Introducing Your New VoIP Phones

New VoIP Phones

The firm is in the process of upgrading our phone system after decades of use from our existing PBX. We have decided to move to a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system.  Essentially, that means instead of using traditional phone lines and equipment, your phones operate on the same Ethernet cable used by your computer.  Calls can go out using either the Internet or a private computer network that connects back to Vonage (formerly iCore) where it connects to the other party using whatever phone system is being used on the other end.

VoIP has been around for many years and is now the norm for most businesses.  It is more efficient, can provide better sound quality, and provides you with many more features than traditional phones. Many businesses delayed moving to VoIP because of call quality issues.  When making a call on the Internet, delays of even a fraction of a second can greatly hurt call quality.  For this reason, we have installed an internal private line to most of our offices that will ensure call quality of service back to the phone vendor's main connection.

Everyone who currently has a direct dial number will keep that number.  None of that will change. Some people within the firm do not have direct dials at present.  Under the new system, they will. Because of this, some 4 digit extensions may change to make them consistent with the direct dial numbers that we get for those people.  We will also maintain everyone's existing extension as a alternate extension.  So if you have someone's extension memorized, you will still be able to reach them using that old extension, as well as the new one.

The new phone system comes with a wide variety of features that I will address in upcoming posts over the next few weeks.  Today's post will focus on the phone itself.

All existing landline phones in the firm will be replaced by a new Polycom VVX 410 Business Media phone.  It works much like your current phone, but there will be a few changes.

Vonage has provided this Quick Start Guide, which you may fine helpful.

Making a Call:

Currently, in most offices, you must press an outside line button or dial "9" to get an outside line. That is going away.  With the new system, you dial the area code and number.  No need to dial a "1" either.  You must dial an area code, even for local calls.  Dial 10 digits, and the phone should start ringing.  If you dial a four digit extension, you must then hit the "dial" button to complete the call.

You also have the ability to assign speed dials to up to 11 numbers.  These will show up on the LCD screen on the phone.  Once configured, just press the button next to the person you wish to call and it starts ringing.

The Firm's directory is also available on the main screen.  If you do not know a number, just scroll until you find it and select that number.

Receiving a call:

No real changes  here: You can simply pick up the receiver and start talking, or press the speaker button and talk through the speaker.  There is also a button for a headset usage.  We don't expect many people to use this, but if interested, let me know.  Personally, I find the speaker works just as well as a headset.

Transferring a call:

There are three ways to transfer.

1. Consultative Transfer.  This is where you want to speak with the recipient before transferring.
1. Press the "transfer" button (button with two hand sets to the left of your number pad)
2. Dial the recipient's extension and wait for them to answer.  You may announce who is calling and ask if they want to speak to the caller.
3. If yes, just press "transfer" again and hang up.  If no, you should see a "cancel" option on your screen.  Press the button under cancel and you are speaking with the original caller again.
2. Blind Transfer: This simply transfers the call straight to the recipient without any discussion.
1. Press the transfer button
2. Press the button under "blind" on your screen.
3. Dial the recipient's extension.
4. Press transfer and hang up.
3. Transfer to Voicemail
1. Press Transfer
2. Dial *55
3. Dial the recipient's extension
4. Press # and hang up.

We have a Transfer Quick Tips Sheet, which basically spells out what I said above, that you can also review or save for future reference.

Three way calling:

When speaking with one party, you should see an option for "Confrnc" on your screen (if not, press the button under "more").  Press the button under confrnc and call the third party.  You can then speak with that party alone, then press confrnc again to join all three of you on a single call.  You cannot have more the three parties (including yourself) on a call unless you are using one of the conference room speaker phones.  However, if there are two or more people in our office on the call, each of then can conference in one other party and have everyone speak together.

Getting Help:

For a more detailed presentation of the phone's features, you may also find this PowerPoint presentation helpful.

Of course the Help Desk is always available to provide assistance.  Please keep in mind that we are still learning some of this as well, so please be patient with use. Our main focus right now is just getting everyone set up with the basics.

The other option for help is the iCore Help Desk.  Dial 611 on your new phone and you will be connected to them.  They should be able to answer your questions or help you make any changes you need.

Stay tuned for more:

I will be posting several more blog posts over the next few days that will help you with additional information on some of the other things you can do with your new phones.

Phones

Phones: the thought of even discussing this topic gives me a headache!  Who would think that one of the oldest technologies we use could still give us such problems?

Given the numerous phone issues that we have been experiencing, I thought it appropriate to discuss what is happening and how we got here.

Until recently many of the offices have been using POTS lines.  POTS is an acronym for "plain old telephone service" meaning use of the analog signal over copper lines that carried one call each, that have been in use for a century.  POTS lines have proven dependable, but are very expensive compared to other options and also do not allow us to take advantage of many advanced telecom features.

Reasons for Change

Even if we wanted to remain with the old system, that was no longer an option.  Verizon moved all its lines to digital a couple of years ago.  So even if your call started on a copper line, it would be moved to a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) at some stage of the process.

We decided to move most of our phone lines from Verizon to Windstream a few years ago.  Part of the reason was price, but the other big issue was that Verizon had shut down most of its support.  We no longer had a contact to call for problems.  Rather, we had to call a toll free number and go through lengthy, confusing, and frankly faulty automated attendants in hopes of eventually speaking with someone who could help.

Windstream offered a solution that would replace the firm's MPLS network (this is the network that ties all the offices together so we can communicate with each other on the computers) as well as all the voice dialing.  It also offered us a team of dedicated professionals who would manage our account and allow us to resolve problems quickly.

Our Pittsburgh office had been using Windstream for many years, since it moved into its current offices.  The service had been working well there, so we decided to expand it to the rest of the offices.  Many of the office had been experiencing problems with the Verizon lines. I thought this move would resolve those issues as well.  The new MPLS network also allowed us to connect our smaller offices directly to our network, rather than go over VPN connections as they had for years.  The equipment used for those connections was aging and out of warranty, meaning some expensive upgrade would be needed regardless of anything else.  Overall, the Windstream proposal looked like a good option when we signed up in 2013.

Problems from the Start

Unfortunately, service has not worked out as hoped.  First, the installation process took much longer than hoped.  It took nearly 18 months to get all of the services ported over.  Much of that was due to difficulties getting new wiring done in many of the older buildings, as well as disputes on who would pay for it.  Eventually, however, everything was completed.

The data side of things  has worked reasonably well.  There are occasional problems, as there were with the old network as well, but generally the data side has proven reliable.  The voice side is another matter.  We have fielded innumerable complaints about calls be cut off, inability to make or receive calls to certain numbers, strange error messages, misdirected calls, caller ID issues, etc.  While most calls are fine, a unacceptably large number are not.  This is a big problem and we continue to work with Windstream to resolve them.

If you have a problem

If you experience a problem, it is a good idea to let me know about it.  To open up a trouble ticket with Windstream, I need to have the following information:

• Caller number and called number
• Time and date of the call (as close as possible)
• A description of what went wrong
• Whether the problem happens with every attempt or just occasional

If you have a problem, send me an email with this information and any other relevant information so that we can figure out what is happening.

No Going Back

A few have told me they think this whole change was a mistake and that we should move back to the old system.  This would be difficult for several reasons.  We are only part way through a three year contract with Windstream.  It's possible we could get out of the contract based on the considerable problems, but that would be a fight by itself.  More importantly, the old cabling we had in many places in gone.  Getting new cabling installed would itself take many months to get in place, not to mention a whole new implementation process that would also take months.  I'm also not convinced that even if we did that, our problems would be solved.  A great number of the issues we have are with the way Windstream interfaces with our PBX phone system, parts of which pre-date my joining the firm more than 15 years ago.  Moving to another digital provider would likely suffer under many of the same issues.

We are continuing to work with Windstream and our PBX vendor to resolve the ongoing problems.  We are also looking at some upgrades or other fixes that could help our PBX integrate better into other systems.  I wish I could be optimistic enough to say this would all be resolved soon.  While we have resolved many problems, I know others persist.  Until we can nail down exact causes, it is impossible to say how long all fixes will take.

Longer Term Solutions

While I don't want to get too far beyond the immediate problems, I am considering some longer term phone plans as well.  At some point, our aging PBX will need to be retired.  Rather than investing a large capital expense in a new one, I am looking at some cloud based virtual PBX solutions.  These would require new IP phones, replacing existing models.  But given the age of our phones, equipment replacement is going to be inevitable at some point anyway.

Such a major change is at least a few years away.  If the main office determines to move its office at the end of its current lease agreement in a few years, that might be an ideal time for such an upgrade.  But there are a number of variables that would affect such a change, so I'm not ready to set out a schedule now.

Poll

As we continue to work through problems, it would help me to get a better idea of how widespread the problem is.  If you have not already taken the phone survey mailed to you, then you can access it from this link.

You can view the poll results from this link.