August, 2012 - DLS Internet Services

SIP Trunking Explained

February 11, 2022August 30, 2012 by Sam Rozenfeld

If you know very little about telecommunications but have some basic understanding of the Voice over IP technology – you will have no trouble grasping the concept of SIP trunking. Understanding why DLS chooses not to offer this service may take some explaining.

Understanding Trunking

The word “Trunk” has more than one meaning but in communications it came to represent a concept of a part that can be divided into branches and vice versa. More specifically, the term “trunk” is used to describe a transmission channel between two switching systems. Such transmission channel could be comprised of one or more communications circuits. When you think about public switched telephone network (PSTN), you imagine many different telephone switches all connected to each ot

her using trunks. Each trunk would typically consist of multiple trunk lines. Trunk sizes vary depending on how many trunk lines are in it.

Since the 1970s telecom services largely relied on the technology called TDM (Time Division Multiplexing). This technology allowed delivery of fixed number of voice channels per digital circuit. For example: T-1 circuit would contain 24 channels, PRI – 23 channels, etc. Each channel could be used for voice or data. This technology represented a significant leap from the analog switches because it allowed delivery of multiple channels over a 4-wire connection eliminating costly requirement for individual copper pairs to be run from the central office switch. A business could purchase a digital circuit(s) and pool some or all of its channels into trunk. These channels would then be referred to as “trunk lines”.

DLS Hosted PBX Fax Service: Signing and Notarizing Faxes Without Printing

January 25, 2022August 24, 2012 by Sam Rozenfeld

DLS Hosted PBX Fax-to-Email service directs all the faxes to your email. Faxes are attached to email messages as image files in Adobe PDF format.

You may be accessing your email from a variety of devices be they personal computers, smartphones or tablets. Each of these devices can be used to add signatures to PDF documents with SignNow. All you need to do is create a free account, upload your document and follow a set of straightforward, easy-to-understand directions. SignNow offers free applications for iPhone OS and Android Smartphone platforms. Your phone’s touch screen can be used to quickly capture your signature. Alternatively, you can use desktop website www.SignNow.com to produce a signature without capturing it.

USF AND FLAT RATE PRICING PLAN (PART 2)

February 11, 2022August 18, 2012 by Sam Rozenfeld

Back in 1996, it was still possible for telecom companies to split their service plans into a number of different revenue streams. Telecom companies were able to say, with total specificity, how much of their revenue came in from international calls, how much of their money arrived from beeper use, how much money they had coming in from local calls, and yes, how much end-user revenue they earned from interstate communication. Telecom companies could do this because these providers tended to charge based on specific usage. Each time you wanted to communicate with someone interstate you had to pay to do so, creating a firmly defined revenue stream that was easy to track, add up, and, yes, tax for the sake of bulking up the USF.

Nice Pricing Models = New Taxation Headaches

With the massive explosion of mobile devices fewer and fewer telecom providers continue to charge their customers based on usage. At least usage that’s as specifically defined as it was back in 1996. These days pricing tends to follow the model of flat-rate pricing, which basically states “a call is a call is a call is a call.”

Local calls and interstate calls now cost the same amount of money. And that’s to say nothing of the various other simplified payment plans that really mess with the idea of the USF’s tax plan. How can you accurately tax interstate communication if it’s included within an unlimited calling plan? How much of the cost of an unlimited calling plan’s price goes towards providing interstate communication?

USF and Flat-Rate Pricing Plan (Part 1)

January 25, 2022August 16, 2012 by Sam Rozenfeld

Federal legislation played a huge role in the formation of the country’s telecom industry. Today, new bills and acts passed by the U.S. Government continue to shape the present and future of our field. One of the biggest acts to pass over the last couple of decades was the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This act represented the first major overhaul of the U.S. telecom field in over 60 years. It basically set the shape of the modern communications industry. This was the first act to take the internet into consideration. Yet even though the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was prescient in some ways it failed to predict one of the biggest changes in the telecom market. Over the last 15 years, flat-rate calling plans spread all over the U.S. Nowhere is this oversight more apparent than the formation of the Universal Service Fund (USF).

Do I need a VoIP Expert to Configure My PBX?

July 12, 2022August 10, 2012 by Sam Rozenfeld

From my experience simply buying the latest-and-greatest PBX system does not always guarantee the benefit to a customer. It’s like getting a health club membership but not making a lifestyle change necessary to take advantage of your membership.

What I have been observing here, at DLS, time after time, is that even after making a decision to subscribe to our hosted PBX service, the first order of business for most clients is to imitate the way the old system worked.

This sounds like a great idea from the prospective lowering the incline of a learning curve and quelling the unrest of users who are less receptive to innovation (regardless of whether it’s good or bad for business). Unfortunately, many companies get stuck in that “transitional” configuration and never bother to move past it.

Can you greatly improve your customer’s satisfaction or employee efficiency by upgrading to a new phone system or hosted VoIP service? Absolutely! But if you don’t configure your new PBX properly then it could very well deliver mediocre results similar to those of a decade-old clunker you’ve been keeping together with duct-tape. Really, it is hard to unleash full ROI potential when your new PBX setup imitates the old one.

Another problem is that an unfortunate number of small business owners have no idea how to best configure or provision their new phone system setups even after spending a few days on administrator and user training sessions.

PBX Phones Review: GXV 3175

February 9, 2022August 5, 2012 by Sam Rozenfeld

Grandstream’s entry into VoIP market resembles that of auto-makers Hyundai and Kia. They had entered VoIP arena with ultra-cheap GXP 2000 SIP phones. Having to deal with their earlier series I can certainly tell you that they were of questionable quality in both: software, hardware and technical support aspects. GXV3175 is a rather ambitious attempt at a multimedia phone that supports video, Wi-Fi, POE (power over Ethernet), high definition voice and allows you to run applications.