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VirtualPBX Support: Tuesday Toolbox

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VirtualPBX Support: Tuesday Toolbox

ToolboxWe’re back at it! Because our first Tuesday Toolbox was such a success, we’ve gone back to the wellspring of information. That’s right, our Customer Support Team has put together a few more commonly encountered challenges with a hosted telecom service and, more importantly, guidance on how to avoid facing these yourself. Because let’s face it, what’s the value of pointing out a problem if you aren’t also ready to offer a suggestion on how to fix it?

5 (More) Best Practices for VoIP Users

  1. Extension Activation: Remember to have each extension user activate their extension through their phone to complete the extension registration. From the auto-attendant of any extension handset, press pound to bring up the login prompt, then follow the instructions to record your name and voicemail greeting. Until this process is completed, an extension will not be registered in the either the user or dial-by-name directories.
  2. Robodialers: A robodialer is what the industry uses to refer to an automated dialing system typically used for advertisements or political campaigns. At best, these are not much more than irritations, but the can also end up costing you money with overages and unexplained charges to your phone system. Using Auto-Attendant to require input from the caller is a good way to screen for autodialing because you can require inbound calls to select form a list of options once the call is received. By configuring the Auto-Attendant Replay and Return to Auto-attendant features each to “hang-up” you can protect your system by automatically disconnecting the call if no option is selected.
  3. Daylight Savings: Just like your clocks at home (do people even still use clocks not located on their mobile device?), your VirtualPBX phone system needs to be updated manually twice a year. Not updating to accommodate the time change will affect any Day/Night settings that you have in place for your system. Administrators can log in and edit the time in Advanced configurations. Daylight Savings Guide
  4. Lines vs Extensions: In your VirtualPBX system, lines refers to the number of VoIP devices (desk phones, softphones, etc) that you have active on your account and therefore that is the number of billable “seats” that will be reflected on your account. Extensions are not fixed directly to a cost and can be added and subtracted without creating a billable event.
  5. The Power of Power-Cycling: You know what power-cycling is, right? It’s basically the technical term for the simple act of turning something off and then back on to reset it. As unsophisticated as it sounds, sometimes any piece of technology can, “get stuck,” (also a technical term, obviously) and not even VoIP phones are immune to the occasional, “sticking.” If a phone no longer makes or receives calls, try unplugging both the ethernet and power cables for a minute. Often this will correct whatever was the matter with your device but, if not, just know that our Support Team is there to assist you with any problem you may have.

On that point, we’d just like to offer a friendly reminder that VirtualPBX is one of the last companies to include all of the award-winning talent and know-how in our Customer Support Team for free. Plus, they’re all still located here in our main offices in the Silicon Valley, and standing by to make sure you stay up and running through any ordeal.

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