10 things you need to know before you go for pbx
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10 THINGS YOU NEED TO
KNOW BEFORE SWITCHING
TO A HOSTED PBX
WHITEPAPER
www.blueface.ie | 01 524 2000 | [email protected]
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10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE
SWITCHING TO A HOSTED PBX.Best Practice Checklist: Choosing Your Blueface Business Phone System
Use this free guide to find out what’s involved in moving to Blueface’s hosted phone system. By following this buyers’ guide you can ensure your business is ready for a plug and play experience with Ireland’s leading cloud telecoms company.
BROADBAND
Bandwidth Speed
Blueface’s phone system is broadband agnostic so it works with every broadband provider in Ireland. Each
Blueface voice call consumes just 100 Kbs or 0.1 Mbs.
Example: 10 simultaneous calls would consume only 1 Megabyte per second. Calls require full duplex
meaning bandwidth is required in both directions for upload and download.
It’s important that you calculate your busiest time of day where you experience the highest concurrency of
calls. Experience tells us that depending on your sector, this is usually about half of your phone users on
the phone at any one time. Once you know what this concurrency will be, you’ll also need to factor in how
much data usage you’ll be consuming through your network.
Ping
Ping shows how long it takes your data to reach your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ping score should
be less than 50. If this number is higher than 50 it can then cause jitter and latency. Voice is more sensitive
than data so checking your ping rate will allow you to check whether your broadband can be used for calls.
Visit www.speedtest.net and click begin test to find out your bandwidth speed and ping. You may not
always be receiving the speeds listed on your bill so this test can identify your true bandwidth speed.
Broadband Redundancy
For best practice, Blueface recommends larger businesses to have their voice services on a separate
broadband connection. This ensures that voice will have less chance of interruption from data while also
giving the option of a second broadband link to revert to in case the voice broadband goes down.
CABLING
Cabling is the most basic component of your network. An Ethernet cable should run from each desk back
into a PoE switch or directly into router/firewall for a smaller office set-up.
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ROUTER / FIREWALL
QoS (Quality of Service)
The router controls the flow of Internet traffic in and out of your office acting like a gateway between your
computer network and your Internet Service Provider (ISP). It’s important that your Internet traffic has voice
prioritised. Giving priority to your voice traffic means that if there’s a surge in your usage and you hit your
bandwidth capacity, the quality of your voice will be preserved. This is known as QoS or Quality of Service.
It’s important to ensure your network is managed carefully by your IT/Network Manager as Blueface have no
control over your network.
Ports
Ports are where Internet traffic is directed in your router. In cases where Voice over IP traffic gets sent to
specific ports in your router that are not open, you’ll need to configure your router for these to be open. It’s
important you keep the bad guys from getting in and let the good guys out.
Recommended Network Set-Up for Blueface VoIP
• Allow ALL Traffic FROM and TO IP range of 194.213.29.0/24 (whole subnet)
• Make sure SIP ALG is disabled
• UDP keep alive time out needs to be set to 200 seconds
Please be aware that Blueface shall not be responsible for any issue caused by an improperly or mis-
configured firewall or any other network equipment and you are responsible for ensuring that there is a
secure connection at all times.
Static IPIf you’re using your phones from a static IP address, please provide this to Blueface so we can help lock the
service down to this specific location. This is best practice in secure management of your phone system.
NETWORK SWITCH
A network switch is a device that acts as an aggregator for all of your Ethernet cabling. You’ll need to use
this to connect cables to your router / firewall. If your switch isn’t PoE enabled then you’ll need power
socket availability at desk for each phone.
PHONES
As an accredited partner of Panasonic, Blueface can provide you with a selection of subsidised phones to choose
from depending on cordless or coded, single user or conference phone, maximum number of channels needed,
sidecar, number of ports (if phones are shared with the PC or not) and port speed of each phone. Once these
questions have been considered, Blueface can then advise you on a range of options to suit your needs. When the
phones have been ordered they will be delivered to you by courier within 3-5 working days.
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ETHERNET PORT AVAILABILITY
Each phone requires an Ethernet cable to go into the back of the phone. Some phones have one port
that requires a dedicated cable. Other phones have two ports enabling you to tether the cable between
your phone and PC or Mac. Apart from port availability at each desk, it’s also important to check for port
availability in your switch. If you have no extra ports available you must use phones where you can tether.
PORTING
You can keep your existing numbers and bring them with you to Blueface. It’s important you understand
which lines you have. Each type of line takes a different period of time to port to Blueface:
• PSTN: 1-2 days
• ISDN basic: 1-2 days
• ISDN high speed: 2 weeks
• PRA: 2 weeks
Blueface can port geographic phone and fax numbers from anywhere in Ireland.
Please ensure that you do not rely on your telephone line for your Broadband connection before you submit
your request to us as it can take up to 2 weeks to get your Broadband re-connected after your number has
been ported if you have DSL Broadband. A successful port will involve no downtime of service and be a
seamless switch.
ALARMS, ANALOGUE CREDIT CARD TERMINALS, OR LIFTS
If your business has any of these, the chances are you’ll need to retain PSTN lines regardless of moving to
a hosted phone system or not. There are options on moving to digital credit card terminals but there isn’t
much opportunity to reduce your line rental fees on alarms, lifts or even franking machines.
CONFIGURATION LIST
Once you’re ready to get set-up, think about the different user groups in your business from the receptionist
to the CEO, remote workers and everyone else in between. It’s important you know how you want the
inbound call flows to operate.
• A list of employees who need phones.
• Choose an internal transfer number for each user e.g. 101, 102. Do you have existing transfer
numbers in a previous system? If so these can be maintained.
• Select one voicemail for each user or shared voicemail boxes e.g. sales team or accounts team.
Create an email to correspond with each user’s voicemail.
• Decide which number you want to present when outbound calls are made: each user’s
individual DDI or a shared mainline.
• Pick the numbers that calls should be forwarded to should a user be busy.
• Do you want an IVR that provides an automated greeting with callers which is programmed to
play different messages by time of day e.g. Welcome to Blueface, on lunch, out of office etc.
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• Choose what will be your emergency phone number to divert to, should the broadband fail for
each user. In most cases a mobile number is recommended.
• Decide who the admin on the account should be or if there should be multiple admins.
Lastly whether you’re the IT manager or the business owner it’s very important to communicate the change
to your staff in advance. Some basic training on using the phone is helpful for everyone to get familiar with
each handset and be as productive as possible. Having the Blueface phone system set-up in place before
you port is highly recommended as it allows for a seamless transition.
BILLING
Blueface accepts payment by credit card/debit card or direct debit. An initial payment can be accepted in
certain cases by EFT if required.
OTHER DECISIONS TO CONSIDER
NETWORK MANAGEMENT
Your router/firewall, switches, and cabling all need to be managed by someone in your office. This person
can be in-house or an outsourced vendor depending on your expertise and budget available. For managed
solutions, Blueface can supply and maintain network equipment for your office but will require that this is a
separate network from your data network.
PBX DISPOSAL
Ensure when disposing of your legacy phone system that you recycle it in compliance with the WEEE directive.
ABOUT BLUEFACE
Blueface is an Irish-owned telecoms provider for businesses, founded in 2004. Blueface is the leading cloud-based landline and mobile services provider. With a plug and play service for SMEs and fully managed services for corporate customers, Blueface is focused on delivering real savings through the use of ground-breaking technologies.
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Email: [email protected]
Call: 01 524 2000
Fax: 01 443 0400
Address: 10/11 Exchange Place, IFSC, Dublin 1
CONTACT To discuss your business’ telephony requirements please get in touch with us for a free consultation.
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