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Recently a client told me they wanted to upgrade their phone system. Historically, using VoIP wasn't possible due to poor quality internet bandwidth, but now that the two major ISPs in this area have done some upgrades, it is now! AcroVoice was my first choice for the project due to previous experience, but I investigated other options as a matter of course. I looked at systems you could buy at places like Staples that worked with POTS lines, but found the cheap ones had poor reviews, and the expensive ones cost more than AcroVoice's quote (and didn't do as much). I thought about building a PBX out of some old PC hardware, but I decided I didn't want to be the only person in the world who knew how to troubleshoot it. My systems are reliable, but Murphy's law states the one time it requires attention will be when I'm sitting on a beach in Hawaii. So AcroVoice was what I pitched to my client, and their staff unanimously agreed. This is my first time using a fully managed business VoIP service. I admit to enjoying the ease of simply telling Trev how the client wanted the system to work and having him do everything. For the amount of time he put into the project, the service (at a price cheaper than cable VoIP and significantly cheaper than POTS) is truly a bargain. We decided to buy Mitel phones. Let me tell you, these phones are pretty slick. Their LCDs are wonderfully bright, the handsets are comfortable and sound great, and perhaps most importantly, the buttons (in AcroVoice's custom configuration) are very intuitive. When I first plugged the phones in, they displayed my 911 address for my review. It was correct, but it is nice to have the chance to look that over just in case. I had both the POTS and VoIP systems running side-by-side for a few hours and decided to call myself for testing purposes. Happily, latency was barely detectable and the audio generally sounded excellent. I asked for call parking to be enabled, because that was how the old system worked, and I didn't want to take features away from the users. As it turns out, they like AcroVoice's one-touch transfer even better: if you want to transfer a call to someone, just push the button next to their name. We received an OBi302 for fax purposes. I verified that T.38 is in use and works properly for both incoming and outgoing faxes, even - thanks to my Tomato router's QoS - during periods of very high network activity. After installing the new system and removing the old one, I realized I had a problem: the client's credit card terminal was configured to use a phone line, and changing its configuration to use the internet instead...required a phone line. So I connected it to the OBi302, attempted to download the configuration, and - fortunately for me - it worked perfectly. I highly recommend AcroVoice for anyone looking for managed business or residential phone service in Canada. member for 15.2 years, 7782 visits, last login: 1 day ago updated 7.1 years ago
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