Advice needed please?

[brettwlewis]

I use a geographical 011 number as our primary number, which was ported away from Telkom a while back. The number was ported to a SIP provider, who has that number as an alias for the 087 number they allocated to us. We use a hosted PBX solution from them, with 4 extensions. (I have a DSL line which I use via an IPC account for the voice data).

This company's service is okay. Changing music on hold is a slow process and I don't even think of asking them to tweak our messages for public holidays etc. I'm also not 100% sure that my calls are being routed optimally e.g. I have one ringing group but we can't forward any of the extensions. When I've asked for suggestions to how better set things up and they have not been hugely helpful. They keep suggesting that I send them a call routing sheet, but I'm not up to speed with what my call routing options are, so am a bit in the dark with what to ask for. Bottom line is that I'm pretty sure that I'm not getting optimal value out of my phone system.

I've been looking around at what's out there and have found officeconnection.co.za, with their online management control panel. I like the idea of being able to set things up visually, and without having to wait for a techie somewhere to do what I have asked for. But I have no idea how good or bad they are. Or if this control panel is a huge advantage.

On top of that, (as I understand things) porting my geographical number between SIP providers has to be done by installing and porting back to a physical Telkom line and waiting for 60 days to pass, before I can port it on to another provider.

So my questions are...
1. Should I even be considering moving providers?
2. Is there somewhere where I can skill-up on my call routing options, so that I can ask for what I want?
3. Is Officeconnection.co.za any good?
4. If I do want to move between providers, what is the best approach to take, considering that downtime of my 011 number is not an option?

 

[InTheCube]

When I investigated the OfficeConnection hosted PBX solution 6 months ago - it looked really good, and I was highly impressed. The only reason I didn't bother going for it, was because it was still too immature, and you needed to have a really good stable connection to the internet, which we didn't at the time, due to theft of Telkom cables in our area and our reliance on slower wireless connections.

You don't need to port in order to test their service. Sign up for an account with a few extensions (it's on a month to month basis last time I checked), you get assigned an 087 VoIP number, buy a few IP phones and whatever other hardware is needed (minimal cost, and you probably already have all that is necessary). Then test the service (in parallel to your current system) for outgoing calls, and for incoming calls give your number out to a few people.

If you are happy with it, then take the plunge. Also, you might not need to port. Ask your current service provider about forwarding calls or a similar service.

 

[Chevron]

If you want something decent call technology concepts.

WWW.Techconcepts.co.za

 

[InfinityMVS]

Hey Brett,

I deduct from your previous post you are using iconnect/clearvoice for both your voice and hosted pbx. The solution to your problem is two fold.

1. your call quality
The above mentioned players use ECN and various other voice carriers, what this means is they have their own "data center" ( I say it "this way" as nowadays when you rent rack space in a data center you sommer own the entire data centre and you put down the millions of rands in security deposits to be able to interconnect with everyone) then from there on they link to ECN and the other carriers to terminate your call, if their bandwidth is ****ty from their data center to the carriers, your call quality will be ****ty, and if their links they use to transit into the Telkom IPC is over subscribed your call quality will also suffer, in other words move to a core network to get better call quality.

2.your hosted PBX issue
There are many off the shelf embedded IPPBX's or even opensource based PBX's that are all GUI driven and that will work with any SIP enabled phone or provider, where you control everything and there is no need to rely on third parties to change your music on hold for instance. For off the shelf systems you can budget R3000.00 and it does everything your hosted system does and more at a once off cost (IVR, Voicemail, Voicemail to Email, Call Recording, CDR, Ring Groups etc)

As far as your number is concerned, porting is porting, there is no difference to porting from one provider to another ( even if it is VoIP to VoIP provider) and should all happen within 10 days as regulated.

So recap:
Move your voice traffic to a core network (there are deals out there for R700 per month which includes, adsl line and gateway rental, 4 simultaneous calls, T38 FoIP support etc)

Invest in a onsite IPPBX.


Cheers.

 

[gmza]

I'm not going to comment on the rest, but from a porting perspective you can port the 011 number directly between various networks. I do these sorts of ports all the time, primarily porting in but occassionally porting out.

Porting again to a new network operator that isn't the original operator (number block operator) does have some complexities (the NBO often doesn't automatically update routing so one has to arrange with them in advance to manually re-route), however, that's for your new network operator to sort out and any half-decent NO that has been porting for a while should be sufficiently familiar with the processes and staff at the various operators to plan around that scenario and ensure that for you, the customer, it just happens seemlessly.

P.S. keep in mind porting regs state that you cannot port twice in two months. i.e. If you've ported recently, you need to wait two months before you can port again.

 

[warwickw]

P.S. keep in mind porting regs state that you cannot port twice in two months. i.e. If you've ported recently, you need to wait two months before you can port again.

This is important or you might end up with a half baked solution.

With regards to an onsite PBX, I recommend either Elastix on your own hardware, or alternatively take a look at an embedded PBX like MyPBX from Yeastar.

 

[ChyrillStucker]

1. If you are facing so many problems, ask your service provider to provide you with a solution through tech support. If despite all these things, there is no improvement in the services, then you should consider moving providers.
2. I do not have any idea about routing options but if you use Hosted PBX services, the provider will configure and maintain everything for you.
3. Sorry, I don’t have any idea about Officeconnection.co.za
4. For the factors that you need to consider if you want to choose your Hosted PBX provider.

 

[mo_to]

1. Should I even be considering moving providers?
>>if your current ones gives you such service, then yes you should. www.1cloud.co.za has a user friendly panel which allows you to fully control your PBX, routing, IVR, holiday message etc.

2. Is there somewhere where I can skill-up on my call routing options, so that I can ask for what I want?
>>thats not for you to worry about. Your provider should be doing all that for you.

3. Is Officeconnection.co.za any good?
>>sorry, cant comment, never heard of them until now.

4. If I do want to move between providers, what is the best approach to take, considering that downtime of my 011 number is not an option?
>>not sure why would they link an 011 number with an 087. But porting takes about 10 days, and there is no downtime.

 

[mo_to]

www.cheapcall.co.za will get you what you need, and its cheap too. however, you'll need a fixed IP, or at least a stable IP Range if the calls will originate from outside SA.