How Can a Virtual Phone System Improve Your Company's Image?

Image is everything, and that holds especially true for companies. Clients will only go to a company that has a strong positive image, and therefore everything needs to be done to maintain that image. Using a virtual phone system can help bolster a company's efficiency and project an image of competence to its clients.

How It Works

A virtual phone system is very similar to using a landline. You still make your phone calls to designated numbers, and people can easily call you. The difference is that an online provider holds the phone system itself. One number is assigned to the company, and any employees can utilize that one number. All the company needs to provide are the numbers they want to forward calls to, while the virtual phone system provider maintains the hardware and services off-site. Phone messages are sent to an email account that can be accessed by company members, thereby eliminating any missed messages from clients.

Helping Employees

A virtual phone system is very beneficial to a company's employees. Perhaps the most helpful aspect is the ability for a worker to be employed anywhere in the US or Canada, and still be able to work from one unified phone number. That one phone number can be set up with an extension for each employee. Calls to each extension can be forwarded to any landline or mobile phone number, meaning employees can make and receive calls from any location and have their personal information stay private. This will help employees be able to work from home and be with their families.

Helping Customers

A virtual phone system is also of great benefit to your company's customers. Nobody likes to get a busy signal when calling up a business. The virtual phone system will be able to access any available employee, no matter where he or she is located. This will help to ensure a live person can answer a customer's call. An automated menu can be set up to ensure the customer reaches someone who is able to answer his or her question. In addition, in case there is ever a moment when no one is able to answer a call, a system can be set up to alert employees when a voice mail has been left. This will help customers receive a reply to their queries in a prompt manner.

Improving the Company Image

Personal communication and efficient responses to questions and concerns will convey an attitude of competence to your customers. Customers will feel that their business is appreciated when a company takes the time to speak with them and quickly respond to their inquiries. A virtual phone system helps to facilitate that communication and present the positive image that your company wants to convey.

As your company strives to serve its customers better, it is a wise decision to consider using a virtual phone system to aid in your communication efforts. It will help your employees and your customers, and improve your image as a company that takes care of its clients.

Mike Christopher is an Online Marketing Executive at iTeleCenter, a company that provides local, 800 and toll free number in conjunction with virtual phone system to their clients. Services include Call Forwarding, voicemail, send fax online and more.

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The Best Practices and Proper Use of Call Center Recording

When you record and review all calls entering your organization's phone system, you will produce the wealth of raw material necessary to identify the ground-level problems and potential sticking points preventing your customer service representatives from providing the maximum value to your clients.

That being said, you can't jump head-first into call center recording, ignorant to the rules and regulations surrounding the best practices and proper use of your recording capabilities. If you are going to use call center recording technology, whether because you legally have to or because you simply want to streamline your telephony systems, then you need to follow the laws governing this potentially abusive technology to their every last letter.

The Lack of Nationally Unified Laws

First things first- the laws governing call center recording aren't always uniform as they tend to vary from state to state. Before you establish a system for recording your organization's phone calls, you need to first perform your due diligence and ensure your planned recording system complies with all of your state's laws.

Not only should you make sure you're complying with your own state's laws regarding recording inbound and outbound calls, it's wise to make sure you comply with the recording laws set out by any other state you may make or receive calls from. When it comes to recording phone calls it's always better to err on the side of caution and to absolutely minimize your potential liability instead of doing "just enough" to get by.

In essence, every organization with the potential for a national reach or presence needs to ensure consent before a single word is written to tape.

What Consent Means in Telephony

At a national level, there's nothing illegal about recording a phone call you make or receive. At the state level, the legality of recording phone calls depends on whether you received the consent to do so or not.

How states handle the question of consent tends to fall into one of two camps.
Some states require only one half a phone conversation to provide consent to record the call (One Party Notification).Some states require everyone involved in a phone conversation to signal their consent before a recording can be legally produced (All Party Notification).

In each of these states both you and your clients need to signal your consent to have your phone calls recorded before any recording can be made.

Signalling Consent

The word "consent" sounds a lot more intimidating and demanding than it actually is.

"Consent" is a well-defined legal term in the world of phone recording, and it can be acquired through a few different widely accepted methods. At the moment there are three legally acceptable forms of consent you can utilize to stay on the right side of the law when you record your organization's inbound and outbound calls.
The first way to receive consent is through some sort of prior verbal or written permission provided by your caller stating their acquiescence to you recording their calls. For example, you can include an acknowledgement of consent within a contract or service agreement you and your clients enter into together, stating clearly that you can record any future phone calls between the two of you.
The second way to receive content is by providing some sort of aural indication that you've initiated a recording, such as an audible beep or tone repeated regularly throughout your phone call. Most organizations do NOT choose this form of receiving consent because it is more ambiguous than the other two, and because it can potentially disrupt your phone communications.
The final, and most common, form of receiving consent involves some sort of verbal notification that a recording will be made, given prior to the phone call or prior to the start of the recording. This form of consent is the least disruptive, the most flexible, and the easiest to obtain. The majority of organizations who record their calls use this solution because they simply need to playback a pre-recorded statement indicating that the proceeding phone call may be recorded, and informing their callers that remaining on the call indicates giving their consent.

While the regulations surrounding consent do need to be followed, they don't need to impair your organization's ability to provide superior customer service to all of your callers and clients. In nearly all cases, a simple, unobtrusive indication of your intention to record your phone calls and your caller's agreement to be recorded is enough to keep you and your organization on solid legal grounds.

Sam Rozenfeld runs DLS Internet Services, a business VoIP service provider. He shares his thoughts and a service provider's prospective on how hosted VoIP is being adopted by business community. Go to TelephonyYourWay.com/blog to see more.

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How Prepaid Phone Cards Work

For many years, Australians had been charged far too much for their international calls. Today they have the option of making international calls using a several alternative methods to their fixed phone line carrier.

Phone cards are a great way to make calls overseas without risking yourself to bill shock. Consider that a standard Home Phone plan with Optus currently charges you approximately $3.40 for each minute when you call Greece. A phone card on the other hand will charge you less than 5% of this price.

How can prepaid carrier cards be so cheap? Below we will describe how a prepaid card is actually built and how the rates are determined. Hopefully it will give you some confidence in using these services in the future.

Phone cards can be purchased from just about every corner store in Australia. Milk Bars, convenience stores and even supermarkets stock them. You can even purchase them online. The minimum recharge value is usually $10.

Most cards focus on a specific country or a geographic region, eg India or Asia. When you purchase your card you are provided with an access number. When you dial the access number a voice prompt will request a PIN (Personal Identification Number) from you.

At this stage, the phone card will usually tell you the balance left on the card and then request that you dial your destination number.

As you make your phone call, the company behind the card, identifies the country that you are dialling and then establishing a route for your call. Behind this route are a series of potential carriers that the phone company has an established relationship with. Based on price and the quality of the route, the best carrier will be selected and your call sent through to them.

Prepaid phone card producers are able to purchase "minutes" in bulk from various carriers such as Telstra, MCI, WorldCom, Deutche Telecom, BT. These "minutes" are then bundled together into a Phone Card which focuses on a region or a specific country. This is where the savings really kick in and they can be in the order of 95% compared to what you could be paying if you dialled direct via your fixed phone provider.

Most of these calls are made over the internet, similar to what you do with a VOIP call or even with a service like Skype.

In order to remain competitive, many fixed phone line providers have developed options that enable their customers to purchase credit which will give them competitive international calls eg Optus World Saver. These services are usually add-ons to you standard fixed phone plan.

Remember you have options when it comes to making your international calls. Don't just settle on what your home phone carrier is offering you. Look at the alternatives on offer and save.

My Name is Ranya Georgalas and I enjoy blogging about all sorts of topics. I work in Marketing, Social Media and Affiliate Marketing. I started blogging several years ago and now I own many blogs. The most popular being http://www.prepaidplans.com.au/

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Could the UK Be Getting 4G Signal in 2012?

Unlike the USA, Japan and a number of European countries, the UK is sadly lacking when it comes to providing customers with 4G signal, and the corresponding fast mobile internet speeds.

In fact, Ofcom has only recently given the go-ahead for the 4G auction to take place. The severe delays in the auction are, in part, down to lack of availability of frequency ranges, because analogue TV has still been occupying the spectrum!

There have also been rumours that some of the larger networks have threatened legal action to delay the auction. O2 has been linked to the delay in Ofcom publishing the terms of the auction, and O2 are certainly set to benefit from pushing the auction further and further back in the year.

All of which is bad for the consumer, who has to make do with 3G connection speeds whilst the big companies brawl it out at the top.

But Everything Everywhere, the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile, has now announced that plans to roll out 4G infrastructure in 2012! Is this a realistic aim for the network giant?

Their side of the story

Everything Everywhere want to roll out 4G at the end of 2012. Subject to receiving the necessary approval, they expect to be ready to do so in December 2012. This is an impressive proposal, backed up by months of 4G research that they will have already carried out in both Cornwall and Bristol. Each of these trials operates on a separate frequency, allowing Everything Everywhere to draw on more complete and robust data.

Everything Everywhere are also investing in the core backbone of their two networks. They are committed to providing Gigabit Ethernet connectivity between mobile phone masts and the core servers providing coverage. This means that Orange and T-Mobile customers can benefit from robust download speeds, no matter what the demand is on the network.

Can it be done?

Everything Everywhere clearly have big ambitions for the UK market, but are these likely to come to fruition?

Other countries already have 4G in place, although some examples are better than others. The system in the USA is fragmented at best, with certain phones unable to one on certain operators, simply because of an incompatibility of the technology.

Networks have always been keen to keep their own customers, but should this be to the extent handset manufacturers have to choose their allegiances before they have even begun designing their product?

The UK implementation of 4G will need to learn from the experiences in other countries in order to provide the best 4G networks for UK customers.

Will the technology work?

It has recently emerged that the 4G signal could be present on frequencies that will disrupt the signal that is received by freeview boxes that provide the UK with digital TV.

This latest development is bad news - the switchover to digital TV is only recently nearing completion, and disruption to this process may be seen as a big waste of time and resources. The BBC reports that individuals will receive some assistance if their TV signal is disturbed by 4G signal, so in theory this issue should not impede the 4G rollout.

Can Everything Everywhere deliver?

With a history that proves their commitment to signal quality, (like their "Share Signal" campaign), T-Mobile UK and Orange Mobile could well be the first networks to offer 4G in the UK. What is certain is that the other networks will want to catch up; and this can only be a good thing for the UK consumer. Competition over 4G means that it will reach UK shores sooner. About time too.

Freya Marlin has worked in the UK mobile phone industry for a number of years, and has written for a number of websites concerning Orange and T-Mobile Phones.

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International Calls That You Can Afford

There was a time when it was a hard task for people living in foreign countries to talk to their friends and family members because of the high charges on international dialing. Now, various companies are providing international calling cards and other means of calling in foreign countries, which have made the lives easier for millions of people. Moreover, with the internet, it takes just few minutes to find a provider for calling cards, packages, etc.

People often wonder that if internet is available, why there is a need for making international calls. Truly, international dialing is still needed in many cases. Not all the people who go to foreign countries have access to the internet and on top of that, you cannot access the internet from everywhere. With international dialing cards and other means, you can contact any of your relatives or family members wherever you are. You might think that internet is "almost" available in all places but once again, not everywhere. We cannot forget that having internet facility has not made us quit using cell phones, has it?

Many people, who go abroad, work in intense conditions and have to do labor work. Laborers do not have access to internet and not all of them are literate enough to use the internet. In short, there should always be various ways for anyone to contact their relatives. If one feels like making an international call and has a cell phone in the pocket, no one should tell the person to wait until internet is available to contact their loved ones. Some people don't even like to go online because they are afraid of the many scams that are going on the internet at all times.

With many competitors out there who are constantly trying to compete and beat each other, people can now make international calls at very low rates. If you do the math and look into the technical aspects, these calls are more affordable than any other means of contacting people in foreign countries. One thing that you should not forget is to try various companies for making an international call because affordability is not the only thing for everyone. Some people don't mind higher rates for international dialing as long as they get good quality of service.

When you need to make an international call to your loved ones, try different companies. You can buy a calling card that can work on your mobile phone or the one that works with the landline. You will find difference in rates when calling an international landline or mobile phone. Check different services to evaluate the voice quality as well. What good is a cheap international calling card if you cannot even hear your loved ones properly on the phone? Keep in mind the affordability, availability and voice quality when exploring companies for international dialing.

Click Cheapest International Calls to opt for various ways of making cheap international calls. In case, you want to call someone abroad from your mobile phone, click International Call.

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