and conferencing, content collaboration, file sharing, access portals, etc. In addition, Unified Communications allows users to move seamlessly between communications tools within a single session, all while using their device of choice, whether a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

VoIP – The Backbone of Unified Communications

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol has replaced the older “Plain Old Telephone Service” (POTS) lines. POTS is basically the same technology used for phones since the 1800s. VoIP also replaces the slightly newer ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network), which transmits both data and voice over standard phone lines.

Most businesses have switched or are switching to VoIP. Instead of sending signals over the older copper lines, VoIP uses a broadband internet connection and packet-based technology to make and receive calls. The switch to VoIP comes with an extensive list of benefits.

Advantages of VoIP over POTS or ISDN

Unified Communications – the Path to Productivity and Collaboration

While VoIP is the backbone of your Unified Communications solution, it is only the beginning. In our new world of work, teams work in a very different ways. It is becoming more uncommon to have team members together in the same place and at the same time. Many organizations have people who work from home, from the road, or even from another office across town, across the country, or on the other side of the globe.

This change in the way we work, alongside new project management approaches, means that collaboration often means working together on common goals and timelines rather than gathering together in a conference room. With less face-to-face work, communicating becomes an even more essential piece of collaboration.

Even when team members are far apart, modern digital collaboration tools and apps make it easier than ever for people to work together. Employees can share data, track projects, and even collaborate on documents in real time. When meeting face to face is the preferred option, the right Unified Communications solution makes it easy to schedule a video conference and bring everyone to the table virtually.

Need Help with Your Unified Communications Solution?

Whether you are making the switch to VoIP or working to create a comprehensive Unified Communications solution for your business, WAVE.BAND is ready to help. If you need expert advice or just some help getting started, give us a call at 1-888-975-4085.

#1 What if my business is in a contract with another phone provider?

best voip for small business

If your business currently has phone service, chances are that you may be in contract, so it’s important for you to determine the contract end date. For example, when you originally signed the agreement, which could have been 3 to even 5 years ago, there was a term in the agreement which is traditionally a 12, 24, or 36-month term. Now, you might think if it has been that long that you have fulfilled the contract and it’s on a month-to-month term, but that’s not always the case. You must review the terms and conditions on your contract and look at the auto-renewal clause to determine the length of your auto-renewal. It’s critically important while you explore VoIP solutions that you find your contract end date and to notify your current phone provider that you do not want your contract to be auto renewed. Once you know that your term is month-to-month, you’re free to go out in the market and evaluate VoIP phone systems. If you do happen to be in a contract, have them disclose the early termination fee to you. Depending on your contract, this could be a manageable number that the savings and benefits of a VoIP system would still be worth the switch.

So, the first step in exploring VoIP, is finding out your contract end date and communicating with your current phone carrier that you don’t want your contract to be renewed.

#2 How much does a VoIP Phone Service cost?

voip service providers

On average, VoIP solutions cost ~$25 per user (or per seat) per month. For example, if you have 10 phones at your office, simply take 10 x $25 and that will be $250 a month and that will be your ongoing monthly service. You’ll also need phone hardware and possibly installation services to get the phone equipment at your office. In this example, if you have 10 phones and you need new phone equipment, you can estimate about $50 a month for the rental of that phone hardware, so take $250 a month plus $50 a month for $300 a month and that’s a really good average for a 10-user business and how much this technology will cost. Some considerations of the potential cost savings include local and long-distance calling that you would no longer have to pay since most VoIP providers today include ‘Unlimited Minutes’ with local and long-distance calling included. What’s more, if you’re paying for monthly or yearly maintenance fees on an older premise-based phone system that is currently in your office, that expense too would be eliminated.

#3 What are the best new features with VoIP?

10 Things you want to know about VoIP - Features

We can break it down into features that our clients tell us they really like. For example, you get new IP phone hardware, the quality hardware can be a big improvement from what you have today. The second-best feature would be the use of a mobile application. Everyone has an iPhone and/or an Android device. With these devices in everyone’s pocket you can load a mobile app to bring your office extension with you while you are away from the office.  If a client were to leave you a voicemail you can receive an email and/or a text message with voice transcription, which is a very popular feature as it is much easier to view your voicemail as opposed to just checking the voicemail on the phone. The fourth feature customers like the most is a user phone portal. A user web portal gives each employee the ability to log into their own account to make simple changes, see missed calls, go in Do-Not-Disturb mode, view phone call logs,  or even activate Find Me/Follow Me for those constantly on the go.  The list goes on and on with a phone user portal that can provide an array of features and functionality.

Number five is the ability to record calls manually or automatically. Should you ever find the need to go back to conversation to review, you can simply go through your call log and listen to the WAV file. Number 6 would be if you have a Call Center environment. With a VoIP phone system, you have the ability to route calls to the right group and look at advanced Call Center reporting and analytics.  This functionality alone saves some companies thousands of dollars each month by helping to reduce the need to add another staff member to route calls, or it can simplify and improve how customer calls are handled to improve your business.  Number seven is CRM integration. The new IP phones on your desk can integrate with many different software programs, the top two that we believe to be popular are Salesforce and Microsoft. So if you’re using Salesforce for example, you can click to dial right out of your program. You can have inbound screen pop, so when a client calls you could see all Salesforce customer information right away, there are quite a few integrations from there but that gives you an idea of where it starts.

And the last feature we’ll mention that clients tell us they really like is instant messaging. Instant messaging is an internal program that’s for you and your co-workers where you can instant message each other through VoIP phone software on your computer with both text and video collaboration. This is perfect if you’re working remotely, so you can intercom someone and you can actually talk face-to-face with your co-workers.

#4 Do I need new wiring or cabling at my office for IP phones to connect?

10 Things you want to know about VoIP - Infrastructure

When it comes to new wiring at your office there are a few options and variables to think and talk through. First, you can simply share the IP phone with your existing cabling environment.  That means the computer and the phone share one Ethernet cable. This is a common solution but there are some downsides to that so you would want to be careful, you’ll want to talk to your IT vendor to make sure it’s okay with your network.

The ideal option is to have two Ethernet connections, you have one for your computer and one for your phone. That’s the best of both worlds because you’re completely separating the two environments. This is usually found in new offices or you can have a provider terminate additional cables to accommodate your new system.

And the last option is to avoid wiring all together and go with wireless IP phone technology or soft phone technology that runs through your computer with a headset. Now, there are technical things to talk through before you go ahead and do that, but those are your options at your office. If you don’t know where to go or what to do, ask us to do a site survey or talk to your current IT vendor to get recommendations.

#5 What are the best IP phones to use?

Phones for Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP

We recommend two types of IP phones with our service, the first brand is called Polycom (now called Poly) and the second, Yealink. What we like about Polycom is that it has a wide array of options. The VVX Series of IP phones have multiple options for different types of users. Additionally, the Polycom has an array of conference room phones that are good fit for businesses. We also like Yealink, which happens to be the number two manufacturer in the voice over IP phone space. What we like about Yealink is they have a model called the T-Series with a large array of options for desktop phones that are very affordable. Yealink also makes cordless phones and Conference Room phones. So, between Polycom and Yealink, your business has many options for you to choose what’s right for you based on your users’ needs and the price point that works for your business.

#6 What are the common problems with VoIP that can impact my business?

10 Things you want to know about VoIP - Common Problems

The biggest potential problem some customers have reported in the past with VoIP service is poor phone call quality. However, in today’s technology environment, those issues have largely been eliminated with newer equipment and proper network planning.  Businesses today have no tolerance for bad audio quality, so by simply making sure your network is properly configured, VoIP calls can be as clear or better than traditional analog service, and far superior than cell phone connections.  When we deploy a new phone system, we make sure to partner with your IT person or vendor to make sure it works the way you want.

The second biggest potential problem of a VoIP system going wrong is on the actual day of installation or the “go live” date.  Many providers will just ship you phones and a router in a box that show up at your door for you to install. On the day of the installation and the port date of your phone numbers, you’re expected to plug in the phones yourself and hope it goes well. What that typically can do is cause a lot of confusion. There can be a lot of running around and scrambling if you are not properly prepared and trained to deploy the VoIP phone system. Our recommended solution is to choose a provider like us that comes to your site the day of installation to set up your equipment.  You won’t have to figure everything out on your own, and you’ll have an expert on-hand that can explain to your team the new features of your system, and someone that can make any last-minute changes to how you want your calls routed and how each feature should work.  In our experience, on site delivery and setup of a new voice phone solution is a much better experience than a remote deployment.

The third biggest problem with VoIP systems going wrong, is when you aren’t properly educated on how to use everything. So naturally you and your staff get excited. You get new IP phones and great software technology that is supposed to make your life better and help run your business more effectively, but nobody takes the time to show you how to use it from your perspective. You miss out on many of the great features due to lack of training.  We make that a better experience by training your team on how to use the phone system during your on-site installation.  We can show your company administrator the user portal in detail, the administrative reporting capabilities, and all the features of your new phone system. Additionally, after you are trained on-site we can provide follow-up remote training so you can get even more familiar with how everything works.

The fourth biggest problem we observe is customer support or service, post installation. So let’s say you invest in a new VoIP phone system. You’re going to keep it for years to come. So naturally you’re going to have to call in for service from time to time for programming changes, for training or for whatever functionality you need changed on the system. In our experience, if your calls are outsourced to another country or to a large call center in a different time zone, you aren’t going to get the same service that a local VoIP service provider can offer.  You may even not want to call them, so ultimately your phone system begins to suffer because you don’t deal with the changes your business needs.

# 7 What happens to the phone if the internet or power goes down?

voip advantages and disadvantages

What if the internet or power goes down at your office? There are generally three options for you depending on the needs of your business.  If your business is “mission-critical” and needs internet service all the time, then we always recommend you have a backup internet connection at your office.  This can be accomplished with a main connection from one provider, and a less expensive connection from another provider, or a wireless 4G/5G backup service.  If one internet circuit fails, the other internet circuit kicks in and your computers and VoIP service work with no interruption in service.

The second option if your internet or power fails, and one of the main benefits of VoIP service, is that your VoIP provider should be able to automatically send calls to your backup process.  This is usually to a virtual auto attendant, which in turn, can point to cell phones or just let the caller leave a voicemail in a “Cloud” mailbox, which can then be emailed to the right person at your office.   The third solution is for companies that have more than one location.  If phone calls can’t be received at your location, we can just route the calls to a second office location, so the staff at your other site can handle all the calls from your customers.

#8 Do we keep our existing phone and fax numbers that we have used for years?

What happens to your existing phone and fax numbers you’ve had for many years?  Of course, they are yours and you get to keep them. “Porting” is the process of moving your phone numbers from one provider to another.  When you go with a VoIP provider and upgrade your phone system, you typically Port your phone numbers to that provider.  It’s important that you review all of your company’s phone numbers and make sure to port all of the numbers you need.  Typically, those include any phone numbers that you have published or announced to anyone.  Some older analog phone systems may have required you to have extra phone numbers just to be able to take a second or third phone call.  The company set up a “hunting” group to route calls through your numbers, with large companies sometimes needing hundreds of phone numbers just to take calls.  With VoIP service, you only need one phone number to accept an unlimited number of phone calls.  So while it’s very important to make sure to port all of the phone numbers you use, it’s not important to port the extra “hunting” phone numbers, and that can be a time savings to you when you don’t have to deal with all the extra phone numbers.  Of course, if you use “Direct Inbound Dialing” for your team, VoIP enables you to keep each person’s personal phone number and route those calls directly to each employee’s extension.  Phone numbers for fax machines also need to be ported to your VoIP provider.  Keep in mind that many VoIP providers can offer eFax service to send incoming faxes to your email instead of to a fax machine.

In some instances, you may need to keep certain analog phone lines to support alarm systems, elevator phones, etc.  Check with your supplier to see if options exist to connect these devices by internet or cellular 4G/LTE connections if you want to save money by eliminating the analog service.

#9 How does the installation process work?

10 Things you want to know about VoIP - Installation

So how does the installation process work? Well there are really two options. You can get an on-site installation package or a remote installation package. For customers that prefer an on-site installation package (our recommendation), we provide an on-site technical site survey, installations of phones, wiring services and on-site end-user training and post installation support. We can roll a truck to your office for any troubleshooting or service needs. Option two is the remote package, which might be right for you if you have in-house technical talent or a strong IT provider that wants to handle the on-site side of the installation process. For a remote package, we would work with someone at your office to ship the phones to, make sure they’re set up correctly, and provide you with remote training. There’s no right or wrong way, it really just depends on what makes the most sense for you.

#10 Who is the ideal user of WAVE.BAND Voice Solutions?

WAVE.BAND Voice Solutions

An ideal user of WAVE.BAND’s VoIP service is a business or organization that has between 5 and 500 phones in any industry and is located in our primary service areas of Southern California, Phoenix and Las Vegas. If you also have other offices outside these areas, we can provide remote service to all your locations and integrate your voice and billing options across all your offices.  If you have less than 5 phones at your office, we may not be the perfect fit for you as we might not be able to provide all of our services at the low prices mentioned earlier, but if you feel like your business is in the market to replace your traditional older phone system with something newer and you don’t know where to start, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll see if we can help.

Well, that’s it. From everyone here at WAVE.BAND we appreciate the time you invested in Learning More about VoIP Phone Systems and hope that you have found this content helpful in your pursuit of a VoIP Phone solution. In closing we’d like to once again extend our services here at WAVE.BAND to you.

So after leaving this guide to further dive into the process of purchasing a VoIP Phone system, if you ever find yourself confused, frustrated or simply in need of expert advice, please do not hesitate to give us at a call at  1-888-975-4085 and we will do our best to give you honest, accurate and helpful information that will help you make the right choice.

WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVE.BAND, LLC is a full-service commercial unified communications, telecommunications and IT services and support provider. We specialize in building customized communications solutions that strive for zero down-time, peak network performance, and optimized business productivity.

Recognized as one of the fastest growing communications providers in the southwest, we provide high-speed internet and VoIP solutions to the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix service areas. Our notable clients include Fox Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, Raytheon, LPL Financial, Cutwater Spirits, Ballast Point, several major financial institutions, billion-dollar real estate companies, and many other Southern California companies.

Companies of all shapes and sizes rely on communication to function as a group and deliver on their product or service. As a staple of our society, both professional and social, communication is best when it is consistent, reliable, and timely.

In the professional world, especially on the heels of a pandemic that forced many companies to pivot to a more remote model, being able to ensure communication happens on a level that can reach remote employees and satellite offices is essential. This is where having a Hosted Cloud PBX System can be an asset to a company.

What is a hosted cloud PBX system?

A hosted cloud PBX system, which stands for cloud-based private branch exchange, is a virtual, internet-based system that automatically answers calls and routes them to the correct department, branch, or extension.

This inherently allows a company that can expect a heavy amount of calls or a company that isn’t able to staff a full team of phone support specialists, to ensure that customers or clients calling their business have a positive experience by being directed to the appropriate place promptly.   

A Brief History on PBX Models

While the idea of automated calls and phone trees aren’t a novel concept, the PBX technology has advanced in a way that allows companies to be even more scalable than before. The operative word in the services WAVE.BAND offers is “cloud,” which is a giant step forward from the way traditional PBX systems operated.

Before cloud-based PBX systems existed, robust, expensive, and space-consuming systems had to exist on-site to provide the technology that allowed an automated phone network to exist. As our understanding of cloud-based technologies continues to accelerate, PBX systems were another facet of the professional environment that was able to be brought into a virtual setting, and managed remotely, without sacrificing the quality of the customer experience. 

5 Reasons Why Having a Hosted Cloud PBX System Matters

Whether you’re a company of 5, 50, or 500, having a cloud-hosted PBX system could be the difference-maker in becoming an organization that can streamline intake calls.

Advantage #1: Streamline Phone Calls Within Your Organization

To be fair, the result of a cloud-based PBX system vs. a transitional PBX system is relatively the same. At the end of the day your customers, clients, or vendors will get to the right department or person in a way that makes them feel good about their experience calling your company. However, a cloud-based model makes it much easier and more affordable for companies to have this type of service.

Advantage #2: Unlimited Calling

With WAVE.BAND cloud-hosted PBX system, a company can feel confident that they aren’t up against any minutes or region restrictions. Wave.Band PBX customers can enjoy unlimited calling and long-distance calling, making it easy to have phone calls all over the world, 24/7.

Advantage #3: Scalable

With Wave.Band being a growing company itself, we intimately understand how the needs of a company can change overnight. With a cloud-based PBX system the Wave.Band team can add and remove phones as needed. Furthermore, as a Wave.Band customer, you’ll only pay for what you need making our solution scalable to your evolving needs.

Advantage #4: Unintrusive

Spare yourselves the need to dedicate an entire room or space to host the massive and expensive servers that make up a traditional PBX system. With a cloud-based PBX system, you’ll enjoy all the benefits of an automated phone network without the annoyance of heavy machinery at the site of your business.

Advantage #5: Emergency-Proof

Wave.Band’s mobile application is emergency-proof, meaning that in the event of power outages, force majeure weather disasters, or whatever life may throw your way, you’ll still be able to access all of your phone records. In times of hardship, the companies that make it through are the proactive ones. With Wave.Band’s cloud-hosted PBX system, business customers can enjoy the assurance of knowing that their phone systems will always remain open and available.

WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVE.BAND, LLC is a full-service commercial unified communications, telecommunications and IT services and support provider. We specialize in building customized communications solutions that strive for zero down-time, peak network performance, and optimized business productivity.

Recognized as one of the fastest growing communications providers in the southwest, we provide high-speed internet and VoIP solutions to the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix service areas. Our notable clients include Fox Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, Raytheon, LPL Financial, Cutwater Spirits, Ballast Point, several major financial institutions, billion-dollar real estate companies, and many other Southern California companies.

Hosted PBX

Hosted PBX or On-site PBX

Today, businesses seem to be moving faster towards cloud-based services, like email, servers, and software packages. But when it comes to business phone systems there still seems to be hold-outs. If you’re one of these businesses and havent considered a Hosted PBX but decided to continue on with the use of your older premise-based PBX hardware, read on to find out why this isn’t a great idea or a make good business sense.

Hosted PBX Cloud Phone Systems are More Cost-Effective and Easier to Manage

There are many countless advantages of moving your business to a cloud-based phone or hosted PBX versus the on-premises hardware. Meanwhile, there are very few benefits to continuing to pay maintenance fees for your old system.

First, premise based systems frequently need the attention of trained, sometimes very expensive technicians, this usually equates to an higher ‘dollar’ per average call.

Call rates with most VoIP carriers are almost universally lower than those offered by traditional phone system providers. WAVE.BAND, as an example, typically finds savings over 30% or better over traditional phone service.

In addition to the immediate long distance and international call savings, since you’re not paying for the upkeep of any hardware (with a Hosted PBX, you’re essentially firing your PBX technician), you won’t have to pay fees for maintenance or configuration. Choose a provider with a reputation for great customer service, and you’ll have access to maintenance, configuration changes and advice whenever you need adn the best part it is at no extra cost.

How’s this possible, because your cloud based phone system is configurable and accessible from anywhere and almost any device. All you’ll need is an internet connection; and to make things even sweeter, if you’re not interested in making those changes, providers like WAVE.BAND, who offer free 24/7 customer service will execute any moves, adds or changes, you can simply make a call to customer support. With cloud phone systems – simplicity, flexibility and cost savings are inherent to all reputable hosted PBX services and solutions providers.

Analog -vs- Hosted PBX

Analog, also known as a circuit-based technology or phone services over copper isn’t dead, but it’s frequently not the most effective option and yes, it is slowly moving towards packet based technology or IP transport. So start looking at options soon, if you havent already.

Hosted VoIP Offers Powerful Phone System Features

VoIP providers are beginning to transition into UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) solutions as well. It’s not uncommon for platforms to now provide business instant messaging, video conferencing and secure file sharing services in addition to the cloud-based phone system.

These additional, powerful avenues for collaboration and communication between staff can only benefit your business, reducing the unnecessary communication friction often felt by large, multi-site corporations and those incorporating flexible or remote working policies.

UCaas aside, there are other features specific to business phone systems that only become available when you switch to a Hosted PBX. These include call recording, iOS and Android mobile apps and Desktop and iPad apps, also known as – softphones that allow you to take and make business calls professionally from anywhere. That means the same business phone numbers as caller ID and the same features as call forwarding, click-to-dial and conference call features are possible too – Hosted PBX is so feature-rich that the few listed above are a shortlist of such features exclusive to hosted PBX services.

Hosted PBX

Cloud-based phone systems empower workers, whether they are in office, hybrid or remote workers to work from anywhere with more powerful features.

Hosted PBX and UCaaS can Integrate With Other SaaS (software as a Service) Platforms

Did you know that software-based phone systems can integrate with SaaS platforms like your existing sales CRM, or even full software suites like Microsoft 365 and the Microsoft’s Teams platform offering integration with all Microsoft products including Outlook, Exchange, and Office apps, plus a phone system, business instant messaging and video conferencing?

Conclusion

What we’ve discussed here represents just a small sample of what’s possible when you take your business digital and embrace cloud-based telephony, but even this small sample makes a strong case for adopting a cloud phone system.

WAVE.BAND offers all the features praised in this article, including VoIP phones, apps, business instant messaging and secure file sharing UCaaS features, call recording and more. If you’d like to try out these features for free, you can call us for a free VoIP trial or, if you’re ready to get started, there’s minimal risk with our flexible terms.

WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVE.BAND, LLC is a full-service commercial unified communications, telecommunications and IT services and support provider. We specialize in building customized communications solutions that strive for zero down-time, peak network performance, and optimized business productivity.

Recognized as one of the fastest growing communications providers in the southwest, we provide high-speed internet and VoIP solutions to the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix service areas. Our notable clients include Fox Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, Raytheon, LPL Financial, Cutwater Spirits, Ballast Point, several major financial institutions, billion-dollar real estate companies, and many other Southern California companies.

Best Internet San Diego

Hey San Diego! We’re happy to announce that WAVE.BAND Internet Services has earned a place in Kev’s Best list of top Internet Service Providers in San Diego. The review, written by Shera Elliott, was put together based on a rating points list to help find the best Internet Service Providers in San Diego,

Thank you, Ms. Elliott and Kev’s Best, for including us in your 5 Best Internet in San Diego, CA list.

KEV’S BEST IS AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW BLOG

Kev’s Best is an independent blog that rates a wide variety of businesses in several cities across the US. Aside from Dallas, the blog covers Houston, San Antonio, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and New York. It also reports on news and events in these cities. Business journalist Kevin Osborne founded the blog in 2011.

Kev’s Best’s reviewers come up with their top lists using a specific rating system. This system considers a company’s business history, range and quality of services, recognition received, and community involvement. It also weighs on other factors such as the company’s website quality and social media engagement.

WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVE.BAND, LLC is a full-service commercial unified communications, telecommunications and IT services and support provider. We specialize in building customized communications solutions that strive for zero down-time, peak network performance, and optimized business productivity.

Recognized as one of the fastest growing communications providers in the southwest, we provide high-speed internet and VoIP solutions to the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix service areas. Our notable clients include Fox Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, Raytheon, LPL Financial, Cutwater Spirits, Ballast Point, several major financial institutions, billion-dollar real estate companies, and many other Southern California companies.

Unified Communications SMS

Summary – SMS Texting

Boost business efficiency by making the most of WAVE.BAND’s unified communications solution, combining SMS texting, video, and chat for business with our VoIP phone system

Unified Communications

Get the most out of WAVE.BAND’s Unified Communications Platform by combining SMS texting, video, and chat, just to name a few as a Powerful UCaaS Solution

WAVE.BAND customers can now enjoy new added features to their voice accounts. In addition to our leading next-gen VoIP phone system, WAVE.BAND now includes expanded features including business SMS Texting, instant messaging, video, chat and muchmore. These new unified communications tools are integrated with each other, allowing for ease of collaboration between your remote, hybrid and in-office teams not to mention your customers – no matter where they may be located.

By combining these collaboration features into our existing business VoIP communications services, we’ve made it easy for your teams to continue to operate at peak efficiency and productivity no matter where they’re working from or what may happen in the future. You can say that these new features are ‘future-proof’. So, no matter where you are or what device you’re using, WAVE.BAND has simplified the way your staff communicates and collaborates.

Let’s run through one of our favorite features and that’s the SMS Texting that works in tandem with all our unified communications features to maximize the value you get from WAVE.BAND voice services.

SMS Text

SMS opens an essential communication channel using your business phone number. In an increasingly mobile world, businesses need convenient and quick ways to connect and communicate with customers. Customers’ preference for using text messages to contact businesses is growing rapidly, and SMS opens up an essential communication channel using your business phone number your business’ correspondence is securely recorded, making it effortless to locate important information without it being necessary for any individual to keep detailed notes of their own.

Four key benefits of the SMS Text feature within our unified communications platform.

Send/Receive Text Messages from Anywhere: 

Text messages can be sent or read from the [Company Name] browser client and mobile app (with support for the Desktop app coming soon), making customer and employee interactions fast, easy and efficient. SMS has become one of the most expected and preferred communication channels for customers and businesses nationwide and globally.

Privacy and Professionalism

Rather than using or displaying an employee’s personal phone number, SMS displays a business number, enhancing professionalism while also protecting private contact info.

Data Protection & Communication Continuity at All Times

Keeping employees’ business communication tied to the business phone rather than a personal number ensures any/all necessary business stakeholders have full access to all messages and communication. This protects a business from losing data and message history when employees resign unexpectedly, accidentally delete messages, and it enables interactions to be monitored for quality assurance.

Ongoing and Historical Message History

A user’s full SMS message history is easily accessible, an important feature for ensuring critical conversations and important data are never lost.

Who Can Benefit From SMS?

In a word — everybody. Employees, customers, managers, business owners — anybody with a vested interest in communicating more quickly, more productively, and more conveniently will love using SMS.

Expectations for fast responses and quick turnaround times are rapidly increasing and Unified Communications SMS addresses the demand for instant gratification. Remote workers and customers increasingly “on-the-go” make the ability to interact and collaborate from anywhere critically important. SMS makes productive real-time communication possible and allows customers to engage with a business how, where and when they want. It’s easy to use SMS; no additional apps or software needed. Simply log into the browser client or pop into the mobile app to take multitasking and productivity to new heights,

WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVEBAND is a full-service commercial unified communications, telecommunications and IT services and support provider. We specialize in building customized communications solutions that strive for zero down-time, peak network performance, and optimized business productivity. 

Recognized as one of the fastest growing communications providers in the southwest, we provide high-speed internet and VoIP solutions to the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix service areas. Our notable clients include Fox Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, Raytheon, LPL Financial, Cutwater Spirits, Ballast Point, several major financial institutions, billion-dollar real estate companies, and many other Southern California companies.

Hosted VoIP QoS

Summary:

What is Hosted VoIP QoS or for this article Business VoIP Quality of Service and why it’s important to have it configured for the best VoIP business voice experience.

Hosted VoIP QoS: What Is It?

Hosted VoIP QoS stands for ‘quality of service’ and refers to the priority your network gives to certain types of traffic. For Hosted Business Voice or VoIP this means the priority of voice data across your network. Since the user experience for both parties when conducting a call is very sensitive to latency (the delay or ‘lag’ between one side speaking and the other hearing), it becomes important that this latency is kept to a minimum. One method for preventing or minimizing such latency is to give voice data priority on the network, so that VoIP data packets are prioritized to the front of the line and handled ahead of other requests and packets.

How Can I Configure VoIP QoS?

Hosted VoIP VoIP QoS is a function handled by your network router and/or firewall. Most business grade routers offer QoS functionality.

If your router doesn’t offer QoS, then this is not something that you’ll be able to take advantage of, since it’s the intelligent routing built into the hardware that provides the routing rules needed.

The method of configuring QoS for your router will depend on its make and model. If needed, WAVE.BAND has worked on tons of routers and can help to configure VoIP QoS on your equipment.

For the modern workplace, QoS is even more essential because it allows for the prioritization of video data as well as voice data. Those using a unified communications platform like those offers WAVE.BAND, that include video will be able to configure their router to allow low-latency video conferencing for meetings for hybrid workers, remote workers and those working in the in office.

How Important Is it to have and configure QoS?

If you don’t have a router with QoS options, or if you neglect to configure it, it’s not the end of the world, there may be times when the quality isn’t great and if data packets start dropping the video or VoIP calls may become spotty or interrupted. That said however, VoIP technology and the faster internet speeds that carriers like WAVE.BAND provide can bridge the QoS gap. It is important to note that, the busier your network, the more likely you are to experience such problems. QoS was originally introduced as a means of dealing with packet loss and jitter, both issues which can result in a problematic caller experience. We’d therefore certainly recommend configuring VoIP QoS if your router allows for it and, if it does not, purchasing a business router that offers this functionality.

Conclusion

Business and residential networks are working harder than ever, especially with large numbers of hybrid and remote workers connecting to various video meetings that are bandwidth intensive. If your experience with current VoIP provider or service hasn’t met your expectations, it could be worth looking at the quality of your network hardware and how it is configured. If the quality hardware needed to support VoIP, along with every other demand your business places on its network every day, is not robust, you are likely to run into issues, the engineers at WAVE.BAND can assess and assist you if needed.

If you’re a small business that has recently switched to VoIP to handle the recent rise in remote and hybrid working, you may find your network struggling to deal with the new demand when staff return to the office. Quality Internet and network support is available from our team, including excellent business routers and network switches, VoIP phones and headsets and other IP related hardware.

WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVEBAND is a full-service commercial telecommunications and IT services and support provider. We specialize in building customized communications solutions that strive for zero down-time, peak network performance, and optimized business productivity. 

Recognized as one of the fastest growing communications providers in the southwest, we provide high-speed internet and VoIP solutions to the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix service areas. Our notable clients include Fox Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, Raytheon, LPL Financial, Cutwater Spirits, Ballast Point, several major financial institutions, billion-dollar real estate companies, and many other Southern California companies.

Threat actors are spreading tricky trojans through fake messages in yet another opportunistic COVID-19-related campaign.

WAVE.BAND technicians have been seeing and hearing a lot about these Docusign themed emails lately, our office even received a phishing email from the Small Business Administration, the SBA, for the Payroll Protection Act which was sent to us by a spoofed email account. Below is a great post, which is truncated from the original. The article is from the folks at ThreatPost and we wanted to share. You can view the full article here. So watch your inbox and educate your staff on Inbox security, it is is your best defense against phishing attacks like this one.

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Threat actors are using people’s interest in the Department of Labor’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to spread what appears to be the TrickBot trojan in a new spam campaign that security researchers discovered recently.

Recent analysis from spam honeypots set by IBM X-Force discovered actors targeting email recipients with fake messages that claim to be from the department to inform people of changes to the FMLA, which gives employees the right to family-leave medical benefits, according to a post by IBM security analyst Ashkan Via. Instead, the emails include malicious attachments aimed at installing what researchers believe is the TrickBot malware, they said.

TrickBot is a well-known and sophisticated banking Trojan first developed in 2016 as a banking malware that has a history of transforming itself and adding new features to evade detection. It’s developed over the years into a full-fledged, module-based crimeware solution typically aimed at attacking corporations, though the latest campaign seems to deviate from that target audience.

“Users infected with the TrickBot Trojan will see their device become part of a botnet that can allow attackers to gain complete control of the device,” Via, along with IBM X-Force co-authors David Bryant and Limor Kessem, wrote in the post. “Typical consequences of TrickBot infections are bank account takeover, high-value wire fraud, and possibly ransomware attacks targeting organizational networks.

The threat actors behind the latest campaign also are some of the myriad taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis, which has many in the United States seeking financial support through federal government programs.

One curious thing about the research is that the samples observed by the IBM X-Force failed to actually download their intended payload, which researchers acknowledge made it difficult to know for sure if the campaign’s malware is indeed TrickBot.

However, researchers said the new campaign follows “similar patterns” found previously used by TrickBot, such as the “Macro on Close” function followed by the DocuSign theme.

“Another link to TrickBot is an IP address, 198.72.111.141, also previously linked with hosting TrickBot campaigns,” researchers wrote. However, “it is possible that malware is being distributed by the same parties and the final payload is possibly different, but TrickBot mostly uses the same distribution channels compared to more commercialized malware.”

The first sample IBM X-Force researchers observed was an email that contained a Microsoft Office Themes File called “US-DoL.eml”. That file contained three attachments: us-logo.png, faq.png and Family and Medical Leave of Act 22.04.doc, with the final document file being the malicious component, they said.

“Once opened, the document asks the recipient to enable macros (ThisDocument.cls), from which, upon closing the file, malicious scripts will be launched to fetch the malware from the attacker’s designated domain,” researchers wrote.

The macro begins its dirty work by creating a local directory, C:\Test, and drops a batch file, terop.bat, to that location. It then executes that file: C:\Test\terop.bat, using various other files along the infection chain, according to the post.

IBM X-Force researchers attributed the campaign to the “endless amounts of spam and attacks targeting users across the globe” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, myriad new email-based malware campaigns have surfaced since the pandemic and ensuing global lockdowns began in earnest in mid-March, with researchers from Forcepoint clocking 1.5 malicious emails per day at the height of the activity.

“The current spam is likely an early warning to those expecting to take advantage of the FMLA during the pandemic to be on the lookout for malicious campaigns,” Via and his co-authors wrote. “TrickBot spam varies frequently depending on those distributing it, and the issues we detected in the macro scripts are likely to be fixed and relaunched in further spamming activity.”

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WAVE.BAND, LLC

WAVE.BAND, LLC supports small businesses throughout California, Las Vegas and Phoenix areas. We offer premier remote IT consulting and support for your desktops, servers, and network-enabled devices that are critical to your office and remote working environments.

WAVE.BAND, LLC strongly supports small businesses that are currently working from home during the pandemic of COVID-19. Learn more about remote tools like unified communications.

Don’t hesitate to contact us at 619-730-3333. Our IT support team will be happy to help you solve your computer and network-related problems in no time!