Monthly Archives: August 2011

VOIP Phones

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There are lots of phones which are designed especially to be used for VoIP. They are usually called snom IP phones, or SIP phones. SIP is a standard used for VoIP signalling. These phones very much resemble a normal PSTN/POTS phone, but they are equipped with an internal ATA. IP phones have many features which make them very interesting machines. Some of them even have colour screens for web conferencing and web surfing.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

Convenience

Being fully equipped for ready VoIP use, a SIP phone can directly be connected to your phone network, be it a LAN or simply your ADSL Internet router. Unlike simple conventional phones, a SIP phone does not need to be connected to an ATA, since it already has one embedded.  Some IP phone models even come with Ethernet ports, which allow you to plug RJ-45 cables into them for LAN connections. You can connect them to your networked computer or directly into a LAN, which in turn is connected to the Internet through a router.  You have of course RJ-11 ports as well, which allow you to connect directly to an ADSL router working on PSTN line. The RJ-45 port can even be used to feed the phone with power, so that the phone draws its electricity from the network. This way you don’t have to plug it to an electricity outlet.

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Types of IP Phones

There are numerous types of IP phones. SIP phones range from those that are simple with basic features to those that are so stuffed that they even support web surfing and videoconferencing. Despite their wide range, they all have to have certain features. They all should support the IP protocol which comes as a protocol suite generally called TCP/IP, which is the main protocol suite used over the Internet. All of them should also have at least one RJ-45 port, for Ethernet LAN connection and a keypad for dialling numbers. Lastly, they must all have an ATA. Those IP phones that do not have an internal ATA are normally called IP-enabled phones.

Certain SIP phones come with multiple RJ-45 ports and contain an embedded switch or hub. These can be used to connect Ethernet devices, like computers or other phones, over the network. Therefore, a SIP phone can be used to connect another SIP phone. Wireless IP phones are becoming more and more popular with the advent of wireless networks. They contain a Wi-Fi adapter that allows it to connect to a Wi-Fi network. These IP phones are slightly more expensive than wired IP phones, but they are better investments.

Costs

IP phones usually cost more because they have an ATA inside. However, mass production can greatly reduce cost.  VoIP phones are basically still at the niche stage, both in manufacturing and use. The cost of production will decrease when people start buying these phones in mass. This will greatly reduce the market price.



Snom IP Phones

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Snom Technology AG is a well-known manufacturer of SIP IP phones and accessories located in Berlin, Germany. Snom has a reputation for its excellent SIP implementation and advanced features on all of the phones they manufacture. Snom is a very popular phone in Europe and Asia and is starting to gain more popularity in the US because of its price point and feature set. Snom currently manufactures three snom IP phones, the Snom 300, the Snom 320 and the Snom 360.

All of the Snom phones are quite easy to setup with Asterisk. When you plug in the Snom phones the IP address is displayed on the screen. Once you have the IP address of the phone it takes about one minute to go into the web based interface and setup the sip server, username and password. Once this is done the phone is ready to use.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

The Snom phone support trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) configuration so if you want to use the Snom phones in a large scale deployment then the phones can be configured through TFTP. They have monochrome LCD Screens. Although the Snom 300 and 320 have a basic LCD screen the phone is designed well and the LCD does a perfectly adequate job of displaying necessary information. However, the larger LCD screen on the Snom 360 is nice and in my opinion well worth the extra cost. All of the Snom phones offered have dual Ethernet ports. This is extremely useful if you only have one Ethernet port in your office or cubicle. If you have a phone with dual Ethernet you can plug the phone into the Ethernet jack out of the wall and then plug your computer into the second Ethernet port on the phone.

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Great Features

All of the Snom Voice over IP phones have a full duplex speaker phone – in other words they all have a fully functional speaker phone. While this may not be surprising to most people it actually is an impressive feature for the Snom 300. Most IP phones do not have a speaker phone at all and if they do it is usually half duplex. For instance the Cisco CP-7912G speaker phone only allows you to listen, not talk. This is where the Snom phones really shine. The Snom 320 and 360 have 12 line appearances which is over double what most IP phones offer in the same price bracket. The Snom 300 has four line appearances which is better than most. If you are looking for line appearances a Snom phone is should definitely be considered.



Snom IP Phones Features

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All of the snom IP phones have a feature rich web based interface which allows the phones to be setup in a matter of minutes. One neat feature of the web based interface is that you can dial out on the phone. This is great for alphanumeric numbers such as victor and not just 303. The Snom phones allow you to assign different ring tones to different groups of people. That way you know if you want to answer the phone even before you look at the display.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

All of the phones have a digital clock on them. The Snom 360 clock looks like an analogue clock instead of the standard digital clock. This is a unique feature that is not available on many VOIP phones. All three phones have good sound quality that is comparable to most analogue telephones on the market. While the sound quality is not exceptional, it is right on par with its pricing bracket but if you are looking for better sound quality, less features and don’t mind spending a little bit more you might look at some higher end Polycot or Cisco phones. All three phones have a message waiting light on them. When you have voicemail the light will light up and let you know that you have new messages. All three phones have a 100 number speed dial directory. This is good if you have a lot of numbers that you want store in your phone for quick access.

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Because Snom is not a US manufacturer Snom goes the extra mile to make sure that their phones work all over the world including the US. All three Snom phones come with a power supply that works in Europe as well as the United States. The phones also support many different languages so if you are installing a phone where the language used is not English there is a good chance that Snom will work. Snom also allows you to change the dial tones and ring tones to match the countries where you are installing the phone. If you are looking for a good cheap Voice over IP phone I would recommend the Snom 300. This phone has a lot of features and is available at an extremely competitive price. If you want more features on your phone then the Snom 320 is the phone to go with. For people that spend a lot of time on the phone and whom want a larger graphical display Snom 360 is an excellent choice.



SNOM 190 SIP Phone

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To connect snom IP phones plug one end of an Ethernet cable to the PC input and the other end to your PC LAN card. Plug the free end of your Internet cable to the phone’s Net input. The other end must be plugged where your Internet is coming from. Plug the adapter in its jack and connect it to the electricity network. When started for the first time it will prompt for an IP address. When you choose some non-existing one from your network you can administrate the telephone from the local site, the site is the IP of the phone. For the different model the site will look in a different way but anyway every single setting you can make to the phone can be made also from the site.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

How It Works

In General Information you can select the software language as well as the web interface language. The Number display style can be Name, Number, Name + Number or Full Contact. Tone Scheme is the ringing tone standard. Use Headset device is one among None, RJ Connector and Chinch Connector. In Redirection I choose never to be redirected but you can do it After Timeout or when Busy or Always. In Ringtones you adjust the melodies type to play when called as well as Ringer Device for Headset – Speaker or Headset. In Auto Answering you select whether to have Auto Answer and Auto Answer Indication (On/Off) and Type of Answering – Hands free, Handset and Headset.

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With the Privacy Settings you can Hide/Show your Call Line Identification Presentation (CILP) and Accept/Reject your Call Line Identification Restriction (CLIR). When requesting the snom phone user, choose the next free line you have. In Login Information display name may be whatever you wish. In Advanced Settings just set the Proposed Expiry to 1 minute and leave all other settings untouched, so they will remain as by default. In Network set the DHCP to off. The phone name may be whatever you want and the IP Gateway must be the IP address of your gateway. In ‘DNS’ set the IP address of your DNS server and in Time set a timeserver if you have any and the time zone you are in. Leave HTTP as it is set by default and in Phone Behaviour you can set some interesting features. You can set your Audio and Network having On/Off options but you also may leave this setting as by default. In Update you choose whether or update your telephone software automatically or not. In Security the password is set from the telephone producer so try not changing it never ever. By changing it you can lock your telephone permanently. Remember to restart the telephone after each change you make in order to take effect.



Setting Up Your Snom 320 IP Phone

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In order to use a VoIP phone, or snom IP phones, you must have a router connected to an ADSL line. A USB modem will not work. Unpack the phone and cables and plug them together. Connect the base unit and handset together using the curly phone cable; it plugs into the socket with the phone icon. If using a headset, plug it into the other socket underneath the base unit. Connect the Ethernet socket marked NET to one of the sockets on your router, using the coloured network cable. If you have a hub or switch inboard of the router, you can use it.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

If you don’t have enough network sockets, you can connect a PC into the second socket. Connect and plug in the power cable. Switch the power on and leave the phone to initialise for a minute or two. If you have your network set up to hand out IP addresses (using DHCP), the phone will pick up an IP address and be ready for use. You can also set up an IP address which is required when you don’t use DHCP on your network. When the question “Do you use DHCP?” appears on the display, press the cancel button. If this prompt doesn’t appear, use the silver menu button to select Configuration > DHCP. Follow the prompts to enter an IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS appropriate for your network. Use the numeric keypad, then the tick button to confirm the value. Once you’ve saved the IP address, you can use the web interface to enter the other network settings.

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Configuration

The easiest way to configure the phone is via the web interface. To access this, set the device up as described above, and then enter the IP address of the phone into a web browser. If you are unsure of the IP address for your Snom device, press the help key and the IP address will be displayed. From the web interface, click on one of the identity links to configure the account. The important fields to fill in here are all provided in your welcome email or the control panel for the first default extension. The Account is your seven digit extension number and the Password is the password you set for your extension in the control panel.

If you wish, you can add text into the Display name field which will be displayed to other parties when you call them. You can also Display text for idle screen field which will show a name for the account on your device display. You can also change the ringtone for the identity here using multiple devices behind a NAT firewall. If you intend to use multiple SNOM phones behind a NAT Firewall you will need to give each phone a unique SIP Listening Port. Select Advanced from the left hand navigation menu. In the Advanced Network section enter a unique port number into the Network identity (port) setting.



Reasons Why IP Phones Systems Are Better Than Digital Systems

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They have easy to use programming interface. Many people don’t want to have to call someone every time they need to make a change to their system. IP Systems provide a graphical user’s interface, that can be launched from anywhere and make changes to the system that can take effect immediately. So making changes to the system is much easier to understand than legacy systems. This often provides tremendous cost savings for the lifetime of the phone.

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You are able to have a phone in your house or another location and to be able to use the office’s dial tone is beneficial too. The remote user appears as if they are working at the office. So if a call comes in it can be transferred to that remote user wherever they have snom IP phones plugged in. The caller has no idea that the remote user is working from home or from anywhere in the world where broadband is available. Working remotely can cut costs of travel, time, gas, and quickly and easily enables remote workers. Teleworkers can take their office phone, plug it in, and off they go. Their extension remains the same and is totally transparent to the caller. If you have more than 1 office you can have 2 systems. You can also do an extension to extension dial and this means that you bypass any tolls. You will have the ease of talking to someone by just pressing their button or extension.  This is also another cost saving method.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

This system is also very flexible.  Whenever you are out of the office the system can easily transfer that call to your cell phone. With large enterprise systems the cell phone can even be a mobile extension. This means that you can transfer back the caller to an inside extension from your cell phone or put them on hold and let them hear your corporate on hold messages. Now you can get rid of that expensive call forwarding and drop the after-hours answering service since calls can be forwarded at anytime and anywhere. Some systems add features like Fax Services that allow you to fax from your desktop or to your desktop. Cut costs of Toner and Paper by having the fax come right to your desktop in a TIF File Format and FILE that fax in a folder on your desktop or your server. Recording conversations and dropping that WAV File can also be done. Certain systems can also handle call recording, allowing you to record conversations by simply pressing a key and then archiving these to an external storage area. There is also unified messaging.  When receiving a voicemail, that voicemail is also emailed to you in a WAV file enabling that voicemail to be saved on your desktop or server or be forwarded as a WAV file outside your company.



Snom IP Phones and Systems

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Snom IP phones and systems have been around for a long time. They have become so popular and can easily be able to scale to tens of thousands of units in dozens if not hundreds of locations. There are a lot of advantages in using IP phone systems.

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Advantages

Some of the IP phone systems today are hybrid. This means that they can handle traditional phone lines such as analogue trunks, ISDN, T1, E1 and PRI to Multiple T1 and PRIs as well as Voice Over IP (VoIP) phone lines. So they provide the best of both worlds. VoIP phone lines are also called Session Initiated Protocol (SIP). They are typically provided by an ITSP Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) and these types of phone lines can replace or augment your traditional phone lines. Each phone line needs about 84 Kilobit of uncompressed bandwidth when a conversation is in session. That means that a data T1 can handle about 17 or so conversations simultaneously.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

Many companies find that SIP is the way to go because they cost far less than traditional phone lines, as well as provide extremely competitive rates for long distance, and some providers have plans which include unlimited long distance. And if you make calls overseas, some of these plans can provide very cheap rates. Lots of people are buying IP phone systems these days and still using traditional phone lines. This is because they either don’t trust the internet or don’t understand SIP Technology that well or don’t have the upload bandwidth it takes to sustain these types of phone lines. However, they like the idea of buying an IP phone system because it gives them the flexibility to use traditional phone lines or VOIP Lines or both. But the appeal of IP systems goes beyond the fact that you can do IP trunking.

IP phone systems are going to be around for a long time. SIP is the only ratified standard of telephony today. IP Phone systems save you money by providing less expensive alternatives for local and long distance lines as well as 0 Toll when using them between each other. It also decreases cost of cabling as well as the need to dispatch a phone guy since they use a graphical user’s interface. This gives each person the flexibility to manage their own end points and the ability to move their system as much as they want without calling a phone guy. Moving an IP phone system is as easy as unplugging 3 connections. No more 66 Blocks and the confusing and unattractive wire closets you sometimes see. They are often a 2 or 3U Rack Mounted appliance that EASILY travel and here again, reduce cost if you ever have to move the system. IP phone systems provide ease of use, flexibility, mobility, compliance, scalability, and a drastic overall reduction of price.



Snom IP Phones

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In order to make VoIP calls you need to be able to connect snom IP phones. It is also known as a VoIP Phone or an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) to your broadband internet connection. When you sign up with a VoIP Service provider they may supply you with IP phones or ATAs as part of the package, otherwise you may have to purchase this equipment separately.

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What Is An IP Phone?

An ATA is different to a VoIP Phone in that it allows you to use a traditional analogue phone with VoIP. Instead of plugging your phone into the usual telephone adapter in the wall, you plug it into the ATA. The ATA also connects to a broadband modem. The purpose of an ATA is to convert the analogue signal, your voice, into digital data, ready to be sent over the internet. Once everything is connected and working, you can make and receive telephone calls as you usually do; the only difference being that the calls are routed through the internet. The biggest advantage of using an ATA is that you can continue using your existing phone equipment and won’t have to buy new phones – just plug in the phone you are currently using, either wired or wireless.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

IP Phones are different to ATA’s in that they plug directly into your Broadband modem. They already contain the relevant circuitry to convert your voice into digital data. An IP/VoIP phone is more convenient for taking advantage of many of the extra features that are included free with your VoIP account – call display, call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail plus many other others. You may still be able to use these features with an ATA, but you might need to configure your VoIP account at the service provider’s web site.

Variety

There are a variety of IP Phones currently available on the market. They range from simple handsets for residential use, to much more complex phone systems designed for business use. Most basic models will have an LCD display for configuring the phone, Caller ID, and other display information. More complex phones will have extra features like speakerphones, interfaces for attaching headsets, customisable ring-tones, and programmable buttons. If you want to go wireless with VoIP, you won’t yet get the freedom of a cellular phone, but you can still use wireless phones within an IEEE 802.11b wireless network.

When you sign up with a VoIP Service provider, included in the basic service package are things like call waiting, caller display, and call forwarding. You can take advantage of all of these features with an IP Phone. When your phone rings, the LCD screen will display the caller information. You can choose to accept the call or redirect it to voicemail or to an error message. Calls can also be forwarded to an outside number. If you want to keep your calls anonymous you can block your caller ID. This way, when you are calling somebody who has caller ID display, your name or phone number will not be shown. You can set this feature for all of your calls or just for selected ones.



How IP Phones Can Save You Money

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There are so many ways that IP phone systems can save you money. You can easily move your phone by simply unplugging it and plugging anywhere on your network where you have Ethernet. You will easily do all this without having to reprogram anything. You have just saved the money you would have spent on a dispatch guy.

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How They Save You Money

Snom IP phones systems cut cost of wiring in half. If you are moving to a new place where you normally have to provide a voice and data cable, you won’t have to do that anymore. Most IP Phones have a 2 port switch on them allowing you to plug your phone into the Ethernet Wall Plate and your PC into the back of the phone. You therefore only require one cable to the desk instead of two. This cuts cost of cabling by 50%. IP systems are easy to use as they come with a software interface on your PC so you can have full dial from Outlook capability, Chat, and much more. You are also able to use your laptop or your desktop as phone. You can simply plug your laptop into any internet connection and get connected to the office even when travelling. Add a headset for better sound quality and then it is the perfect communication device.

Use a PBX switchboard and manage your telephony efficiently.

Call detail reporting is often built-in to many of these systems. The ability to find out just about anything you want about incoming or outgoing calls. You can also produce reports that can translate into time billing and providing important information on where your callers are finding you or how about tracking what your call centre is doing. Of course these reports can easily be exported into a multitude of formats making them easy to manipulate for many reasons.

Cell phone twinning is the ability to have your cell phone function as a remote extension of your PBX and then be able to transfer that call back to any extension in your office. You can receive calls from clients while at home and transfer their call to another department by simply using your computer to initiate that transfer. Most IP phone systems these days integrate or have an option to include Webinar facility like WebEx. Unlike recurring costs like WebEx and Gotomeeting, these are appliances that easily add to your phone system and DEFER these recurring costs. There is also application interface that allows you to call anyone in your contact list from Outlook.



Benefits In Having IP Phones

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Businesses that use voice over IP (VoIP) service and snom IP phones gain many advantages. Prices of IP phones greatly differ. A lot of factors need to be considered before buying IP phones.

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Factors To Consider

High definition voice is clearer than older VoIP technologies and traditional landline voice because it delivers at least twice the sound range, about 7 kHz. It’s now a standard feature in business-class IP phones, including the affordable Cisco SPA 300 Series and 500 Series IP phones. HD voice quality is especially important for international, technical, or long conversations; conference calls; and speakerphone use. Most businesses usually need about eight or more lines for the front desk or a group assistant. A single-line phone may be ideal for backroom and warehouse locations; the new Cisco SPA 301 is a basic one-line phone priced under $100. IP phones connect to your data network through Ethernet cabling or Wi-Fi and some also receive power over Ethernet. Wi-Fi support is a must-have for mobile users who need the phone while moving around your site.

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Features

IP phones offer features such as speakerphone, caller ID, call forwarding, and conferencing. There are certain models that offer certain features not found on traditional phones. They allow you to operate the IP phone seamlessly between cellular and VoIP services. You can answer calls that started on a Smartphone, connect through Bluetooth, and import your Smartphone address book. Easily unify all your messages; voicemail, email, and faxes, into one inbox so that you can retrieve and respond faster and more easily. Increase the productivity of employees by enabling them to use the web and XML documents directly on their phone.

You can give employees access to information on your data network, such as customer records, order status, and schedules. Some IP phones can monitor video from your IP surveillance cameras, play MP3s, and display digital photos. No IP phone is compatible with all VoIP systems, due primarily to differences in their VoIP protocols. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is the most widespread. Some IP phones support both SIP and the Smart Phone control Protocol (SPCP) to help ensure interoperability in both modes. The VoIP system options include a hosted VoIP or Centrex service that you contract from a service provider and an onsite VoIP system that you own or lease.

There is encryption of voice, password protection for signalling and configuration data, and Wi-Fi security features protect against unauthorized use. An embedded virtual private network (VPN) client on your remote users’ IP phone allows them to securely connect to your network and make calls over the Internet. IP phones that are designed to interoperate with one another and your VoIP system should be the easiest to set up, move, upgrade, and manage. Review the warranty, and know what free and paid support is provided. Some companies provide a full range of technical support specifically for small businesses.