Sam Rozenfeld

The Bizarre Persistence of Toll Free Numbers

by

In a perfect world, technology would advance smoothly and predictably. Every year we’d see advancements within the technologies we know and love and  everyone would adopt these new technologies as they became available, and we’d all benefit from operating at the highest possible level our modern technology affords.

Too bad, we don’t live in this perfect world. Communication technology advances at a crawl and then surge forward, organizations fail to keep up even when the benefits are clear, and all of us have to negotiate an uneven technological terrain.

Most of these imperfections are due to economic reasons, but some of them lie within peculiarities of human behavior, lack of information and irrational attachments. To understand what I mean, look no further than one of the most stubborn holdouts of days of telephony technology gone by- the toll free number.

Read more

Could VoIP Service Become Illegal?

by

The thought of a communication technology becoming illegal sounds preposterous at first, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally impossible. In fact, a serious consideration to severely limiting or outright banning VoIP service providers is already given in one country, Ethiopia, and censored or otherwise limited in a number of other nations. True, none of these countries experience the level of freedom, and specifically the level of freedom of speech, that we enjoy in the United States, but their bans on VoIP clearly showcase how a seemingly innocuous technology reverberates with heightened political and economic meaning.

Read more

Freedom to Choose Your Voice Service Provider?

by

Franchising business offers a good opportunity to various levels of business expertise and investment capital. Studies show that 97% of franchise businesses are still operating after the first year, compared to only 62% of independently owned. In most agency relationships, the franchisors are the risk takers whereas the franchisees prefer to steer clear of risks. In a franchising relationship, the franchisor and franchisee usually have different objectives

Read more

Ways to Establish Hosted PBX Providers Credibility

by

Have you ever heard of the old “bring the puppy home” sales trick? If not, here’s how it goes.

Say you’re cruising around with your family and you stop in a pet shop. You think you might want to get a dog for you and your kids at some point, but you’re not quite sure just yet. You look around and spot a cute little puppy that you all adore. You love the pup, your kids love the pup, all is right with the world.

Except, of course, you’re not totally sure you even want a dog in the first place. The pet store manager knows this. The manager also knows a sales trick or two, so they make you a seemingly fair offer. Bring the puppy home with you, and if you don’t want to keep the little romper, you can bring him back tomorrow.

So you take the cute little puppy home with you and lo-and-behold when tomorrow rolls around you can’t bring yourself to return the little guy… even if you remain just as unsure about your future life as a pet owner as you felt the moment you walked into the store.

Read more

Questions to Ask Hosted PBX Service Provider References

by

Signing up for a new VoIP Hosted PBX service is a big deal, and a decision you don’t want to make lightly. While it’s tempting to simply go with the cheapest VoIP service you can find, the best way to learn whether a hosted PBX provider is really worth hiring is to ask for references. Once you compile a list of references, you need to grill the hell out of the poor souls you call up looking for information.

Read more

Budget PBX – Yes, It’s Possible!

by

Why haven’t you moved your company to the hosted PBX yet?

What do you mean “you’ve only had your current phone system for five years”? Did you keep your cell phone for five years?

Maybe you think that VoIP technology doesn’t move as fast? It does. Well, with the hosted PBX the cool thing is that in most cases, all you need to do to stay current is buy some new handsets! The rest of it practically upgrades itself assuming your service provider wants to keep your business over time.

Easy or not, it’s not uncommon for many companies to not touch their office phone systems for nearly a decade. The problem with this approach is that business technologies evolve and you have to evolve with them or you run a real risk of relying on some antiquated business practices which your clients will sooner or later notice.

Today, if your PBX handset is more than three years old, it may be time to upgrade it to something a bit more recent.

Read more

VoIP Beta Testing Blues

by

Points of View

I’d bet you love Beta testing new calling features for your favorite hosted pbx service provider.

No?

I want YOU for some VoIP BETA testing

What am I thinking! Of course – who in their right mind would Beta test a phone service? After all, telephones are the veins of your business, a vital part of its organism. And how would you report a problem if your phone service goes down?

So when your VoIP service provider asked if you would be interested in becoming an important part of their field beta testing program for a brand new set of features in a new release of a product that can still be littered with bugs you firmly said “No, thanks”.

You are not eager to jump on an opportunity to provide that important input, make user interface more friendly, participate in development and even sneak in a feature request that your business will benefit from the most!?. Your business is too good to be running some untested Beta software?

Well, maybe another customer is willing… No? Anyone? Someone?

Read more

Wideband Audio Adoption: Obstacles to Clear Calls

by

Harping on the low quality transmissions offered by traditional phone lines is something of a cliché. You won’t find anyone who argues a traditional landline replicates voice quality clearly and cleanly. Instead, we’ve all become accustomed to the distortion, clipping and general fuzziness involved in making and receiving calls from traditional landline phones. And those offer a superb voice quality in comparison to most cell phones. Unfortunately many of us have simply accepted low audio quality as a “cost of doing business” when using telephone services.

And transmissions on traditional land line phones sound positively crisp compared to calls made between cell phones. Since the proliferation of mobile devices, the audio reproduction problems of traditional landlines seem miniscule. In fact, many people have come to believe traditional landlines offer the highest audio quality possible.

This isn’t true.

Read more

Automated Transcription? Be Careful What You Wish For!

by

speech enabled email
Voice recognition technology has finally reached a level of sophistication matching the precision and native awareness of human transcription! Just check out the level of unbelievable naturalness offered by Google Voice, the search giant’s flagship automated voicemail transcription service-

 

“Hi Oleg, My name is patio and I got your message for focal stuff I’m selling,
please give me a call back… my number is XXXXXXXXX18 Thank God.”

 

Read more

From SIP Handsets to Totally Mobile?

by

I talked to a friend recently who was full of excitement over the news from his employer that the sales team (of which he belongs) was going to receive new smartphones. His excitement was easy to understand: the entire 50 person sales team was getting brand new iPhones that were going to replace their SIP handsets and older PBX desk phones. Considering the cost of smartphones and voice quality concerns, you understand my curiosity about what would drive the company to do such a thing. Given all the changes in the mobile market and where the future of telephony seems to be headed, I tried to follow the company logic.

Read more