VoIP, IP-PBX & TDM Phone Systems Atlanta

Koh Samet is an island or ‘koh’ in transliterated Thai. It is close to Rayong which is about 2 hours from Bangkok by private car or taxi. The island is roughly the shape of Thailand itself.

We caught a bus from the Eastern Bus Terminal in Bangkok which is close to the Ekkamai BTS Skytrain Station on Sukhumvit Road.

We went as a group of four and paid 15 baht each from mid-Sukhumvit Soi 22 in a taxi. The bus trip cost 157 baht each. They told us it would take 2 1/2 hours but it was 3 1/2 hours before we reached the Ban Phe Pier which is where our Koh Samet boat was to leave.

The bus stopped quite often to let people on and off. The trip was unpleasant because although it was a reasonable quality of bus, the driver decided to play a TV program blaringly loud. The program was a Thai sitcom or soap opera and it was far too loud to be ignored.

The program was performed by adults but it was so infantile that it was unwatchable. Luckily, either the TV or the DVD player system broke down about an hour into the journey. But it was not long before it was replaced by Thai music which was also played very loudly. The speakers in the bus were arranged in a way
that this noise could not be avoided.

Again luckily I had bought some ear plugs. They were the wax kind that reduce noise the most and they are essential for budget travel in Thailand. I have traveled on Thai buses before.

I noticed a few things in particular on the journey to the Pier. There were a large number of partially completed industrial, commercial, and residential buildings which had been abandoned part way through construction. This represents, of course, a tremendous waste of resources and labour and was very surprising. I think many of them may have been built in the mid-nineties boom period, and then failed through lack of finance.

The building were spaced, in many cases all on their own and not part of a group of buildings or industrial area. This is a very inefficient way to run business because of the extra costs.

Another thing I noticed were vast tracts of land – if you added the individual pieces together – with long grass on them which were carrying no stock at all. The grass was just growing and no one was making any money from it. Another waste of resources, and valuable land. Thailand has some of the most fertile land in the world and as I come from New Zealand, it always seems like a great shame to me; this agricultural waste.

Finally, there were many quite beautiful temples on the trip which occupied choice positions – at least looking from the bus travelling down the motorway. In some cases the temples were on the only raised piece of land in the immediate area, and this fact showed their importance to Thai people.

We got to the Rayong late and quite hungry. After purchasing tickets for Koh Samet – 100 baht each return – we had lunch at the Iier which was ok. The Som Tam was excellent but the bill of 400 baht seemed a little high.

The boat trip was in an old blue twin decked motor boat. It was enjoyable for me being back in salt air again after a long absence from it. Once we reached Koh Samet we had to find some accommodation. After talking to a few people we found that the best beaches which were close were called Ao Phrao and Ao Phai.

There are some good maps at the entrance to the Koh Samet Pier and also an information office with a person who spoke quite good English. Ao Phrao was twice as far as Ao Phai and also more expensive.

Before we had gone very far, the taxi/ute vehicle stopped and an official of some kind appeared wanting 200 baht from all foreigners and 40 baht from the Thais. Frankly, I was disgusted. I have seen this double pricing before at the Sarika Waterfall in Nakhon Nayok.

We had no choice but to pay. It was apparently some kind of National Park fee, as part or all of Koh Samet is a National Park. It was interesting that they did not charge us this at the beginning of the journey as we might have just got on the boat and gone back to Rayong. No, it was charged after we had gone too far to walk back easily carrying our packs!

We agreed on a fare of 40 baht each in a ute taxi to Ao Phrao but got off at Ao Phai. We were charged 30 baht each.

They do not spend any of this money on the roads because the roads were dreadful. Unbelievably bad in fact. Bits of concrete edges exposed, pot-holes everywhere and generally an absolute mess which is strange because the island has one of the lowest annual rainfalls in Thailand.

There were bits of reinforcing wire sticking out of decayed grey slabs of concrete in some places. It was the case all over the island except in a couple of small sections of road.

It is very important if hiring a motorcycle in Koh Samet to check that it has off-road tyres because you most certainly need them. Road tyres on a motorcycle would make riding them impossible, such is the state of the roading system.

We looked at two places to stay; the Silversand Resort and a European-run resort which was some distance from the beach. The tout had told us it was 50 metres from the beach, but it was more like 400 metres. This second place was quite cheap at 800 baht a day including wifi and World Cup Football.

We decided to stay at the Silversand Resort. They told us that every room had wifi internet.

The normal price was 2,500 baht for a room with a sea view. We looked at one of these, and the only sea view was a sliver of water through the gap between the two villas in front of the room we were looking at – no sea view at all.

We should have taken this as a sign of what was to come!

We got a standard room without a sea view at 1,200 baht per night which was discounted from the regular price of 1,500 baht (according to the brochure). The air conditioning worked, but the safe deposit box and the wifi internet did not.

At the office they said there was no problem with the internet. Other people were using it. We approached other people and they could not get internet either. The couple in the room next to us were not able to get internet at any time in the first two days.

Again we were told there was no problem. It was our computers. We tried all the passwords and other
usernames they gave us and nothing worked. We had to go outside the resort where the rates were 2 baht per minute; about double the price in Bangkok. This added considerably to the cost of our rooms.

The Silversand Resort found the next day, they said, that they had given the wrong usernames out to guests. The new ones didn’t work either. They had clearly lied about the wifi system. It was not until our last night of the three nights we stayed that the internet worked.

The staff continued to lie to us and to other guests while usually giggling at the same time in that unique Thai way when they have when they have been caught out.

When we tried to get our bills reduced because of the extra costs we incurred they told us wifi was free and therefore they could not refund those extra costs because we had not been charged for wifi. The fact that we needed wifi and checked before paying for our rooms did not matter to them. It was typical of this third-rate resort.

They Silversand Resort had an internet cafe and for the first day they even insisted on charging us 2 baht per minute for it. The staff member in the internet cafe was very rude, at one point shoving me to get to the LAN cable. We all went outside the Resort for internet. They waived the fee on the second day but I did not go back there because of the staff member.

The food which we ate at the Silversand Resort was very ordinary, and we took most of our meals outside at restaurants. There was a fly problem in the Resort around food. As soon as you got food in front of you the flies came – many and big and aggressive. To eat at the Silversand Resort I had to eat with one hand and wave the flies away continuously with the other. I did not see the state of their kitchen.

The Silversand Resort also had loud music which continued every day until 3 am. It did not end there because there were two construction projects going which started up in the morning including the use of concrete grinders. These noises did not wake me up fortunately but made it less than pleasant to sit outside the room.

The beach was ok, and it was fenced off showing the sandy bottom areas. But I can not recommend this Resort as a good place to stay. We were very disappointed and we would never dream of going back there.

Further down the beach we went to a fire dancing show put on by another resort which was quite spectacular, except for the accelerant fumes. Also, a ball of fire landed in the audience from a misjudged throw – no one was hurt thankfully. It was a show worth going to but sit well back from the big cans of accelerant.

At the entrance to the Silversand Resort, there is motorcycle hire at 400 baht per day for an automatic or 300 baht for a manual transmission. We hired a couple of bikes but we quickly discovered when riding them that they were much cheaper closer to the pier; around 250 baht per day.

We drove all over the island on motorcycles and it was so beautiful. There are many resorts on the island and many different prices. The only let-down was the amount of rubbish which seemed to be scattered around the dwellings of the locals. Other a magic motorcycle ride!

Rooms were also much cheaper away from the resorts. We had not found them on the internet when we searched online from Bangkok. Prices are as low as 500 to 700 baht. It is best to find accommodation in Koh Samet on arrival, especially if it is low season.

If you have not been there before, as we had not, then the temptation to take the first reasonable thing you find is high. It is best to travel to Koh Samet Island early in the morning from Rayong so that you can spend a couple of hours looking around for the best accommodation deals. It is always the panic that sets in – for me anyway – late afternoon and early evening if I don’t have a place to stay.

Near the Silversand Resort is the Ao Phai Travel Agency. In Bangkok you get about 32.2 baht per US$ at the moment. Here we were charged additional fees of 3% to change US$ 100.

Of course you have no option if you have come without plenty of baht. It is best to change money in Bangkok or another mainland centre before travelling to Koh Samet.

Overall, prices were a lot higher than the mainland. Food, accommodation, clothing, and bars were all considerably more expensive. The beaches were nice especially Ao Noina which we swam in first and also where we watched locals digging with spoons for shellfish on the beach.

This was my first time in the water in Thailand and I was very surprised at the warmth of the water. It was very enjoyable, as are most Koh Samet beaches.

Most of the Thais on the Island are friendly and offer a ready smile to visitors.

Koh Samet can be affordable but the budget traveller should consider the following 10 Tips to get the best value from their stay:

1. Get accommodation on arrival. It can be as low as 300 baht per night.
2. Hire motorcycles outside and away from the resorts if you are staying in the resorts.
3. Do not buy clothes, sunglasses or shoes on Koh Samet.
4. Change the money you will need into baht before you travel to the island.
5. Check that the wifi internet operates before you pay for your room. If not, negotiate a lower price.
6. Take your own coffee and tea – our resort had none in the rooms – and no jug either.
7. Take a photo of a motorcycle you hire before you leave on it as proof of pre-existing damage.
8. If you do not like loud music try and see if there is any before you rent your room.
9. Just relax and do not expect Western service standards or the truth necessarily.
10. Avoid the Silversand Resort – not a good place to stay!

For more free information please visit Thailand Travel.

Author: Michael Edgerston
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Credit card currency-exchange fees

Koh Samet is an island or ‘koh’ in transliterated Thai. It is close to Rayong which is about 2 hours from Bangkok by private car or taxi. The island is roughly the shape of Thailand itself.

We caught a bus from the Eastern Bus Terminal in Bangkok which is close to the Ekkamai BTS Skytrain Station on Sukhumvit Road.

We went as a group of four and paid 15 baht each from mid-Sukhumvit Soi 22 in a taxi. The bus trip cost 157 baht each. They told us it would take 2 1/2 hours but it was 3 1/2 hours before we reached the Ban Phe Pier which is where our Koh Samet boat was to leave.

The bus stopped quite often to let people on and off. The trip was unpleasant because although it was a reasonable quality of bus, the driver decided to play a TV program blaringly loud. The program was a Thai sitcom or soap opera and it was far too loud to be ignored.

The program was performed by adults but it was so infantile that it was unwatchable. Luckily, either the TV or the DVD player system broke down about an hour into the journey. But it was not long before it was replaced by Thai music which was also played very loudly. The speakers in the bus were arranged in a way
that this noise could not be avoided.

Again luckily I had bought some ear plugs. They were the wax kind that reduce noise the most and they are essential for budget travel in Thailand. I have traveled on Thai buses before.

I noticed a few things in particular on the journey to the Pier. There were a large number of partially completed industrial, commercial, and residential buildings which had been abandoned part way through construction. This represents, of course, a tremendous waste of resources and labour and was very surprising. I think many of them may have been built in the mid-nineties boom period, and then failed through lack of finance.

The building were spaced, in many cases all on their own and not part of a group of buildings or industrial area. This is a very inefficient way to run business because of the extra costs.

Another thing I noticed were vast tracts of land – if you added the individual pieces together – with long grass on them which were carrying no stock at all. The grass was just growing and no one was making any money from it. Another waste of resources, and valuable land. Thailand has some of the most fertile land in the world and as I come from New Zealand, it always seems like a great shame to me; this agricultural waste.

Finally, there were many quite beautiful temples on the trip which occupied choice positions – at least looking from the bus travelling down the motorway. In some cases the temples were on the only raised piece of land in the immediate area, and this fact showed their importance to Thai people.

We got to the Rayong late and quite hungry. After purchasing tickets for Koh Samet – 100 baht each return – we had lunch at the Iier which was ok. The Som Tam was excellent but the bill of 400 baht seemed a little high.

The boat trip was in an old blue twin decked motor boat. It was enjoyable for me being back in salt air again after a long absence from it. Once we reached Koh Samet we had to find some accommodation. After talking to a few people we found that the best beaches which were close were called Ao Phrao and Ao Phai.

There are some good maps at the entrance to the Koh Samet Pier and also an information office with a person who spoke quite good English. Ao Phrao was twice as far as Ao Phai and also more expensive.

Before we had gone very far, the taxi/ute vehicle stopped and an official of some kind appeared wanting 200 baht from all foreigners and 40 baht from the Thais. Frankly, I was disgusted. I have seen this double pricing before at the Sarika Waterfall in Nakhon Nayok.

We had no choice but to pay. It was apparently some kind of National Park fee, as part or all of Koh Samet is a National Park. It was interesting that they did not charge us this at the beginning of the journey as we might have just got on the boat and gone back to Rayong. No, it was charged after we had gone too far to walk back easily carrying our packs!

We agreed on a fare of 40 baht each in a ute taxi to Ao Phrao but got off at Ao Phai. We were charged 30 baht each.

They do not spend any of this money on the roads because the roads were dreadful. Unbelievably bad in fact. Bits of concrete edges exposed, pot-holes everywhere and generally an absolute mess which is strange because the island has one of the lowest annual rainfalls in Thailand.

There were bits of reinforcing wire sticking out of decayed grey slabs of concrete in some places. It was the case all over the island except in a couple of small sections of road.

It is very important if hiring a motorcycle in Koh Samet to check that it has off-road tyres because you most certainly need them. Road tyres on a motorcycle would make riding them impossible, such is the state of the roading system.

We looked at two places to stay; the Silversand Resort and a European-run resort which was some distance from the beach. The tout had told us it was 50 metres from the beach, but it was more like 400 metres. This second place was quite cheap at 800 baht a day including wifi and World Cup Football.

We decided to stay at the Silversand Resort. They told us that every room had wifi internet.

The normal price was 2,500 baht for a room with a sea view. We looked at one of these, and the only sea view was a sliver of water through the gap between the two villas in front of the room we were looking at – no sea view at all.

We should have taken this as a sign of what was to come!

We got a standard room without a sea view at 1,200 baht per night which was discounted from the regular price of 1,500 baht (according to the brochure). The air conditioning worked, but the safe deposit box and the wifi internet did not.

At the office they said there was no problem with the internet. Other people were using it. We approached other people and they could not get internet either. The couple in the room next to us were not able to get internet at any time in the first two days.

Again we were told there was no problem. It was our computers. We tried all the passwords and other
usernames they gave us and nothing worked. We had to go outside the resort where the rates were 2 baht per minute; about double the price in Bangkok. This added considerably to the cost of our rooms.

The Silversand Resort found the next day, they said, that they had given the wrong usernames out to guests. The new ones didn’t work either. They had clearly lied about the wifi system. It was not until our last night of the three nights we stayed that the internet worked.

The staff continued to lie to us and to other guests while usually giggling at the same time in that unique Thai way when they have when they have been caught out.

When we tried to get our bills reduced because of the extra costs we incurred they told us wifi was free and therefore they could not refund those extra costs because we had not been charged for wifi. The fact that we needed wifi and checked before paying for our rooms did not matter to them. It was typical of this third-rate resort.

They Silversand Resort had an internet cafe and for the first day they even insisted on charging us 2 baht per minute for it. The staff member in the internet cafe was very rude, at one point shoving me to get to the LAN cable. We all went outside the Resort for internet. They waived the fee on the second day but I did not go back there because of the staff member.

The food which we ate at the Silversand Resort was very ordinary, and we took most of our meals outside at restaurants. There was a fly problem in the Resort around food. As soon as you got food in front of you the flies came – many and big and aggressive. To eat at the Silversand Resort I had to eat with one hand and wave the flies away continuously with the other. I did not see the state of their kitchen.

The Silversand Resort also had loud music which continued every day until 3 am. It did not end there because there were two construction projects going which started up in the morning including the use of concrete grinders. These noises did not wake me up fortunately but made it less than pleasant to sit outside the room.

The beach was ok, and it was fenced off showing the sandy bottom areas. But I can not recommend this Resort as a good place to stay. We were very disappointed and we would never dream of going back there.

Further down the beach we went to a fire dancing show put on by another resort which was quite spectacular, except for the accelerant fumes. Also, a ball of fire landed in the audience from a misjudged throw – no one was hurt thankfully. It was a show worth going to but sit well back from the big cans of accelerant.

At the entrance to the Silversand Resort, there is motorcycle hire at 400 baht per day for an automatic or 300 baht for a manual transmission. We hired a couple of bikes but we quickly discovered when riding them that they were much cheaper closer to the pier; around 250 baht per day.

We drove all over the island on motorcycles and it was so beautiful. There are many resorts on the island and many different prices. The only let-down was the amount of rubbish which seemed to be scattered around the dwellings of the locals. Other a magic motorcycle ride!

Rooms were also much cheaper away from the resorts. We had not found them on the internet when we searched online from Bangkok. Prices are as low as 500 to 700 baht. It is best to find accommodation in Koh Samet on arrival, especially if it is low season.

If you have not been there before, as we had not, then the temptation to take the first reasonable thing you find is high. It is best to travel to Koh Samet Island early in the morning from Rayong so that you can spend a couple of hours looking around for the best accommodation deals. It is always the panic that sets in – for me anyway – late afternoon and early evening if I don’t have a place to stay.

Near the Silversand Resort is the Ao Phai Travel Agency. In Bangkok you get about 32.2 baht per US$ at the moment. Here we were charged additional fees of 3% to change US$ 100.

Of course you have no option if you have come without plenty of baht. It is best to change money in Bangkok or another mainland centre before travelling to Koh Samet.

Overall, prices were a lot higher than the mainland. Food, accommodation, clothing, and bars were all considerably more expensive. The beaches were nice especially Ao Noina which we swam in first and also where we watched locals digging with spoons for shellfish on the beach.

This was my first time in the water in Thailand and I was very surprised at the warmth of the water. It was very enjoyable, as are most Koh Samet beaches.

Most of the Thais on the Island are friendly and offer a ready smile to visitors.

Koh Samet can be affordable but the budget traveller should consider the following 10 Tips to get the best value from their stay:

1. Get accommodation on arrival. It can be as low as 300 baht per night.
2. Hire motorcycles outside and away from the resorts if you are staying in the resorts.
3. Do not buy clothes, sunglasses or shoes on Koh Samet.
4. Change the money you will need into baht before you travel to the island.
5. Check that the wifi internet operates before you pay for your room. If not, negotiate a lower price.
6. Take your own coffee and tea – our resort had none in the rooms – and no jug either.
7. Take a photo of a motorcycle you hire before you leave on it as proof of pre-existing damage.
8. If you do not like loud music try and see if there is any before you rent your room.
9. Just relax and do not expect Western service standards or the truth necessarily.
10. Avoid the Silversand Resort – not a good place to stay!

For more free information please visit Thailand Travel.

Author: Michael Edgerston
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Duty on LCD/Plasma TV

Affordable virtual phone system for small businesses will be a great option if you wish to take your enterprise to higher levels. This phone service is ideal for budget-minded people leading independent businesses. A virtual phone system provides highly professional services at affordable rates.

Services at a Fraction of the Cost of Standard Phone Systems

As in the traditional phone systems, there is no need to install or maintain any additional PBX hardware. With a virtual PBX phone you can enjoy all the advanced functionality found in a standard PBX system at low setup costs. A host of services including voice mail, auto attendant, call transferring, dial by name, and dial by extension can be availed at affordable price tags. This service also enables the callers to make calls to cell numbers, landlines in any national/international locations at local rates through toll free or local numbers.

Phone System to Help Start up Companies

If yours is a start up company and is lacking financial freedom, it would be hard for you to get along in the competitive business world. Communication plays a vital role in any business deal. But installing a traditional phone system as for the large business firms would be rather costly. As a solution to such situations, you can opt for a virtual telephone system where you can save your money to a great extent and at the same time, enhance your business network. Unattended calls or busy tones while making calls may result in you losing an important business deal. Hence, a virtual phone system is ideal for any small business.

Through a virtual phone system, you can expand your small business, and at the same time, have to pay only for the service you utilize.

AccessDirect provides affordable small business virtual PBX phone systems. Our small business phone system is equipped with a number of features such as voice mail, auto attendant, fax mail service, virtual receptionist and find me, follow me call forwarding.

Author: John J Kinskey
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Beading Necklace

Introduction to VoIP Business Communications

Migrating your business communications to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) from the legacy Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) or PBX is a sound business decision, now that VoIP has achieved acceptance as a mainstream communications service. However, business VoIP solutions come in many varieties, from VoIP call termination service to IP Centrex service. The primary motivation for businesses to migrate their communications network infrastructure to VoIP services comes from the ability to make much less expensive voice calls and faxes. Deployed properly, business VoIP, whether implemented in small, medium, or large organizations, can lead to improved productivity and increases in profitability.

Types of Business VoIP Solutions

One solution for businesses looking to reduce their communications costs is known as Voice over IP Call Termination through which a business could potentially save up to 50% on calls as compared to the PSTN. This service uses the public Internet or privately managed IP network to terminate your business calls instead of the PSTN, thereby realizing substantial savings for you. Another business communications replacement service is known as IP Centrex, or Hosted Centrex service. This can be thought of as a virtual PBX replacement service. The Service Provider you choose provides PBX-like features from their “host” softswitch at their POP over your business’ existing broadband connection. You should determine which type of service best suits your business needs as part of your business VoIP solution evaluation.

Evaluation Guidelines

Because of the increasing popularity of VoIP to reduce business communications costs, there have been many recent Service Provider entries into the marketplace. With the current proliferation of new providers, they are often newly minted wholesale carrier Service Providers and individual resellers who make very attractive price and quality claims that they cannot meet. This of course will lead to your dissatisfaction with VoIP business service and a negative outcome to your decision to switch. For these reasons, it is best to create a “short list” of well-known, established and reliable VoIP Service Providers. A reliable VoIP Service Provider would be any communications provider who has a solid customer base, seasoned telecom management and engineers, with 2 or more years of reputable service experience.

Evaluation Criteria to Select Your Premier Business VoIP Service Provider

All well-established VoIP carriers in the market will claim to offer the best VoIP business solution. So how do you choose who should be on your “short list” and final choice to implement your VoIP solution? The following criteria should all be considered when selecting the best business VoIP provider:

1. Voice Quality: A premier Service Provider will have multiple POPs (Point of Presence) and softswitches, resulting in minimum latency (aka delay) and allowing for faster connections. Minimizing delay and jitter (the short term instability in the quality of a call) are 2 crucial parameters of providing high quality VoIP voice and fax calls. Another critical parameter that should be used to gauge voice quality is the Service Provider’s MOS (Mean Opinion Score) number. MOS Scoring is a subjective test of a call’s quality originally designed by the Bell Companies to quantify the quality of a voice call, with 1 being unacceptable and 5 being superlative. A typical range for Voice over IP would be from 3.5 to 4.2 using a G.711 Codec. In contrast, a score of 2.8 to 3.2 is typically seen for cell phone calls. For your business VoIP service, you should specify a minimum 4.0 MOS score from your potential provider, with a goal of getting as close to 4.4 (which equates to PSTN “toll quality” network service) as possible. Good voice quality is one crucial factor in your evaluation that separates the average provider from the best.

2. Pricing: One of the most critical areas that probably attracted your business to moving to VoIP service in the first place was to reduce its telecommunications costs. Make sure to thoroughly understand the rate structure of the various providers you have chosen to evaluate. Due to increasing competition in the business VoIP space recently, rate can vary widely. All VoIP networks are not created equally, and a provider’s internal cost structure and profit margin requirements can create a wide range of pricing structures. Also be sure to negotiate discounts based on volume of calling, generally expressed as MOU (Minutes of Use) that you plan to send to the Service Provider.

3. Network Integration: All businesses in operation today have an existing telecom network to meet their various telecommunications needs. Migrating to VoIP service should be a seamless and relatively painless transition for your business. The VoIP Service Provider of your choice should be able to easily integrate your existing service with VoIP so that your network operations are minimally affected during the migration process.

4. Feature Richness: A wonderful aspect of both Voice over IP termination and hosted IP services is the wide variety of value-added features they allow to be offered. Call waiting, call forwarding, 3 way calling, speed calling, pre-established teleconferencing, even video- conferencing (and many others) are are available, usually at little or no cost, which will help achieve your goal of increasing productivity. Choose the provider who offers you the features & services that meet your business needs and will add value to your particular organization.

5. Billing: All premier VoIP Service Providers should offer a real-time billing capability with demonstrable expertise to exert proper control over the VoIP minutes used by their large number of individual customers. CDRs (Call Detail Records) should be available on every single call billed, allowing them to optimize their network and you to ensure the rate structure you signed up for is being charged accurately and consistently.

6. Trial Results: To verify the claims regarding the quality of the network, your service, and user friendliness of features that will ultimately determine your overall service satisfaction, you should always sign up for a live test trial from the VoIP provider being evaluated. The trial should be no less than 48 hours, preferably longer. This will give you a good representation of the services and features being offered. During the trial, be sure to get measures of the ACD (Average Call Duration), ASR (Average Success Ratio), and PDD (Post-Dial Delay) which also can be used to compare different providers’ QoS (Quality of Service).

Ultimately, you should choose the best business VoIP service for you and your organization, based on the evaluation criteria, to attain a high level of satisfaction with your new VoIP business service. In this way, you will achieve the original goals for moving your business communications to VoIP of cost reduction and productivity improvement.

Neil Abramson writes on telecommunications and technology related issues. You can learn more by

visiting my blog, Basics of VoIP at http://basics-of-VoIP.blogspot.com

Author: Neil Abramson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Duty tariff

“Free Music On Hold”. No, I’m not talking about some kind of civil rights cause. I’m talking about your wise decision to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and to try to enhance their calling and on-hold experiences. A couple of words of caution, however.

First, make sure you cover yourself legally by using only music that you are licensed to use.

Do some web searches for “music on hold copyright”, etc. There are strict laws governing use of virtually any material – music or otherwise – which has been written, recorded, or produced by someone else. These laws are actively enforced, and substantial fines are levied against violators.

Second, if you don’t have the budget for a professionally produced on-hold music and message production, “free” hold music is a good first step, but do your best to make it sound as professional as possible. Find the best quality music you can and play it on the highest quality player that you can afford. Take a hard look at your phone system. Is the sound quality of calls clear – both for callers on hold and when connected to an extension on the phone system (i.e., when talking to someone in your office)?

Call in to your business from several different outside telephone numbers and listen to the quality of the sound of the phones when someone answers the call as well as the quality of the on-hold sound. It shouldn’t be noticeably scratchy or “tinny” sounding. It should be reasonably clear and you shouldn’t have to strain to hear. Nothing about the experience should be distracting or annoying. If it is, go through the system piece by piece and identify and upgrade the offending elements. I.e., if there is bad sound quality the problem may be in the music player or in the phone system – or it could be in the phone line or the wiring between the “demarc” (point of demarcation) and your phone system. That is, it could be somewhere between the phone lines out “on the street” and your building or it could be somewhere in the building.

Make the calling and on-hold experience a pleasant one, and make it as easy as possible for your customers to be impressed with your professionalism. Just make sure you cover your legal bases in the process.

On hold music and messages are an important part of any serious business. Let the professionals at Hold Time Studios help you make the most of your customers on-hold experience.

Author: Tim E Holdon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canada duty rates

With local and toll-free numbers, you can create a strong business presence throughout the nation. Besides, your business image will be that of a professional organization which offers quality customer support.

With the support of hosted PBX phone system you can receive calls from your local and toll-free numbers on the existing telephone number. This phone system is incorporated with the same features which are found in high-end phone systems kept by large corporations. These include find me, follow me call forwarding, call conferencing, call waiting, caller identity, voicemail and more.

Establish Your Business Presence in Any Desired Location

The major advantage of having local and toll-free numbers is that you can create a virtual business presence in any location without incurring the expenses required for maintaining physical offices. Besides, any number of extensions can be maintained using the existing number as you expand your business. It is not necessary to maintain separate telephone numbers and area codes, when you relocate your business to a new place. Toll free numbers bring an increased number of calls from your customers as they are not charged for the calls.

Calls to local and toll-free numbers are received with appropriate salutation messages and connected to the right extension numbers. With the find me follow me call forwarding facility, calls to these phone numbers can be forwarded to your alternate extension phone numbers including residential and cell numbers. This enables you to remain in contact with your workforce and customers round the clock. Unanswered calls are routed to the voicemail system so that the callers can leave voice messages and thereby avoid the chances of missing calls from your potential customers.

Colossal Investments Not Required

A hosted PBX phone system does not require you to purchase and maintain any expensive equipment on your office premises since these are kept at the site of the service provider and the PBX services offered through a hosted server using high speed Internet connection or telephone network. The services are shared among a number of users and can therefore be utilized at economic monthly subscription charges.

AccessDirect can provide you with virtual local phone numbers having area codes of most major cities in the US. The toll free numbers that AccessDirect provides is supported by a hosted PBX system.

Author: Armstrong C
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Chatting online can help promote business deals and make your business easier to access. It can also create an easier working community by allowing the people within your company to stay in close connection. Online chatting can be useful for travel and for Optimization Service Sites as well. ChatRelations provides live help, live support, live people, live customer support and live customer support software. With ChatRelations, you can even have a live chat operator that can help you to make communication easy, accessible and trouble free.

If you are a company that is interested in facilitating business communication, it is imperative that you use online chat. ChatRelations. Chat Live Software offers an efficient way to provide real time interaction while guiding consumers to solutions. In order to communicate online, it is a good idea to understand what online chat is all about.

Chat Online chat can refer to any kind of communication over the internet, but is primarily meant to refer to direct one-on one chat or chat rooms, using tools such as instant messaging applications computer programs, Internet Relay Chat, talkers and possibly MUDs, MUCKs, MUSHes and MOOes.

For every business traveler engaging in a video call or conference call rather than braving the check-in queue, there are countless web users replacing traditional conversational means with online chat and messaging. Like Email, which has reduced the need and usage of letter, fax and memo communication, online chat is steadily replacing telephony as the means of office and home communication. The early adopters in these areas are undoubtedly teenage users of instant messaging indeed it cannot be long before SMS text messaging usage declines as mobile handsets provide the technology for online chat and the ability to seamlessly hold and continue conversations across multiple devices.

A MUD, or a multi-user dungeon, is a multi-user version of dungeons and dragons for the internet, and is an early use of the internet. In a MUD, as well as playing the game, people can chat to each other. Talkers were originally based off MUDs and the earliest versions of talkers were primarily MUDs without the gaming element. Other derivations of MUDs were used that combined gaming with talking, and these include MUSHes, MOOs and MUCKs.

Besides real-time chat, another type of online community includes Internet forums and bulletin board systems (BBSes), where users write posts (blocks of text) to which later visitors may respond. Unlike the transient nature of chats, these systems generally archive posts and save them for weeks or years. They can be used for technical troubleshooting, advice, general conversation and more.

Terry Parker is an avid software reviewer and recommends for online chat software

http://www.chatrelations.com

Author: Terry Parker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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