This is a quick and helpful graphic for anyone selecting a business phone system. It uses scenerios to help you identify which offering is right for your business.
For more information on business phone systems, check out my article, The Advantages and Disadvantages of On-Premise Phone Systems.
For this month's business phone and Internet promotions from providers, including Comcast Business, please visit our Current Promotions page.
For small businesses that rely on faxes, one of my favorite features has always been Fax Never Busy. Unfortunately, as with many legacy features these days, Fax Never Busy is going away.
Business phone and Internet provider, Integra Telecom was one of the last carriers to offer this feature. It just notified me today that Fax Never Busy is no longer available. Part of its move to modernize its platforms.
Fax Never Busy was a function of the old Octel Voicemail platform. A few years ago, Intregra moved from a traditional voicemail platform to a new soft switch voicemail platform. Still, it kept the old platform up and working. Until now.
We can place a Call Forward Busy feature on your POTS line. This will make is so that when the line is busy/being used additional in-bound calls will be forwarded to a virtual fax number that will receive and store the fax as a PDF in the cloud. Email notification is an option on this, so customers can receive faxes as PDFs attached to emails right away. You can receive and print the PDFs you are sent.
The inconvenience of this is that there's a storage capacity limit, so you'll have to go in and clear out old PDFs every so often.
Alternatively, you can get a secondary fax line (and machine).
As with all telecom, these alternatives are customizable. Which of these you go with, if either, depends on your unique business needs.
For example, I am working with a customer right now who does not want his faxes to go to email. He wants them to come off a fax machine. So we are working to determine how many lines (and machines) he needs.
Let me know if you have any questions about what's right for your business. I can give you pricing on a variety of configurations. My direct line is (206) 420-0140.
Now that business critical applications are becoming WAN based instead of LAN based the need for high-quality, high-speed bandwidth is important. Quality bandwidth is going to derive from a robust network, and CenturyLink has one. Here is their Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) slick:
If you would like to quote for dedicated, high-speed Internet access at your location please give me a call direct at (206)420-0140 or contact Caisson here.
Brian Wade is founder and president of telecom brokerage, Caisson Technologies. He has worked in telecom for 15 years, including at Integra Telecom as a customer care representative, service provisioner and sales representative. He launched Caisson in 2005. He writes about telecom products, promotions and industry trends on his blog.
Caisson Technologies is a northwest-based telecommunications consulting company. We sell the business phone and Internet services of over 40 telecom providers, including Level 3 and tw telecom. We're the better way to buy because we work with the service providers so you don't have to. We're here longterm, so you always know who to call. And we save you money, typically 20 - 30%. Plus, our consulting is free. Here's how.
When ordering Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) from any business phone and Internet provider it's important to familiarize yourself with the Service Level Agreement (SLA) backing the services you're considering.
Here is CenturyLink's Internet Port SLA, for those of you considering CenturyLink.
Specifically, here's what a SLA gives business customers:
No SLA from your provider? Then they give what's called a "best effort" agreement. No guarantees. That's why at Caisson, we strongly recommend services that come with SLAs.
If you would like to discuss SLA's or Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), please give me a call direct at (206) 420-0140 or contact us.
Brian Wade is founder and president of telecom brokerage, Caisson Technologies. He has worked in telecom for 15 years with experience as a customer care representative, service provisioner and sales representative. He launched Caisson in 2005. He writes about telecom products, promotions and industry trends on his blog.
Caisson Technologies is a northwest-based telecommunications consulting company. We sell the business phone and Internet services of over 40 telecom providers, including CenturyLink. We're the better way to buy because we work with the service providers so you don't have to. We're here longterm, so you always know who to call. And we save you money, typically 20 - 30%. Plus, our consulting is free. Here's how.
We're easy to reach at (206) 420-0140.
Two wonderful companies are going to become one big awesome company. Colorado-based Level 3 Communications, Inc. and tw telecom, also based in CO, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement, intended to qualify as a tax-free reorganization, whereby Level 3 will acquire tw telecom in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at $40.86 per share based on market close as of June 13, 2014.
From their joint press release:
"The combination leverages the highly complementary strengths of the two companies to create a stronger, more nimble, customer service-oriented competitor to meet customers’ increasingly complex local, national and global communications needs."
I'm an agent in good standing with both companies. Have been for years. I have clients with services from both companies. For my small business clients, tw telecom offers better customer service. While Level 3 is a strong, good company, they are known for just showing up and doing their job and not for add-on services and customer service. For this reason, I hope the acquisition generates a gigantic tw telecom and not a faceless Level 3.
tw telecom CEO says the following in the press release:
Integra is one of over 40 telecom service providers that we work with at Caisson. We've been a valued agent of Integra since our inception in 2005. We're proud to work with its management, engineering teams and provisioners to deliver connectivity and bandwidth to customers via Integra Voice Communications services, IP/MPLS VPN and Ethernet services. Contact us.
Here are more details about the DocuSign announcement as represented in a press release from Integra:
This month's business phone and Internet promotions are now up on our Current Promotions page. They include:
From Comcast Business:
This is great for existing Comcast Business Internet customers. Still using the old phone company for your voice service? Now is a great time to bundle in those voice lines and save.
Sharing with you the most current telecom pricing promotions is just one way we work on your behalf. Contact us today for more details or to buy services now.
My company, Caisson Technologies is an authorized agent of Comcast Business. Have been for 7 years. During that time, the mega company has definitely been a leader in expanding access to high-speed Internet and data to more businesses in our region, now including commercial areas in the Kent Valley. Here is the announcement from Comcast Business:
Comcast Business announced the expansion of its commercial fiber network, capable of bandwidth up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), to underserved commercial areas in Kent, Washington, the sixth largest city in the state.
The network build out will bring Comcast Business Ethernet services to more than 150 local businesses for the first time, providing a cost-effective solution to increase speed, scale bandwidth, or connect multiple office locations on one dedicated network.
Have you seen this humor video? It's about how stuck we all feel when it comes to suffering poor service by residential high-speed Internet and cable providers. It's good for a laugh (warning, it includes an expletive). I especially like the part about the "barely trained technicians who knock once while you're in the shower and then promptly leave."
Business customers can relate. Ever tried to run a business while waiting for a telecom technician to arrive sometime within the service install timeframe of 8 HOURS? It's maddening.
Unlike residential customers business customers aren't trapped. They have a choice, albeit limited, when it comes to their phone and Internet service providers (Century Link, Integra Telecom, Comcast Business, etc). That choice, however, seems somewhat false and exercising it just causes headaches. More empowering is the fact that businesses have a choice in how they buy telecom service.
There are two ways to purchase and receive business phone and Internet service. Buy direct from the service providers (see headache comment above). Alternatively, businesses can chose to work with an experienced telecom broker and completely bypass the providers' sales process. When businesses choose brokers they change business telecom for the better. Here's how.
Telecom brokers work with all the service providers so you don't have to. And they manage the install experience, wielding an influential whip on your behalf. Brokers' services are usually free. Learn more about how telecom brokers are revolutionizing the industry here.
As the alternative to direct sales representatives, telecom brokers are sometimes referred to as the "indirect channel" in that they are another avenue for bringing in new customers. In this way, brokers have the ear of the telecom giants. More on that coming up, but first a disclaimer:
I'm a broker, so naturally I'm advocating for the buy from a broker route. But I'm also a business owner and I want better telecom service for my business and clients. Plus, I've worked the direct side of telecom as a customer care rep, telecom provisioner and sales person. I've seen the inner workings of the telecom giants. I know that what telecom brokers solve for the giants will ultimately mean more resources get put toward better sales support, more engineers and true product and service innovation. All that means happier customers and lower prices.
1. A professional. The best brokers have years of experience. They exist to be your fierce advocate upfront and for years to come.
2. The best rates for the best products (brokers have access to all the same promo pricing, special deals and competitive maneuvering as direct sales reps, don't ya know). Here's how.
3. No B.S. Brokers work with all the 40+ telecom service providers, so you don't have to.
Read about additional benefits here.
High-speed Internet via fiber connections, 100 Mb to 1 Gb dedicated Internet connections, MPLS, hosted voice; telecom is business rocket fuel. Together, we can make sure that telecom customer service shapes up. Telecom has the chance to create an outstanding customer experience!
As always, if you have any questions about business phone and Internet service please call me direct at (206) 420-0140. I'm famous for giving away tons of free advice.
Brian Wade is founder and president of telecom brokerage, Caisson Technologies. He has worked in telecom for 15 years, including at Integra Telecom as a customer care representative, service provisioner and sales representative. He launched Caisson in 2005. He writes about telecom products, promotions and industry trends on his blog.
An on-premis (on-prem) system is yours. You own and manage it. You're not dependent on anyone else to get it to work, which of course means you are responsible for making it work. But if you don’t want to do that, you can hire out some parts of the maintenance to a vendor. Just be sure to pick one that is trained and certified on your specific system.
Highly customizable, an on-prem system has a long shelf life--typically, 10 – 20 years if run in a proper environment (not to hot, not to dirty). Overall, on-prem systems offer every day performance and relatively easy maintenance.