Category Archives: VOIP News

Tierzero VOIP Phone Service Chooses Easy On Hold Music and Messages On Hold

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VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is the biggest buzz in telephony since the dial tone. The increasing speed and bandwidth of Internet connections has allowed businesses of every size to take advantage of upscale business telephone service options. One leader in the VOIP telephony industry is Tierzero, based in Los Angeles, California.

Easy On Hold is now working with Tierzero, the largest owner-operated commercial Internet and VoIP provider in Southern California. With a menu of high-tech business-class communications services, Teirzero is upgrading caller-on-hold messaging to better inform customers.

For Tierzero clients, Easy On Hold can provide custom-created voiced announcements for on hold messaging and auto attendant (IVR) prompts. Since on hold music and voice audio is delivered via the Cloud, Easy On Hold provides audio files that are conveniently uploaded by the Tierzero customer.

As legacy phone systems fade away, many businesses are choosing to upgrade to Cloud-based, or hosted PBX service. The appeal is strong: a multitude of flexible features, flat rate or all-inclusive plans, relief from owning phone equipment. Review Hosted PBX Service Video from Tierzero.

As in Internet provider, Tierzero provides service across most of the U.S. One area of expertise is construction and management of private and secure  MPLS networks.

Tierzero serves all industries including manufacturing, printing and graphics, defense, aerospace, accounting, legal,  PR, music, fashion, education, government, health care, electronics, IT Services, Software, transportation,  and on and on. In the entertainment field, clients include Dick Clark Productions, Relativity Media, The Motion Picture Association of America Dr. Phil, Technicolor and more.

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Serious Challenges of Hosted (Cloud) VOIP For Small Business

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There’s a steady buzz about VOIP phone systems, but choosing the right system for your business is a challenging study. CNet says, “Even the most savvy technology guru may have a blind spot when it comes to office phone systems.”

Your office environment will dictate the necessary features, such as intercom, voice mail, call transfer, etc. A small proprietorship may be interested in a “cloud” solution, such as offered by Internet Service Providers (Comcast, Vonage, TDS Metrocom, AT&T, Time Warner, Speakeasy). In addition, there are companies that use your existing broadband Internet connection to set up cloud-based phone service. These include Ring Central, One Box, 8 x 8, and many more.

Cloud refers to the majority of the phone equipment being hosted off-site, or “up in a cloud”. These are actually server farms that your phones connect to through a modem. The equipment in your business consists of the phone handsets and the modem.

As you study VOIP options, be aware of the challenges. David Trad, a Pre-Sales Consultant and Engineer at Connect Tel North Pty Ltd., in Brisbane Australia., posted this advice on LinkedIn:

Hosted services have to be setup properly, using second rate hosted providers will eventually be your undoing

Hosted services require you have sufficient amount of bandwidth. To date this is my sole biggest headache, we have this exact problem with a client that we deployed a Cisco system where the phone system is hosted at the head office and all the branch offices (9) have their phones connect back to the HQ system (Centralized setup which is identical to a hosted or “Cloud” setups).

Have contingencies in place… in the event that the network goes down.

Cloud, Hosted, Centralized or anything way you wish to call it, relies on the very network it overlays. …Calls that travel over the Internet (Public or otherwise) are subject to Contention Ratios, Back-Haul constraints, Upstream Links, Public Utilization, Competing Network Data etc..etc… the list can go on. As long as you know this, are aware of it, and are willing to spend some money to protect you (shield you) from it as much as possible, your experience should be a fairly good one.

While these Internet-based phone systems offer many features, the music on hold service typically falls short. Files must be uploaded to the “cloud”. This is a hands-on, manual application. If you want to use your on hold time as a marketing tool, you may be in for a disappointment. Changing messages is much easier when using an external music on hold device. Such messages-on-hold players are usually not compatible with VOIP “cloud-based” phone systems.

Internet and phone system providers are pushing hosted PBX (VOIP phone/off-site cloud based) systems. Getting locked in to an off-site system is not your only option. Consider a Hybrid PBX system that you can use on-site. The CNet article quoted earlier will cover these options.

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What Your VOIP Phone System Salesperson May Not Tell You

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Be sure to discuss music on hold with your new VOIP phone system provider. You may be disappointed in what they aren’t telling you. Here’s a short story about a business that just switched to a “cloud” phone system (hosted PBX or hosted I.P.) and the problem that the new system poses with music on hold.

I just got off the phone with Dr. Simms, a cosmetic dentist and Easy On Hold client.  Prior to switching phone providers, Dr. Simms enjoyed knowing that while his patients endured on-hold time, they were treated to professional-sounding  greetings and announcements on a variety of relevant topics. Since the 4-minute on hold message production would rotate 24/7, Dr. Simms was sure that his patients would hear a different snippet of information every time they called and were placed on hold (ever so briefly).

Today Dr. Simms has traded his old phones for one of those snappy new “VOIP” systems, in this case a “cloud” or “hosted” system provided by Fonality. The doctor called Easy On Hold to find out how to plug in his on hold message player to his new phones, so that he could continue to utilize the hold music feature. We looked into Fonality for him. The Fonality website says, “ Music On Hold (MOH) is as simple as uploading MP3 files using the web-based administration panel. Use MOH creatively to highlight promotions for new customers, up sell current customers, or calm angry customers calling your support team.” Somehow, Dr. Simms was not informed that he would need to manually upload files, or what the format was. “That’s OK,” we told him, we can get you an .mp3 file for you to load–you just need to know how to log in and load the file to the system.

Then we asked, “Are you aware of whether the hold message file will play from the beginning each and every time the hold button is pressed, or whether the file will play in rotation as before?” No, the doctor did not know. We placed a call to Fonality to find out.

The “talk to an expert” line was picked up by the Fonality voice automation, which announced at the end of the menu that calls that are technical in nature must be placed to a different number. After giving the number, the automation said, “To hear this message again, press pound.” Having missed a few digits, I hit pound. “That is not a valid option, ” announced the voice automation. “Hmmm. I guess I’ll press one then.”

Pressing one gets you to a salesperson. Surely a sales expert will be able to answer my question. I stated who I was and why I was calling and asked whether the Fonality on hold message plays from the beginning each time the hold button is pressed. “That’s a technical question,” I was told. “Actually, no one has ever asked that before. I have no idea.”

To his credit, the salesperson was kind and spoke clearly.  The gentleman offered to take my number and have a technician call me back. Sounds like a plan. Still, I can’t help wonder how or why the music on hold function is not discussed more completely between salespersons and their clients.

Yes, we will find out how the music on hold works at Fonality. Yes, we can help anyone with the proper audio file formats for VOIP hosted phone systems. No, we really don’t get why these providers leave their customers so uninformed. I’m hoping we can put something together with some leading VOIP hosted PBX providers so we can provide better service and more flexible and professional solutions.

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Ring Central Makes A Bad Suggestion Re: Music On Hold!

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Ring Central, a provider of “hosted PBX” telephone service, has made a bad suggestion in their article, Use Your Own Music For Music On Hold.

It’s easy to add anything from classical to classic rock and keep your customers entertained while they wait. Simply add a pre-recorded .wav file, and no doubt, it’ll be music to their ears.

Hold on! Ring Central is missing one very important piece of information: You must not use music for which you do not hold a performance license. Refer to our article, Music On Hold Licensing No Joke. Use of music on your telephone system constitutes a rebroadcast, and therefore requires a music performance license. Fines are steep if music licensing groups such as ASCAP and BMI catch up with you.

It’s true that the use of music on hold will enhance the experience your callers have while holding. It is also true that hold time seems shorter when there’s music on hold. Where you get that music, however, really does matter.

Music with voice on hold is even more effective for keeping callers on the line and connected to your products and services. This type of audio is considered “message on hold” or “on-hold messages” and usually involves a professional hold music message service such as Easy On Hold.

When Easy On Hold creates your custom on hold message production, you’re receiving music that is properly licensed for use on hold.

Can you use your custom Easy On Hold production with your Ring Central phone system?  Yes! Please note, however, that your audio may play from the start each and every time you place your caller on hold. Ring Central may have a work-around for this problem. Be sure to ask. In our discussions with Ring Central, we learned that you may request an arrangement that allows different audio files to play at different times of the day, or even a “random” or “shuffle play” approach using several different files.

Easy On Hold is ready to assist you when creating message on hold marketing announcements for use on your virtual PBX or hosted PBX system.

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On-Hold Messages For VOIP or Hosted PBX

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The term VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is used liberally, and may refer to a simple dial tone, or a complete off-site system. The difference regarding music on hold is huge. Here are a few tips if you’re looking into hold music for your VOIP system.

We use the term “hosted PBX” to describe an off-site service whereby your phone system does not reside on your site. You have phones (extensions) but no central control box or brain in your phone room. Vendors in this category are: Virtual PBX, Ring Central, Access Direct, OnSIP, Grasshopper, TDS Metrocom and many more. The names for the “off-site” service vary, including “hosted IP” “virtual PBX”, “VOIP enabled”, “hosted VOIP” and on and on.

When you hear these terms, you’re hearing about a phone system that receives messages on hold via an “upload” through a web  interface. Here’s why we’re wary of this type of phone system:

  1. Your messaging on hold service cannot load your messages for you unless given your phone system passwords
  2. You must take the time and effort to learn how to change your messages and upload them yourself
  3. Most hosted PBX systems do not allow changing of the messages on a schedule (if you don’t do it manually, it doesn’t get done)
  4. Most virtual PBX systems play the on-hold message from the beginning each time the call is placed on hold.

Imagine calling your business, being placed on hold and hearing the same 20 seconds of music and message you heard yesterday. Then the party answers but has to check on something for you and places you on hold once again. You hear the exact same 20 seconds of audio once again. If you have a 4-minute music on hold message created, the only folks who will hear minutes 2, 3 and 4 are those you leave on hold for that length of time (you and I both know hold times over 1 minute are dangerous to the business).

If you’re being wooed by an off-site PBX service, ask, “May I use my own music on hold equipment here at my business?” If they say, “no”, you’ll be forced to load messages yourself and may subject your callers to the same few seconds of hold music every time they call.

One work-around may be to have short voiced announcements on hold that you change weekly (if you have time).

Unless you have a vendor that understands that an ongoing, rotating or changing hold message announcements are necessary, you could be disappointed.

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