Free 3CX SIP phone for Android launched

3CX, the company which created a phone system for Windows to replace your proprietary Phone Branch Exchange (PBX), has now launched a free Android Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone.

3CX has created the Android SIP phone in recognition of the increasing importance of the smartphone in conjunction with a modern VoIP PBX.

The popularity of the 3CX softphone means that a beta version has been brought out for the Android Platform, immediately available for the Android 1.5, 1.6, 2.1 and 2.2

It can be accessed on many smartphones including Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson as well as Google HTC (including HTC Desire and HTC Elite).

The 3CXPhone for Android SIP Phone is available via the Android market place. You just open up the market place and search for 3CXPhone to install it. The 3CX VoIP Phone for Android is free of charge. Not only does it work with the 3CX Phone System, but also numerous other VoIP services.

Phone System could have prevented prison death

The six prison facilities in Tasmania are getting an upgraded telephone system after a death was caused by an unrecorded phone call.
By using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony system they will also be able to save money – it is estimated that nearly half a million dollars was spent on Tasmanian prisoner phone calls last year.
One useful aspect of a phone system is that the prisoners can be given ID numbers to make their calls. Therefore they can nominate up to 15 telephone numbers to call. Those calls are then recorded and listened to in real-time. The idea is to stop crime, and also prevent any prisoners with suicidal tendencies from hurting themselves.
The death of one Tasmanian prisoner could have been prevented if someone had been listening into his call – at the time the phone system monitoring failed. An inquest into the death declared that a proper telephone system was a valuable for the security and welfare of the prisoners.
Although a tender has been put up it has not been decided which company will provide the new telephone system. However a total of 30 phones will be needed to service about 500 inmates. Tender submissions can be made up till July 27and the new system will be installed by September 2010 on a five-year contract.

Successful partner training for 3CX phone system in America

A series of partner training sessions held in the US for the 3CX phone system for Windows have gone very well.
3CX, which is a Microsoft Gold Certifed partner, has just released a version 9 beta of its softphone. Some of the training issues included learning how to use and install the beta, troubleshooting and IP phone provisioning.
Doling out the helpful hints and tips was 3CX Technical support manager Kevin Attard Compagno. There was also a keynote speech by 3CX CEO Nick Galea.
The training days were held at one East Coast location, which was the Microsoft New York Metro District building, and one West Coast location which was the Microsoft Northwest District Office in San Francisco. Partner feedback was all positive with the phone system receiving excellent feedback.
You can find more information at the 3CX website.

BT Strike causes search for phone system alternatives

Business managers in the UK are putting a contingency plan in place for a threatened strike by British Telecom staff.
Staff of the phone system company BT are considering whether to support a strike by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) which may take place just after July 5.
The CWU ballot closes on July 5 and strike action could follow shortly afterwards. The strike would be that engineers would be in short supply to help if there were any faults with your business telephone system and long delays would occur.
UK businesses have been advised to install an ADSL line as a back-up if they are reliant on a single Ethernet connection.
Another low cost option is to make all your calls through the 3CX phone system for Windows, an easy to use phone system which can replace your proprietary PBX.
The company Cloudnet also had some advice. Their statement said: “We believe that small to medium businesses (SMBs) should have a contingency and a back up phone system in case the strike does take place.”
They announced their business phone package which can be cancelled at any time with no fees. It allows you to transfer your existing number from BT to Cloudnet and you get a free phone which works from a powerful internet-based switchboard.
The chairman of Cloud Net, David Hill, said: “If you leave it too late, you could end up scrambling around for a phone system which is not reliant on BT. It would have catastrophic results for BT customers and business users.”
BT employees have until July 5 to decide whether they will go on strike and the strike could start on July 12.

5 benefits of Integrating the 3CX Phone System with Exchange 2010 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

The 3CX Phone System for Windows can be easily integrated with Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to make the most of their unified messaging capabilities. These unified messaging features can be of great interest to large organizations that already have Exchange Server as well as the Enterprise CAL.

As long as your Exchange server has an Enterprise CAL and you are using a commercial edition of the 3CX Phone System, it is quite straightforward. All you have to do is replace the 3CX IVR system with the auto attendant system and voicemail server which is included in those products.

There are a number of benefits to doing this:

1) Any unread messages are indicated through a lit lamp by the Message Waiting Indicator (MWI). Using Exchange Server 2010 (it is not available in the 2007 version), you get a count of new or unread voicemail by on supported desk phone. With some simple configuration there is even a voicemail preview in the SMS, but you will require the soon-to-be-released 3CX Phone System 9.

2) Even if you are not by your computer you can access your inbox via Outlook Voice Access. Merely using voice inputs or a telephone keypad you can call into your mailbox to manage everything including e-mail and your calendar.

3) Get a Voice Mail Preview thanks to the Exchange Server 2010 speech-to-text translation. This allows you to read the contents of an audio recording in the same fashion they would read an e-mail. Even if the voice messages are opened with Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, the text of the voicemail preview will become “actionable”. That means that contacts recognized names and phone numbers will all be identified with icons. Therefore the user can call them using Office Communicator, add them to contacts, or e-mail them. Click the text to facilitate audio navigation.

4) Make use of handy language support. Users can now access their voicemail and e-mail in a range of languages and dialects. Exchange Server 2010 offers language support for 16 languages including several European languages, three varieties of English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and European and North American versions of Spanish and French.

5) There is no need for a receptionist with the comprehensive Auto Attendant feature. The Exchange 2010's Unified Messaging Auto Attendant enables users reach a specific client when calling an organization. Both speech inputs and the telephone keypad allow the menu to be navigated. That makes placing a call to a user, or locating a user and then placing a call to that user easy. Now Exchange 2010 also has Music on hold, something which the severely limited Exchange Server 2007 auto attendant did not support.

Visit 3CX for more information on the 3CX phone system v9 beta.

PBX declining as leading Phone system method

Recent research has identified a decline in the use of PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems and a move towards using IP telephony for business phone systems.
Companies are turning to VoIP as an uncomplicated means of saving costs and being able to make higher quality calls with call forwarding and auto attendant options.
The Dell'Oro group did a study which confirmed that not only have PBX sales declined in the first quarter of 2010 but they will continue to go down. In fact the company believes that by the end of the decade the transfer from PBX to VoIP solutions will be complete.
Alan Weckel, director at Dell'Oro Group, said: "PBX market revenues will weaken in 2010 despite the rebound in line shipments. This is because the PBX market is heavily weighted towards Europe and transactions relying on the Euro. It is also due to the emergence of VoIP as a viable option."
Meanwhile the top eight PBX vendors have accounted for 80% of those shipments made in the first quarter.

5 Benefits of a Business Phone System

Getting a hosted VoIP telephone System has plenty of advantages for SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). Using a high speed internet connection to handle your calls can greatly boost your business productivity. Here’s the top five ways it can do so.
1) Appearance: Using a business PBX (phone branch exchange) gives any company an air of professionalism, even if it is a small family-run enterprise. Not only can you receive multiple calls simultaneously but there are call forwarding and call waiting options. These mean that everyone is dealt with in a quick and efficient manner which makes a good impression on any customers. This is a reliable way to run a business and instils confidence in your clients.
2) Costs savings: Expect huge cost savings with a Hosted VoIP Telephone system. Not only is it easy to install with no large initial outlay but it is easy to maintain without having to spend a lot on technical support. Furthermore a Business Phone System could save you as much as 90% on the cost of your day-to-day calls.
3) Efficiency: The hosted VoIP phone system can direct all of your correspondence into one inbox including faxes, emails and instant messages. It also gives you such handy features as call-screening so that you don’t have to waste time answering unwanted calls.
4) Staff savings: With a good PBX telephone system, such as 3CX, there is no need for a receptionist as it can handle all of your calls. Even after hours or during the weekends, calls can be answered with the option of transferring them to employees who may not be on premises.
5) Ease of use: You can replace your proprietary hardware PBX with a software version which is simple to download and install. This allows you to use any SIP phone or softphone. With no need to use a whole spider's web of wires this make hot-desking easy.

Macformat creates new smartphone data survey

The survey intends to see how much data storage space we actually use on our smartphones.
It is taking place in response to the news that network provider O2 has abandoned its unlimited data plan in favour of a cap at 500MB/month.
However many have users realised that they use a lot less than that amount (the Macformat journalist only uses 165MB/month).
So will a loss of unlimited data in fact prove expensive? You should participate in the survey to find out.
To work out how much data you use on an iPhone is quite simple. You just press General > Usage and scroll to the bottom. The figures you need are under cellular network data. The late reset date shows from when the figures have last been tracked.

Macformat also listed some of the best smartphone deals.

The HTC Desire on T-Mobile gives 1GB internet usage on an 18 month Pay Monthly contract with unlimited Web, for £25 per month.

The HTC Desire on Orange gives 500MB internet usage on an 18 month Pay Monthly contract for £25 per month.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 with 3 Mobile has a 24 month contract with Internet Texter allowance of 500, 500MB internet usage and a free handset for £20.00 per month.

What would Alexander Bell have thought of VoIP?

The telephone has come a long way since it as invented by the aptly named Alexander Bell.
The first phone was a primitive mechanism that was created in 1876. This predecessor phone was about as far away from touch screen as you could get; it needed two hands to operate it. And you had to shout to make yourself heard. The need for shouting annoyed Bell so much that he subsequently came up with the idea of the first phone booth.
The first phone book was even more basic – it didn’t even list the phone numbers of the 20 or so participants.
Amazingly however the car phone was created in the 1970s before the mobile telephone came along. There is a logic to this. The equipment needed was so heavy and cumbersome that it could only be contained in the boot of a car. The mobile telephone wasn’t much better, weighing a whopping ten pounds and certainly big enough to brain someone with. Although the mobile phone was created as a sort of experiment, public demand for them was so vociferous that it surprised the manufacturers themselves.
Now the smartphone is the new vogue, and it has been ever advancing since Apple came up with the first touch screen phone technology in 1983.
Today Apple is announcing the release of the iPhone 4G. I wonder what Alexander Bell would have made of it all.

Windows Phone 7 gets Mobile VoIP thanks to Voxofon

Using Voxofon will allow Windows Phone 7 smartphone customers to make cheap long distance calls through Voxofon Call Abroad.
Voxofon is a mobile convergence expert which provides mobile IP-based communication services.
Voxofon has also created apps for the Android, the iPhone, the BlackBerry, the Palm Pre and other smartphones.
Alexey Goloshubin, the CEO of Voxofon, said: "Having VoIP on a smartphone is a welcome development which is relatively new. Traditionally mobile phone users have paid a premium for long-distance calls. However the growing demand for smartphones for both personal and business use has increased the need for our product.”
The news is good for Microsoft who recently heard that Skype was reticent to develop Mobile VoIP for the Windows Phone 7.