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Tag: voip

  • Which Phone System Works for You? VoIP vs. PSTN

    In business promotion a company has to find proper communication lines be it through social media, blogs, web conferencing, Skype or good old fashioned phone calls. Proper communication helps in relaying information to and from prospective customers and it also improves efficiency by facilitating internal communication.

    The two business phone systems available to small businesses are VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). Internet communication technology and cloud technology is used by VoIP while PSTN uses landlines. To help you find the right phone system best suited for your business we prepared the following pros and cons of the two systems.

    Pros

    VoIP has numerous features that make it more suited for businesses. For starters it includes features such as call forwarding and voicemail services.

    Voice messages can also be converted to email messages, and a business can hold web conference with people all over the world. These features are not present in traditional lines such as the PSTN.

    VoIP provides a convenience and improved user experience for both the business and customer. For instance it shows the call log of all calls and help address concerns raised by customers in a timely fashion. This means better customer service and sales. It is an efficient system that is detailed with clear timelines, it cuts cost and is portable. The bottom line is that VoIP is inexpensive compared to PSTN.

    Cons

    The cons of VoIP are that without an Internet connection it can’t work, slow Internet will affect it considerably and will lead to latency in information sharing and communication.

    Power outages will affect it a great deal as it won’t work without power so it’s advisable to have a backup power generator.

    It can also suffer attacks from viruses and other malware.The decision to choose either should be undertaken after adequate consideration between both systems.

  • 5 Top Residential VoIP Providers in 2014


    There are several competing VoIP providers that make the service available at affordable rates to residential users. With VoIP services now having considerable demand, residential buyers are able access the services at cheap monthly fees. MyVoipProvider.com came up with the list of 2014’s top residential VoIP providers based on their customer care packages, prices, customer satisfaction, and scalability.

    ITP

    ITP’s high flexibility rate has placed it among the top 5 residential VoIP service providers. They have a metered package for home or work customers with low call volumes which go for less than 3 cents per minute. Special discounts are offered for additional services and lines that a customer may subscribe to. Some of their extra service features include; unlimited international calling packages, good discounts, and a phone adapter in the service plan. They also have a remarkable customer support system available 24/7 for any assistance.

    Phone Power

    Phone power’s success in managing their various services and having a wide variety of customers makes it one of the top residential VoIP providers. Customers can have a long term contract with the company to be able to get low rates and a financially sound monthly package. Extra features include free 60 minute for international calls, extra equipment and an additional line.

    VoIPo

    VoIPo residential VoIP services are clear and simple, which makes customers happy. Their package plans are well organized for both business and residential VoIP services, having very few differences between the two. Clients for home or small business lines can subscribe to their $15 monthly contract or $8.25 annual contract to enjoy unlimited calls to the US and Canada.

    MagicJack

    MajicJack's affordability placed it among the 5 best residential VoIP providers. Residential buyers can get an annual package goes for as low as $19.95 per line. Customers get to use the service on computer by plugging in a USB drives and the MagicJack Plus allows customers to receive calls even without the computer on.

    Phone.com

    Phone.com has several interesting packages for both residential and business VoIP customers, which is quite impressive. Phone.com’s business VoIP plans are based on the number of minutes purchased. They offer between 300 and 2500 minutes monthly in their four plans. All the plans have similar main features and the extras have the same price in each plan. Customers have to sign a contract with them but there is an option between a monthly and an annual contract.

  • Local Businesses Seek VoIP Device Engineers and iPhone Developer

    As the festive season comes to a close and as the New Year kicks on, potential employees and employers will find the first quarter of 2014 an important period. Having said this, you should make Mendham-Chester Patch one of the sites you visit the most.

    At mendham-chester.patch.com, you will come across a number of local companies searching for both part-time and full-time employees. Aside from this, you may just find an opportunity that may transform your career for good.

    Although no businesses in the Chesters or Mendhams are searching for new employees this week, there is an opening for a few jobs in the technology industry. A HTML/iPhone Developer is on demand in Rockway for an upcoming retail company. This employer wants an employee with an experience of one or two years in iPhone development. The remuneration ranges between $80,000 and $100,000 a year.

    In addition to the iPhone/HTML opportunity, another company in Basking Ridge is in search of a test engineer for IMS/VoLTE devices. The potential applicant you should have several years of experience in different fields but of course related to the post mentioned.  This position will be based on a contract.

  • VoIP Provider Jajah Shattered By Telecom Giant Telefonica after Skype and Others Drive Prices to Bottom

    European telephone giant and 5th largest carrier worldwide, Telefonica said that it will shut down Janah, its VoIP unit on January 31st 2014. This is yet another sign of mounting trouble in the VoIP industry.

    The shattering will end what was once considered a success story in the industry. Janah was once of the very few companies offering VoIP services that survived the onslaught of consolidation in 2010. Telefonica was sold by Skype for $207 million, at a time when even competitors like Jaxtr and Jangl were sold for pennies in asset sales or went out of business.

    The closure means that Jajah Direct services and Jajah.com will no longer be offered and customers will not be able to make any calls. According to the company, Janah account holders will continue to use their accounts until31st January. However, the statement did not shed light on why Janah is closing.

    It is possible that Janah was not making any meaningful profit and may even have been getting losses. The company had clearly lost the race to Skype that was acquired by Microsoft in 2011. Earlier this year, Microsoft indicated that Skype now had 33% of worldwide VoIP calls.

    However, industry experts have pointed out that the voice traffic is dying; has become commoditized and overall prices, revenue and traffic are dropping. This means that Skype’s victory may be a hollow one for Microsoft, which has declined to indicate whether Skype is profitable or not.

    All this has not been helped by the large number of popular VoIP providers including Viber, Vonage Google Voice and FaceTime from Apple.

  • Vulnerabilities Discovered in Code Library for Encrypted VoIP Calls

    At the onset of July, a code library for encrypted VoIP calls was found to have security flaws. Security firm Azimuth Security researchers discovered serious vulnerabilities in the open-source library ZRTPCPP, which is used by several applications to offer encrypted phone calls. PGP creator Phil Zimmermann designed ZRTPCPP specifically for the implementation of the ZRTP cryptographic key agreement protocol for VoIP communications.

    The Azimuth Security researchers say these flaws could be leveraged to perform denial-of-service attacks or arbitrary code execution. Apps that no longer get updates could also contain the vulnerabilities ad infinitum. Though not the first time security bugs are found in a code library, the ZRTPCPP problems serve as a somber reminder that security bugs can have widespread repercussions in a popular library.

    The apps that were affected by this security flaw include Twinkle, CSipSimple, SilentCircle, and LinPhone. This also includes anything that uses GNU ccRTP with ZRTP enabled. Luckily, the problems in the ZRTPCPP library were fixed almost instantly. SilentCircle was also quick to take action, updating all its apps on both the App Store and Google Play.

  • Kolmisoft and 5gFuture to deliver next-generation visual monitoring capabilities

    Billing software MOR and 5gVision, an advanced VoIP & SNMP monitoring system, are both set to be fully integrated by Kolmisoft to provide powerful, next-gen visualized monitoring tools.

    The solution comes in response to customer data accumulated by MOR. The new features will provide current and future customers with powerful new tools to allow for a wide-spectrum of capabilities. Many of these new features will be some which may not even be expected. Over 30 parameters will be consistently monitored to provide consistently updated information that can be easily looked over by customers.

    Just a few parameters listed will be things like the percent of short calls and percentage of various disconnect codes encountered when calling out. Additional statistics made available to customers surround pricing and profits.

    The primary tool used in the new model, 5gVision bases the new reports and statistics on highly elaborate statistics which are all pre-calculated. The calculations come for around the clock monitoring of all points used in call routing. The results have so far been stunning resulting in a very high volume of data collection over the span of only weeks to a month. The new tool provides a flexible alternative to watching connections all the time.

    VoIP providers that take on the new MOR billing and routing technology will ultimately allow additional services to customers. The added functionality provided by MOR allows providers to easily begin managing new business models such as termination of services. Telephony will be expanded to further retailers and residents, even allowing such features as calling cards and call shops. The features require no additional equipment and offer one a single solution to manage any type of business model.

    According to Andrew Han, CEO of LUCA Technology GmbH, transparency was integrated into his business model instantly. Han has made it clear that monitoring the softswitch has become a nearly instant process. He mentioned that the software has provided a model to see exactly where things are headed and how things like the number of active calls, short calls and profits are evolving over the span of time.

    Kolmisoft specializes in providing advanced billing and routing resolutions and services around the globe. Komisoft has made MOR a solution to expand VoIP into areas such as business without allowing room for risks.

    5gFuture is a specialized software design firm based out of Toronto, Canada with the primary goal of creating innovative, next generation monitoring tools.

  • Survey Reveals Mobile Users Prefer Voice Over IP

    A study conducted by BroadSoft revealed greater than 2/3 of mobile device users showed a preference for voice over IP or UC services and regarded it the most worthwhile application. BroadSoft surveyed 700 people who work in assorted industries located in Sweden, Spain, and in the United States.

    The primary issue users had with communication was lack of speed at 78%. The next two issues were finding and contacting a person (68%) and email problems (58%). Other issues users experienced included travel interruptions, internal meetings, and telecom problems.

    The survey found that users of voice over IP preferred internet collaboration, instant messaging, and mobile incorporation. Leslie Ferry, vice president of marketing for BroadSoft concluded operators of mobile devices are in a better position to make their investments earn them the most profit quicker in LTE networks and they can furnish users with excellent service business users need regardless of location and device. This is because of the greater revenue produced by each user through UC services.

    A white paper issued by BroadSoft indicated there are still professional employees who communicate with smartphones and laptops more than desktop computers. Other professional employees still communicate with desktops and standard telephones perhaps because of limited finances. Desktop computers are among the most used deice for communication proceeding laptops and office telephones. Desk tops and office phones tied as a commonly used communication device for the health industry.

    Other studies and BroadSoft agreed with other studies that observed the developing enterprise adaptation of UC services. The study also concluded that a lack of UC applications may cause a 'production gap' amid employees onsite and mobile device users of nearly 2.5 hours weekly. The trend of voice over IP and other UC services will proceed to expand as employees continue to take their mobile devices to work and more services for mobile communications are provided by UC vendors. Vendors will need to stay ahead of trends.

  • KeKu Celebrates 500,000 Users With Group Calling App

    KeKu, the VoIP telephone service only launched early this year, but is already reaping the rewards of a fantastic service. With 500,000 customers internationally using their service on both iOS and Android devices, the sky seems to be the limit for this New York-based startup.

    KeKu’s apps allow free VoIP calls within their system, as well as inexpensive international rates for both mobile and traditional phone lines. The secret is that they provide local numbers to their users, which can be dolled out amongst their family and friends, regardless of their calling area.

    According to Manilo Carrelli, the company’s CEO, their success relies heavily on an exciting viral growth, especially in areas you wouldn’t expect that to occur within. The Middle East has been one of their biggest markets, probably due to the incredible expense of calling both locally and long distance in that region. Canada has also been a key area for them, with a 400% growth since the app’s launch.

    The international calling feature seems to be at the heart of their expansion. Users have found that they can use KeKu for local calls and often receive a better rate than they would from their area’s traditional phone service. And fans of Google Voice have been integrating with the KeKu app to direct Google Voice calls to an international phone line while abroad, a feature that Google does not yet provide on its own.

    With all of this unexpected growth, KeKu has been able to turn their attention towards additional services for its fans. First down the pipe is an iOS-based group calling app. All you have to do is drag the contacts you want to include into a group folder and tap the call button. It’s simple at the moment, without a lot of bells and whistles, but it certainly gets the job done.

  • Imo Pairs VoIP Capabilities With Its IM App

    Imo has been widely used for years now by fans of instant messaging looking to bring all their various accounts under one umbrella. The company recently announced that it is expanding its free VoIP calling service from an Android-only option to users on iOS devices as well.

    The Imo app can aggregate the eleven top IM applications into one easy service. And while Android clients have enjoyed free VoIP calling on top of all of that, any Apple users running iOS 3.1 or later who also have a 3G or better wireless connection will now be able to make their own VoIP calls.

    Users should take note that calls made while on your own 3G or 4G service will sap your data plan, and could be costly if you’re not too careful. Simply switching to an available Wi-Fi service will remove that concern.

    According to Imo representatives, the quality of the calling service should stand up to any traditional phone. Add that to the app’s voice-based IM service, photo sharing capability, and group messaging through Google Talk, Skype, Facebook Chat and many others, and you’ve got one powerful tool on your mobile device.

    The proof is in the numbers. To date, Imo has been downloaded more than four million times. And people are really using it as well. They average more than fifty million messages delivered each and every day, from over 700,000 regular users. Imo added VoIP calling to their Android app in February of this year, and it is a bit odd that it took them so long to figure it out for iOS customers. That delay may cost them some users, as there are now several other VoIP service apps for iOS devices that have already gained traction.

  • LifeSize Communications Launches Virtual Video MCU

    LifeSize Communications is well respected in the VoIP industry for their UVC video conferencing platform, especially since it is entirely software-based. They’ve recently announced some incredible innovations that will make video calls on mobile devices easier than ever.

    According to LifeSize VP and general manager of video solutions Michael Helmbrecht, the software platform will now include a unique bridging capability, allowing for video calling amongst multiple parties in a virtual environment.

    The company launched their UVC software platform back in February, after many years of development. They’ve faced stiff competition from larger companies in the market, such as Polycom and Cisco Systems. But while those behemoths focus on hardware-based systems, LifeSize is taking advantage of the increasingly mobile focus in the marketplace.

    Today’s workforce is all about mobility, so having the option to create a video conference on a tablet or smartphone as well as on a desktop or laptop computer is incredibly enticing. Hence, LifeSize’s UVC Multipoint. The multiparty video conferencing software is incredibly easy to use, and can scale upwards to meet increasing demand.

    LifeSize promises rock solid service, with reliable connections even in the extreme case of a system failure. And with each company employee able to start and manage their own video conference from wherever they are in the world, it’s clear that the UVC Multipoint fills an important void in the market. Each company that purchases the software will have one interface for administration, which means a shorter learning curve, and anyone with the license key can use it.