SkySwitch Blog
FCC Allows VoIP Providers to Obtain (but not Port) Telephone Numbers Directly
The FCC has finally decided to allow VoIP providers to obtain telephone numbers directly, rather than having to purchase them through a third party organization. The decision, released on 22 June 2015 in this Report and Order, paves the way for VoIP Providers to avoid a lot of administrative burden by interacting with the North American Numbering…
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Why Does “admin” Keep Calling My SIP Phone?
“Why does Admin keep calling my customer’s SIP phone? And when they answer nobody is there.” This is a question that we receive frequently from new hosted PBX resellers. Usually followed by the observation that there are no call logs available on the switch to evidence the call. The answer is usually that the customer has become a…
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Polycom Gets Smart with the Cone of Silence (aka Acoustic Fence)
A new Polycom feature called Acoustic Fence reminds me of one of my favorite childhood TV shows, a Mel Brooks comedy from the 60’s called Get Smart. The show featured a plethora of futuristic gadgets including telephones that were built-in to almost everything. Anyone that has seen the show will remember the shoe-phone, a device that required…
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Opus: Coming to a SIP Phone Near You
The first commercially available SIP Phone to use the Opus codec can now be purchased from Obihai Technologies. Even if you have never heard of Obihai, and never plan to use their phones, this is still big news. Here’s why you should care: Opus is the first royalty-free adaptive codec to gain support from major telecom…
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SkySwitch Device Management Makes it Easier to Troubleshoot Polycom SIP
Polycom continues to lead the field when it comes to features that aid in troubleshooting and diagnosing SIP issues. Officially supported in Polycom’s UCS 5.1.0 version firmware is the ability to read network traffic directly from the Polycom device’s network interface to Wireshark. Below is the content of a Polycom support article that describes…
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SkySwitch Enhances Hosted PBX with Hospitality and Hotel Solution
We are happy to announce the first major system enhancement for 2015 – an integration package that will allow Resellers to sell hosted PBX service to hotels and other hospitality operators. Despite to trend for hotel guests to rely on personal mobile devices, telephone systems remain a major expense category for hotel and hospitality operators. And,…
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Polycom’s 2015 Predictions for the Workplace
As enthusiastic Polycom supporters, the SkySwitch team aways pays attention to the device maker’s prognostications. This year is no different. The seven predictions for 2015 below, unveiled in a press release by Polycom yesterday, are closely aligned with our own vision about the near-term future of unified communications and collaboration (UCC). 1.Globalizing companies will rapidly adopt and use…
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Federal and State Legal Requirements for CDR Retention
My LinkedIn connection, the Telecom Attorney Greg Taylor, has posted an interesting article about the Federal and State legal requirements related to the retention of Call Detail Records (CDRs). CDRs are the records that originate from a telecom switch and contain all the details of a phone call between two parties. They form the basis…
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Coca-Cola Deletes Voicemail
In a move that has generated a lot of buzz in the UC industry, Coca-Cola recently decided to get rid of corporate voicemail at the company’s Atlanta headquarters. According to an internal memo from Coke’s Chief Information Officer, Ed Steinike, the move was made “to simplify the way we work and increase productivity.” Although the…
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VoIP Fraud in the News
Anytime VoIP fraud makes headlines, it is worth taking note. Yesterday, the New York Times featured another article that highlights the potential risk faces by small businesses that employ VoIP to trim costs. Unlike past NYT articles on this topic, however, this one featured my friend from TransNexus, Jim Dalton. According to the article, thieves stole…
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