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The Advantages and Disadvantages of On-Premise Phone Systems

Advantages:

1. You own it

An on-premis (on-prem) system is yours. You own and manage it. You're not dependent on anyone else to get it to work, which of course means you are responsible for making it work. But if you don’t want to do that, you can hire out some parts of the maintenance to a vendor. Just be sure to pick one that is trained and certified on your specific system.

2. It's highly customizable and robust

Highly customizable, an on-prem system has a long shelf life--typically, 10 – 20 years if run in a proper environment (not to hot, not to dirty). Overall, on-prem systems offer every day performance and relatively easy maintenance.

Disadvantages:

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Toll Fraud On Rise, Buy VoIP System From Trusted Source

Toll fraud is on the rise. Just last month, one of my clients faced a $1,200 bill due to fraudulent activity on their phone system. Somebody hacked into their system by using a default user name and password for a conference phone and made hundreds of minutes of international calls.

Toll fraud is more common today because VoIP phone systems are more popular. VoIP systems can be hacked because they are connected to the Internet. The costs associated with fraudulent activity add up fast.

Digital phone systems can be hacked, too, but it's much harder and thus rarely happens.

Here are 2 ways to protect your business from toll fraud:

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Caisson 1st to Offer Comcast's Business VoiceEdge™ in Seattle

Caisson president Brian Wade becomes one of the 1st independent telecommunications consultants in Seattle to successfully complete Comcast's Business VoiceEdge™ training and certification program. That means we can now bring you Comcast Business VoiceEdge™ along with Comcast's Business Internet service.

Basically a VoIP PBX in the Cloud, Comcast Business VoiceEdge™ (BVE) service is a fully managed voice solution. Five to 500 employee, single or multiple location businesses can use this service to save time and money. Call us today and we'll help you deploy Comcast Business VoiceEdge™ service.

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VoIP across unmanaged networks? Avoid the pitfalls in 2 steps.

How to deploy VoIP correctly

1. Choose a managed network. Integra Telecom has one of the best VoIP solutions in the Seattle area because they provide the phones, the Internet connection and the hosted PBX. They own all three of the components in the solution. With this control, they manage their network very well and trouble shoot quickly. Their solution is not cheap, however, and not catered to people with less than six lines and ten phones. Call me for more details: (206) 420-0140

2. Use VoIP as backup. Businesses decide to buy Integra's VoIP solution because they want a redundant (secondary) solution. Some choose it because they don't want to buy, manage and maintain a phone system. In both cases, the decision to purchase VoIP is based on operations, not cost.

In summary, businesses should not buy VoIP solutions or hosted PBX solutions that are delivered across unmanaged networks. It will be a frustrating experience. Instead, aim for products and services that help you sound bigger than you are, safeguard your professional image and boost productivity. Therein lies the power of telecom for business.

If you would like advice on the right solution for you, give us a call: (206) 420-0140. Or visit our Contact page.

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