What is PBX?
A private branch exchange (PBX) is an organization phone system that routes calls between company extensions locally while switching calls to and from shared external phone lines.
What is Hosted PBX?
A Hosted PBX is a private branch exchange (PBX) provided as a service and hosted by the phone service provider.
What is ON-PREMISES PBX?
Like traditional business phone systems a ON-PREMISES private branch exchange (PBX) is a phone system that is owned and maintained by you on site. This type of setup is better suited for bigger organizations with a large amount of departments and/or extensions, for companies that want to keep their existing physical phone lines and for companies that want to keep ownership and control of their communication equipment.
What are the Benefits of an Open Standard?
Open standards make switching providers easy. Be it SIP Trunk, Internet Service, Hosted-PBX or IP phones.
What are the differences between Hosted PBX and On-Premise PBX?
The main differences between Hosted PBX and On-Premise PBX are the initial costs of purchasing and setting up the system and the ongoing maintenance cost of the On-Premise PBX. Depending on the implementation some features may not be available with the On-Premise PBX.
What is a SIP Trunk?
A SIP Trunk or Session Initiation Protocol is a communications protocol through which office phone systems can make and receive calls using their internet service instead of traditional phone lines.
What is a SIP channel?
A SIP trunk is the conduit while a SIP channel is line or a concurrent call. A SIP trunk can hold multiple channels or lines.
Aren't SIP and VoIP the same?
Voice over IP (VoIP) is a methodology and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications over the Internet. Terms commonly associated with VoIP are IP telephones, Internet telephones, broadband telephones, and broadband phone service.
SIP, or Session Initiation Protocol is a communications protocol for signalling and controlling multimedia communication sessions. The common applications of SIP are in Internet telephony for voice and video calls over the Internet.
How does Capacity on Demand work?
SIP Trunks can be configured with Capacity on Demand aka Channel bursting. This feature allows for seamless line increase in case of a spike in call volume.
What is POTS?
Plain old telephone service or Plain ordinary telephone service (POTS) is a retronym for voice-grade telephone service employing analog signal transmission over copper loops.
Traditional phone lines vs. Better Office Phones phone line service
Better Office Phone phone lines cost significantly less than traditional phone lines. All add-ons like Voice mail, Call Display and more are included. Long distance calls to US and Canada are free and the lines are location free.
What is a virtual FAX Line?
Virtual FAX Lines use internet protocols to send and receive FAXes instead of a standard telephone line.
Can I still use my old FAX machine?
Better Office Phone Fax Line service provides you with the benefits of a traditional FAX line where you can send and receive FAXes directly from your FAX machine or choose to receive your FAXes via Email thus saving on ink and paper.
What is T.38?
T.38 is a protocol designed for the transmission of fax over IP networks in real time. Better Office Phone FAX lines are T.38 compliant.
Are 833, 844, and 855 Toll-Free?
833, 844, and 855 are new Toll-Free area codes which compliment the existing 800, 866, 877 and 888 area codes.
Are Toll-Free numbers portable?
Yes, Toll-Free numbers can be transferred from one telephone company to another.
Can I get a vanity Toll-Free number?
Yes, you can request a vanity Toll-Free number that is easy to remember. However numbers are based on availability.
How many simultaneous calls can my Toll-Free number receive?
Toll-Free numbers are not call capped.
What makes you different?
We don’t have sales people, when you call us you talk with one of our tech experts that are passionate, understand the technology, your needs and can assist you without delay. Our prices are fair and simple with no hidden costs and no surprises. We do not charge per extension, you can add extensions to your service at any time without an increase to your monthly cost.
How many concurrent calls can I make and receive?
At Better Office Phone we do not limit how many concurrent calls you can make or receive. Callers will never hear a busy signal when trying to reach you and you will always be able to make an outgoing call no matter how many calls are currently on. However your purchased line capacity should be in-line with your average usage.
How many DIDs (Phone Numbers) can I have?
You can have one US or Canadian number per channel or per line. Additional numbers are charged at $10 per month. International number's monthly charges and setup fees may vary. Toll-free numbers are charged $5 per month plus $0.03 per minute for incoming calls.
Can I keep my existing phone numbers?
You sure can, we will even pay the porting charges to transfer the numbers to us.
Do you have residential phone service?
Sorry we only specialize in business phone service and do not provide residential services.
Only $20 per line, what is the catch?
There is no catch. Our monthly charge for a Phone line, Fax line, SIP Channel or Hosted PBX external line is only $20 per month. This includes a DID (Phone number) and E911 plus free calls to the US and Canada. There's no extra charge for features like Call display, voicemail, IVR and more.
Is there a contract or a minimum commitment?
Our service is on a month to month basis, you can cancel or move your service at any time. However, the last month of service is not prorated and you will be liable to pay any long-distance calls and toll-free charges made on the account.
Are the prices in US or Canadian dollars?
We charge CAD at par, meaning if your business is in the US you will be charged in USD however if you reside in Canada you will be charged in CAD. The dollar amount will be the same either way.
Do I have to pay Taxes?
Taxes will be calculated automatically depending on your location and the local law.
