question on number of lines and security..

[szymas]

If I have 16 employees and I figure that 1/2 of them might be on the phone at once (Not sure if this sounds high or low) and if I go with say Broadvoice, do I:

A) Have to purchase Unlimited Business for each of the 8 lines that might be in use?

B) If I want all phone calls to com eto one main number (IE our office number) can this be done?

C)They also offer a service called "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) VoIP option that gives you an unprecedented opportunity to pick a phone number in any one of our 3,800 rate centers, have your device provisioned immediately, and start making calls within minutes.

Is that the option I want?

ps: also what about security to calls in and outbound.. any worries?

 

[Mirzab]

A) Quantity of lines needed to support 8 simultaneous calls would depend on "streams" per line provided (if I am using correct term). My VoIP provider allows 2 streams so essentially each line will support two calls (in or out) at the same time. I have heard of some business line providers that will support higher numbers. I didn't see any info on their site so more research needed.

B) Call routing can be configured many ways - all to a single extension / receptionist, to the DR, to a ring group, a hunt group, varied by office hours, many options.

C) Yes you want BYOD, will be setup right in 3CX for simplicity and better function.

I am not aware of any security concerns myself but this I will defer to more knowledgeable members, especially if I have erred in the above info

 

[RobLloyd]

I'm using nexVortex and one of their business plans. They have unlimited in/out calls from the same number. Only limit is the amount of minutes before being charged overage and your broadband connection.
If you've got a typical DSL in the US you have at best (on average that I've seen) 384k up. At 80k/conversation you can only have 4 simultaneous calls before you're maxed out.

I have not found any others that offer the same service. Most of them seem to be 1 number/line per call. Then you have to worry about roll overs, VM being lost if the main # is busy, etc. Same issues with PSTN.

 

[szymas]

I have a dedicated voice T-1 (1.54 Mbits/sec) for our current Avaya system. (really old paying thru the noise with AT&T). So your saying the with nexVortex @ 80k/conversation would allow 19 at the same time - in a perfect word.. correct?

Thanks

 

[RobLloyd]

Yes BUT they have a 2000 minutes/month outgoing before charging you ($.035/minute I believe). As far as I know you can't have more than 1 of these lines. I'm working with them to let you have more than one.

Call quality is great over cable and not bad (cell phone like) over DSL. I'm sure with a T1 you won't have any issues. If you try them out please give them my name as a reseller: technet computing.

I have a dedicated voice T-1 (1.54 Mbits/sec) for our current Avaya system. (really old paying thru the noise with AT&T). So your saying the with nexVortex @ 80k/conversation would allow 19 at the same time - in a perfect word.. correct?

Thanks

 

[ITWorks]

nexvortex

I just talked to the NexVortex rep and he said if 2000 minutes is not enough, I just need to purchase an additional plan for $40 per month. They would combine plans and I would have one number and 4000 minutes. As they have unlimited channels per plan, this could be a possible solution for those looking for lots of concurrent calls on only one number.

 

[kuhsay]

A) Broadvoice only allows one incoming and one outgoing concurrent call per line (so yes you need 8 accounts).
B) You can use a service that allows you to set your own caller ID (its called caller ID Spoofing), although I'm not sure if 3CX allows you to set your own caller ID.
C) Yes you will always want BYOD.

You might want to check VoicePulse Connect (they allow caller id spoofing). VP costs $11/mo for 4 channels, and their rates are anywhere from $.005-.019/min. They have a public key you download so your calls are encrypted. Not sure if their service works with 3CX. I've never used them before but others say their service is good.

I don't know if voip traffic is secure in general. Answers I found never gave any logic behind them. You could also locate a provider that supports VPN connections, which will encrypt all traffic between you & them.

 

[dyntech]

I use nexVortex as well and they do allow caller ID "spoofing". My one line with them is for outgoing only and they changed the caller ID for me to be the same as my incoming PSTN so that no matter which line I call out on it displays the same.

By the way, the quality is pretty good over 384KB/3MB DSL but I never go over two concurrent conversations.

 

[kuhsay]

Thanks I'll check them out.