Archive for August, 2010

 

Friday Links: VoIP Tracing, Video Calling, Google Voice

Aug 31, 2010 in VOIP News

VoIP News of the UK says that Ofcom wants reverse VoIP tracing for emergency calls in the UK.
Smith on VoIP says that niche applications are driving the adoption of video calling.
Network World says that Google has grabbed 1 million phone numbers for Google Voice. Whoa.

What Personal Information Can Be Exposed From A Telephone Number Trace?

Aug 31, 2010 in VOIP News

 The web is used by millions of individuals every day.   And therefore, there are billions and billions of contents  out there.   But do you really know what can be found by doing a phone number trace on the web?  What content could be found by only having a certain telephone number?  You may get surprised.

There are a number of  types of contents that can be found like the address and phone company.  By performing a simple reverse telephone number trace, you can very easily discover all this information out for free.  And also, there are two types of phone number searches that can be done online – of course the free of charge search and also the other 1 is the one that demands a paid membership.  Really, most of the information obtainable via both providers are fairly comparable, but with a paid membership, it’ll offer a bit a lot more detailed and organized information search, and all of the info is all in 1 location.  You’ll no longer have to spend hours searching for information.  But with the right abilities, 1 can do an on the internet search for free.

When performing an online search 1 could simply type into a search engine the telephone number. The telephone number can then pull up any info right away that’s connected with that number. Nevertheless sometimes that does not usually work.  Some of the times, a free reverse telephone service is really required. With this information an individual can get an address from the telephone number trace, or even a name that’s associated with the account.

This info has been proudly bought to you by the good folks at www.telephonenumbertraced.com. So please visit them now if you need to have a telephone number trace for any reason at all.

 

How To Market Real Estate

Aug 30, 2010 in VOIP News

 
          As the worldwide economy starts to fall and millions around the world lose their jobs, it’s a good thing to have an alternative solution. Try starting your own real estate business. The population is growing by leaps and bounds each day and people need housing aside from food which is the prime commodity. Starting a business in this regard would be an income generating venture.            

          Real estate is a huge industry. From the simplest economy sized abode to huge mansions and chateaus, a lot of these are available. There is a wide selection to choose from so their availability is not a problem. Demand is high so marketing them is just a breeze. You can become a real estate agent with just the right amount of training.        

          A real estate agent acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate (or real property as it is known elsewhere) and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy. The English law of agency is established between the seller of the property and the real estate broker.            

          Starting a business in real estate is not that hard. After completing the required state training and passing the licensing examination,  you can now begin your business. Affiliation with a real estate agents organization is an added bonus. Real estate agents earn a commission for every closed sale from the seller. Try to befriend a veteran broker so you can learn the tricks of the trade. This way transfer of technology will work to your advantage. A business plan can also be discussed with him so starting right would never be an issue. Advertising your company on the Internet can be an added boost as well.            

          Real estate agents assist possible sellers to market their property by way of getting the highest possible price for it and offering the same to their buyers under the most advantageous terms. When acting as a buyer’s agent with a signed agreement, they assist buyers by helping them purchase property for the lowest possible price under the best terms. Without a signed agreement, brokers may assist buyers in the acquisition of property but still represent the seller and the seller’s interests. That is how they make their living.           

          Now that the basics of selling real estate have been discussed and likewise the ins and outs of the business were explained in detail, starting your property brokering company and attracting potential clients can now begin. Just bear in mind that representing the seller’s interest and offering the best price and terms to your prospective buyer is your primary objective. Transparency in every negotiation is the key to selling real estate.                     

Call Recording: A Business Necessity Not A Business Nicety

Aug 29, 2010 in VOIP News

Call Recording – Not As Simple As It Seems

It may sound self-explanatory, but call recording has a lot more to it than a call recorder and a handset. Call recording for business purposes can be the recording of all phone calls, the recording of inbound calls or outbound calls or calls from certain extensions or maybe the recording of calls for an hour at 2pm every day – there are many possibilities. For different industries and different businesses, call recording can mean different things. One fact is certain though – call recording is no longer a luxury; if you are a business, call recording is a necessity. So, let us take a look at the different types of call recording and what makes call recording such a necessity.

The Six Circles Of Call Recording

Hardware Call Recording
Hardware call recording is the most common way to record calls and one of the most efficient too. With hardware call recording, all inbound and outbound calls from your company are recorded into a hardware system however, say you want to listen to the recorded calls made by one particular agent, hardware call recording grants you to separate those calls and listen to them separately. Or perhaps you only want to listen to inbound calls – hardware call recording allows you to do this too, which makes it a lot easier to manage your recorded calls.

Network Call Recording
Network call recording is a no-hassle way of recording calls. There is no need for in-house hardware, no need for on-site maintenance and recorded calls can be accessed easily through a web-interface.

Extension Call Recording
This is one of the simpler call recording solutions. Extension call recording allows you to monitor, record and save inbound calls made to your extension lines. For smaller companies that receive fewer calls, extension call recording is frequently the popular option.

On Demand Call Recording
On demand call recording can be delivered at network level or hardware level depending on what your business requires. Now, a lot of businesses record calls for compliance purposes but if you are in an industry that has no need of phone call recording for compliance then on demand call recording is often a better choice. You can simply record calls at the touch of a button, recording only what you need.

Bulk Call Recording
Bulk call recording does exactly what it says – it bulk records all calls, inbound and outbound. Recording every inbound and outbound call may seem inordinate but it means that you will never miss a thing and you will eternally have the calls that you need, stored.

Ad Hoc Call Recording
Recording your calls ad hoc is a good way to get a reliable, representative sample of your calls. Ad hoc call recording indiscriminately records a selection of your calls at unsystematic times, allowing you to receive a general overview of how your calls are being handled.

What Kind of Businesses Use Call Recording?

The easy resolution of course, is almost every kind of business. The main industries that typically use call recording religiously are: finance, legal bodies, call centres, emergency services and telecommunications. Recently however, more and more companies are seeing the benefits of call recording phone systems which means you can now find call recording in industries like retail, food, fashion and education.

Why Call Recording is Used

Call recording has become a necessity for a variety of reasons and each industry has its own specific reasons for needing their calls recorded. Let us take a look at what benefits call recording can offer and which industries would find them especially useful:-

  • Compliance with Regulations;

This is one of the main reasons for recording calls. When dealing with high finance for example, there are a lot of rules and regulations surrounding business deals. As a lot of financial deals are done over the phone, it is important to have actual evidence to show that you have complied with regulations and also to prove your case if a matter goes to court as call recordings are generally irrefutable. Emergency services also use call recordings for regulation reasons. The police, fire service and health services all need to be able to prove that they have acted in accordance with regulations and call recordings are the best way to do that.

  • Recording of Agreements/Meetings/Instructions;

For vital information, note taking is second best to recording calls – there can be no dispute or confusion over instructions given or agreements made. Or, if you have a conference call, recording the phone call rather than taking minutes can save valuable time. Motor companies such as the AA can use call recording for purposes such as checking instructions or locations, making their services more efficient. Again detailing the emergency services, call recordings are exceedingly useful. For ambulance drivers, emergency details can be quickly recalled via call recordings and passed on, allowing them to answer with more efficiency. With police officers, if a person ringing the police is abruptly cut off, call recordings can cater details sometimes missed during the phone call and can make all the difference in life or death situations.

  • Protection from Abuse;

Some customer calls can get quite abusive – it is sad but unfortunately true. With call recording, members of staff who take abusive calls or who have pain in the neck callers can record the calls for litigation purposes or such. This also works the other way around. Staff members who are abusive to customers can be caught out if their calls are recorded.

  • Training and Monitoring Purposes;

Call recordings can be a good way of training staff, particularly call centre staff. By using good and bad call recordings as an example you can quickly and easily train staff in call etiquette. Call recordings are also the best way of monitoring performance and customer service. By checking your inbound and outbound calls you can identify any problems or ways of improving services or staff training. 

Just as an Added Extra…

Call recording is not a one trick pony. Yes, call recording is about recording phone calls, but most call recording software also offers functions such as call reports. Call reports allow you to see where your calls come from, how often you are called, call peaks and troughs and how long calls are lasting for amongst other things. Add this to the benefits offered by call recording and you can truly begin to manage your calls.

A Little Recording Goes a Long Way

Call recording has never been so popular. Rather than it being a simple, self-explanatory process, call recording can actually be accomplished in different ways such as recording all or only part of your calls. Many businesses now record their calls, whether it is for regulation purposes, training purposes or other more wide-ranging purposes.  Call recordings can save you time, trouble, money and training – which is the reason why call recordings are now more necessity than nicety.  

The Advantages of Wireless Internet Providers

Aug 28, 2010 in VOIP News

Internet has been one of the greatest contributors in our world today. It lets us feel that every country is always near, because we can access websites from other countries, making friends with them through social networking and even proposing online businesses to them. Why is it that we need to use the internet? First of all, internet is considered to be our biggest virtual library. Students and teachers who are spending their time researching about their assignments and tasks can save their time by using the internet. Big search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing are one of the biggest reasons why they are called big virtual libraries. Online dictionaries like Wikipedia are also helping students and teachers to research and get brief information in any subject they want. Internet is also considered to be our alternate communication source. We can communicate with each other on the internet through the use of instant messengers, e-mails and even video phone calls with the use of headphones or internet phone. It is also good for entertainment like watching movies, download music, playing online games and making friends through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

All of these things are very common when using the internet, and they need some high speed connection. It is important to use a high speed connection because it saves us time for other things. Speaking of time savings, we prefer about the speed of downloads which most users are addicted to it. They can download lots of them like files, music, movies, online games, photos and many more. Most internet and gaming cafes are using a high speed connection on their internet service provider through local area connection (LAN). But there are some users that are using wireless internet connection rather than using cable wires. What would be the advantage of wireless internet? The users can access the internet without the need of a cable wire that connects to the internet, but instead their signals are transmitted to the router which has an antenna to let other users connect. This is very common for those who are using laptops with Wi-Fi connection. Malls, universities and hotels are offering wireless service to their customers which allow them to access the internet unsecured.

The only disadvantage you can experience with the wireless internet is the low speed connection. If we compare between a local area and wireless connection, it is understood that those who are plugged with wires are faster than wireless. Those who are using local area connection, they have no problem in their high speed connection unless there is a problem with the database of their internet service provider. On the other hand, wireless connection may only depend on the level of signal of their router, which gives them a chance that their connection might be interrupted. We can say that wireless internet has an advantage over the locals, because you can surf anywhere we want with our laptop, mobile phones with internet and even the famous Apple iPad. Not all of our services are perfect, especially when it comes to using the internet whether it is local or wireless. If you are interested in broadband internet, kindly check our cable internet deals packages that may satisfy new and existing customers in their area.

Why Broadband Internet Companies Need Regular Maintenance?

Aug 27, 2010 in VOIP News

One of the things you should know about a broadband internet company is maintenance. Why do they need to undergo regular maintenance once a month or bi-weekly basis? Speaking of maintenance, it is where you should maintain the stats to normal or default way. For example, when you play an online game like World of Warcraft and you see that you cannot login due to maintenance, it is where they have to fix something that is not good for the game. It is either they found some bugs in the game or anything that is quite imbalanced. Air-conditioned units were also maintained by users as a tangible unit, where the user needs to clean the filter and to put it back after the filter was dry. One of the most common things that you need to maintain is your health. Your mother could provide you healthy foods in order to maintain healthy and strong. Others who were suffering from diabetes or any rare diseases have their own maintenance as well, by drinking their medicine prescribed by their doctor. Even the world itself, it needs to maintain a clean atmosphere by planting more trees to stop global warming. The reason why broadband internet companies want to undergo maintenance, it’s because they need to fix everything that is not good for them. They also need to maintain their default settings without interruptions from other customers who are using the internet. In order for their maintenance to be completely fixed, all of the users of their provider will be disconnected and prevented from accessing the internet. If the maintenance period will be performed, but the users are still connected to the internet, it will be hard for them to fix it while the connection is still running. Many of us will wonder why we experience disconnections in our internet, and it is due to some valid reasons. Sometimes it really depends on our area which recent disconnections may occur, and it is not going to please their customers. So what they will do is to put a notice to their official website about their maintenance schedule, so that the customers might be aware and updated of it. If they cannot put a notice for the customers to be updated, you may expect that there will be lots of complaints through phone calls, e-mails and live chat services. Going back to online games, sometimes they will perform maintenance twice or even more in a month due to bug fixes, glitches and lagging problems. But for broadband internet companies, they cannot perform their maintenance several times in a month because they are the reason why online gamers and surfers cannot connect to the internet. Internet is a valuable source for all of us, especially when we need to research something important or to manage our online business. Without an internet connection, the world would never be the same and most of us cannot live without it. It is very important for a broadband internet provider to undergo maintenance either in a bi-weekly or monthly basis, to make sure that everything runs smoothly for their customers. If you are interested in broadband internet as a new customer, kindly check our high speed internet that may satisfy new and existing customers in their area in watching cable TV.

Friday Links: VoIP Tracing, Video Calling, Google Voice

Aug 26, 2010 in VOIP News

VoIP News of the UK says that Ofcom wants reverse VoIP tracing for emergency calls in the UK.
Smith on VoIP says that niche applications are driving the adoption of video calling.
Network World says that Google has grabbed 1 million phone numbers for Google Voice. Whoa.

What is Server Colocation?

Aug 26, 2010 in VOIP News

Server colocation is usually a service frequently utilized by businesses who prefer the benefit of their own dedicated server, yet whose web site bandwith requirements are incredibly costly (as a result of many visitors and/or significant downloads). What this means is that rather than keeping their servers onsite, they lease room and bandwidth from server colocation providers.

Not everyone will benefit from server colocation services, they are best for people and businesses with substantial websites who get a large quantity of daily traffic or large numbers of downloads or uploads through their sites. Server colocation services are not inexpensive, however for clients whose bandwidth requirements are extreme and who have a very high cost of bandwidth, server colocation services usually work out cheaper. Essentially, you’re sharing bandwidth with the server colocation provider, which is how the overall bandwidth costs are decreased.

It is often possible to lease a server from a server colocation provider, which is helpful for organizations without their own dedicated servers. Businesses or individuals who rent these servers own the information on the server but do not own the server.

There are a variety of factors to take into account prior to utilizing a server colocation service. Bandwidth needs are the first and foremost concern. Sometimes the price of using a server colocation provider is a bit more costly versus the actual price that bandwidth would be if you were hosting the server yourself or using a shared hosting service. This is mostly dependant on the number of visitors and daily popularity of the website. A company site that receives many visitors, and which has a large amount of downloads, and so consequently gets a great deal of bandwidth use will usually profit by using a server colocation service, and it will generally be less costly than other options.

The price of the server colocation service depends mostly upon the physical size of the server (servers are often within the spectrum of 1U to around 7U), more compact servers are likely to be less expensive because of fewer size restrictions (A U is about 1.75 inches or 4.5 cm). Further expenses will include the connection fee, as well as the type of connection chosen. The size of the connection ranges from just 1mpbs to around about 1000mpbs, and is usually referred to as a “pipe”. Generally, the larger the connection, the greater the monthly price.

There are lots of benefits of server colocation. Firstly, the supplier of server colocation services is generally equipped to handle concerns and conditions that can affect the function of the server (this can include, but is not restricted to, power outages, that are typically covered by a backup service or generator). The second reason is that server colocation providers will also provide safer storage facilities for your server (than could be had in the home or office environment), this is for the reason that protection is vital to both the server colocation company as well as their customers.

Lingo’s Smart Talk Unlimited Global VoIP Plan

Aug 25, 2010 in Product Reviews

The new Lingo Smart Talk global calling plan is blowing other VoIP company’s calling plans out of the water. Where most internet phone companies are now offering unlimited calling in the United States and Canada for between $20 and $30, Lingo is now offering unlimited calling to the US, Canada and 45 other countries for only $21.95 per month. With the ability to call other countries, including Australia, India, Mexico, UK and more, for free, it makes other internet phone providers look like landline companies.

On top of all the countries that you can call with Lingo’s new Smart Talk program, they also offer tons of other features, like caller ID, voice mail and other add-on products that landline providers charge extra for. So, if you have a business, or your just need a good unlimited local and long distance calling plan for your home, visit Lingo and sign up for Smart Talk today!

Save 60% Or More With Voice Over IP Telephone Service

Aug 25, 2010 in Technology and Gadgets

Business owners can save quite a bit of money if they are willing to go over their monthly phone and internet bills, and do a little online comparison shopping. Some businesses spend too much on telephone service when they don’t need to, and if their telephone service and internet service are paid automatically by debit card, credit card or automatic check withdrawal, they may never even look at their bills. There is a reason that telecom type companies want you to pay via automatic debit, credit or ACH, and that’s because as long as you don’t see the bill, you don’t know what you’re spending. And that can end up getting a business into trouble.

The first bill that you need to look at is your local phone service provider’s bill. Do you use all of the lines coming into your office, and if so, how much are they costing you each month? Once you’ve counted all the local lines coming into your office, look at the phone bill and see which features each phone line has, and then decide if they are are worth what you’re paying for them. Business telephone lines, with local phone service only, can cost up to $50 per line each month with some carriers, and if you’ve got very many of them, they can really start adding up.

Once you’ve deciphered the local telephone provider’s bill, look at your long distance bill and see if your long distance provider is providing you with a good deal on long distance service, or whether they are an expensive long distance provider . Also, check the long distance bill to see if there are any calls outside the US or Canada. Different long distance providers charge different rates for domestic and international calls, so a $1.98 per minute call to Afghanistan with SBC may only cost $0.53 per minute with a low cost company like Total Call International or Opex.

Now that you can see what you are being charged for your phone service and the calls, look at the rest of the taxes and fees that are applied to your phone bill. In most areas of the US, the taxes and fees on landline phone service are %25 to %30 of the total bill. So, if your telephone bill was $100 for 2 or 3 local business lines, and $50 for domestic and international long distance calls, there might be an additional $40 to $50 in taxes and fees, for a total bill of around $200. Now let’s check out some internet phone service providers and see about lowering your business’s telecom costs.

VoIP phone service requires high speed internet service, so there is going to be the added charge of having high speed internet service coming into your office. If you don’t have high speed internet service, you can get 8 to 16 MB of internet service for around $60 per month or less. That much bandwidth can run a lot of phones and a lot of computer apps, especially when you consider a T1 line has 23 channels, and that’s only 1.5MB of bandwidth. In my office, I run 2 internet phones and 3 computers, plus pipe in Pandora for office music, all with an 8MB plan from Charter. (It’s in my house, so I only pay $29.95 per month.)

VoIP telephone plans themselves are cheap, coming in at between $19.99 and $79.99 per month, depending on what plan you get. Two of the broadband phone service providers offering cheap internet calling plans are Lingo and Phonepower. Lingo has unlimited calling to the US, Canada, and 45 other countries for $21.95 per month, while Phonepower has unlimited calling on 2 lines in the US and Canada for $19.95 per month. Both internet calling plans come with lots of free features like 3-way calling, fax catcher and others, that would cost you extra from a landline telephone provider. and what’s really cool is that the taxes and fees on VoIP lines are cheaper than the PICC fees landline companies charge per business line.

If we check the price differences between landline telephone service and internet telephone service, internet telephone service wins in most cases. You can get 3-4 internet telephone lines from Phonepower for around $45 per month, including tax. Add to that the $60 for high speed internet service, and the total bill comes to around $105 instead of the $200 that landline service would cost you. And, if you figure in the fact that most businesses already have high speed internet service, the savings increase to around $155, instead of $95, per month. Any way that you look at it, internet telephone service in this case is going to save you $1100 to $1900 per year over what you would pay for 2 or 3 landlines plus long distance service, plus taxes and fees.

For more information on saving your business money, visit calling-plans.com and use their land-line, internet telephone service, and wireless telephone rate calculators to compare cheap home phone service. I know that my small business can’t afford to give away $1500+ per year to the telephone companies; Can Yours?