Is big telecom selling you short?

Global telecommunications providers spend a lot of money on national marketing campaigns. Super Bowl ads. Full page newspaper advertisements. Their spend for online advertising exceeds some local government budgets for technology! They always say they're the best or the fastest or the latest and greatest. But, the very nature of big telecom is to maximize profit. They want the highest possible return-on-investment (ROI) on their network assets. It's not their fault. That is what Wall Street demands. 

Don't get me wrong. We here at Atlantech Online are stone cold capitalists. We’re all in business to turn a profit. However, making money doesn’t have to come at the expense of your customers. You don’t need to cut costs required to satisfy customers to compete, especially when cutting costs means cutting quality.

Here’s what big telecom doesn’t advertise in their Super Bowl commercials.

Voice-over-IP telephones (VoIP) are quickly becoming the most common way for organizations to manage voice communications. Adopting VoIP and SIP trunking allows organizations more options for communications than legacy PRI and Centrex services via major telecommunications providers.

Organizations who are considering ways to save on their phone bill may consider SIP trunking as an option. With a cloud provider for SIP services, the initial investment is minimal. If you’re confused by SIP, it’s purpose, and what it replaces, you are in the right place.

Though email, instant messaging, tweeting and other social media communication have been adopted for business purposes, telephone calling is still among the most significant and personal forms of business communication. Still, despite it's maturing, everyone has experienced the frustration of navigating a phone menu while just wanting to "talk to a real person." Communicating by telephone remains the most personal, and often convenient, way for companies to communicate with their customers leading to the conclusion that investing in voice phone lines isn't optional for modern businesses.

Any business with a concern about efficient and cost effective solutions for telecommunications has likely been informed that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone systems are the best choice in today’s Internet-driven society. As best as anyone can tell at first glance, it seems like VoIP services are answering many, if not all, of the primary communication needs companies require from telephone systems.

Virtualization remains one of the hottest trends in business IT. Gartner reports that many businesses have over 75% of server workloads virtualized. Whether your organization has already invested heavily in the cloud or is considering a first-time migration, it can be critical to consider the role of a hypervisor in your overall experience.

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony can feel like a sea of acronyms. For many business administrators who are hoping to achieve lower costs on business communications, it can be difficult to make sense of all the options available. Without a technical background in VoIP, it's hard to make sense of things like SIP Trunking and a PBX, and the relative pros and cons of all options available.

If you're looking for a replacement for your business phone system or just starting a business and looking at what phone system to purchase, you're probably swimming in what may seem like a sea of acronyms. But, it all really boils down to two choices... Primary Rate Interface (PRI) phone systems (traditional telephony), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone systems delivered over Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

Are you getting all that you’re paying for on your business telecommunications bill? And, are you paying the right prices for your various telecom services?

If you’re like some companies, you may not know the answers to those important questions both because you haven’t audited your services recently and because your service providers are making things hard on you.

Atlantech Online has been a telephone company since 2005, serving the Washington, D.C. metro area. Over the years, we’ve heard dozens of horror stories about business telecom services. We’ll share some of those stories and how to avoid them to maximize your telecom investment below.

Robocalls driving you bonkers? What if I told you we could eliminate those annoying and costly time-wasters?

While their frequency increases, they're also adapting to our behavior. They use local numbers, so rather than us ignoring the call, we feel the need to answer because it's more familiar than an 800 number. And while you may not answer unknown callers on your personal cell, your business doesn't have that leisure.

In fact, some of these robocalls can commit toll fraud, costing your business thousands of dollars without almost no effort.

Fortunately, robocall protection is coming thanks to the SHAKEN/STIR protocol. It will be able to save your business from wasted time and money. And it won't take much to put it to use.