- + What is a PBX and why do I need one?
The term PBX spawns from the original term PABX, which is an acronym for Private Automatic Branch Exchange. Essentially a PBX is a private telephony switch that enables a business to operate a phone system with less phone lines than they have employees. This helps organizations take advantage of the natural economies of scale that begin to occur as headcounts rise.
Over time, the PBX has grown to incorporate advanced features such as voicemail, unified messaging, auto attendant (Interactive Voice Response), automatic call distribution (ACD), call queuing, telecommuters, softphones, computer telephony integration (CTI), and more. These features let companies receive incoming calls efficiently; promote more effective interaction among employees; and help sales and call center organizations manage calls professionally. PBX features allow smaller companies and teams to sound and function like large enterprises.
Designed with growing business in mind, Fonality PBXtra is a feature-rich turnkey system that is scalable, fully supported, and costs 40 to 80 percent less than comparable systems.
- + Why is Fonality PBXtra better than my current key system?
Many smaller companies use key telephone systems made by large manufacturers. For simplicity sake, think of them as the inexpensive phone systems you would find at your neighborhood retailer. Key telephone systems are feature-lean, unscalable, and make companies sound small. Fonality PBXtra Standard Edition, on the other hand, gives businesses PBX features such as voicemail, auto attendant, telecommuter support, VoIP and/or PSTN capability, and more.
For companies looking for call center capabilities, Fonality PBXtra Call Center Edition provides robust ACD reporting with unlimited queues and skills-based routing; call recording; call barging; monitoring; detailed reporting; and more. Fonality PBXtra provides businesses of all sizes with big-business capabilities at key system prices.
- + What is hybrid-hosted and what does this mean for me?
Fonality’s unique patent-pending hybrid-hosted technology is a part-hosted, part-premise architecture that has the reliability of an on-premise system with the ease of maintenance and management of a hosted system. System functionality is handled by the server at your office, in combination with the servers at our central data center.
Our hybrid-hosted architecture makes sure that your system always runs optimally. Our servers continuously monitor your system for a wide range of error conditions, any of which automatically generate support tickets to Fonality’s 24-hour support center for immediate action.
When Fonality engineers release patches and new versions of PBXtra’s software, they are automatically pushed to your system so that you always have the latest functionality. And, if you ever suffer a serious hardware problem or natural disaster, your system is easily restored because your configuration files are always backed up. Think of it as disaster recovery without the associated price and complexity. Our patent-pending hybrid-hosted technology ensures that your phone system is always secure, monitored, and updated.
- + What do I get for $995.00?
- For $995 you get a one-server license of Fonality PBXtra Standard Edition and a brand new server with Fonality PBXtra preinstalled and configured. The software includes a license for unlimited extensions and comes standard with many features such as, Auto-Attendant, Music-on-Hold, Schedulers, Enhanced Voicemail, Voicemail as Email At-tachments, support for analog phones (including full cordless phones), Message Wait-ing Indicator, MS Outlook integration, One Touch Voice-Mail Retrieval, stutter-tone, Dial-by-name-Directory, Unlimited Nested Menus, Telecommuter Access, Call Transfer, Web Control Panels for both administrators and users, and much more.
- + How do I save money without using a VoIP service provider?
PBXtra saves you money on installation, maintenance, and support. Traditional PBX systems require third-party installers to come onsite, which can cost you thousands in labor fees. PBXtra is essentially plug-and-play, which makes set up easy. To get started, you plug in the server and phones, and make a call to Fonality support.
The notorious MACs (moves, adds, and changes) that all phone systems need from time to time are so easy with Fonality PBXtra that you can do them yourself and avoid additional third-party labor charges. Fonality PBXtra also offers you the flexibility to make certain calls with a VoIP service provider and others using a PSTN line. You can save thousands every month using VoIP for local, long distance, and international calls.
- + How many extensions can I have?
Fonality PBXtra allows you to create unlimited extensions on your system.
Note: the heavier the load on the server the more RAM the server needs. 256MB is fine for 1-5 extensions, and 512MB is recommended for more than 5 extensions.
- + Do you support multiple offices?
- Yes we do. And it's incredibly affordable. No VPN or dedicated connectivity between of-fices is required. One click of the mouse and your branch offices will be 4-digit dialing each other for free. Learn more about our Branch Office feature.
- + Does Fonality PBXtra integrate with a CRM system?
- PBXtra Call Center Edition with HUD Agent offers the ability to integrate with web-based CRM systems such as SugarCRM and Salesforce.com. When an agent receives a call, HUD does a quick query of the CRM system and displays the profile of the customer who is calling, so that agents can view their history before they answer the call. HUD integration with a CRM system is a powerful way for businesses to better manage customer and partner relationships.
- + Are Fonality’s systems secure?
- Absolutely. Fonality takes great care in ensuring that your system is secure and private. The data sent from your on-premise equipment to the data centers and vice versa is encrypted. Your phone conversations are private, and all of your voicemails and audio files are stored on your on-premise server so only you have access to them.
- + Does PBXtra provide offsite redundancy?
- Yes. Fonality's data centers provide a variety of services. For starters, every configuration change that is made to your system initiates a configuration backup in the data center. This means that if problems occur, your system can be rolled back to a previous configuration state. Copies of your call detail reports (CDRs) can optionally be stored in our data center so that reports can be run at our data center and avoide slowing your on-premise server.
- + How does PBXtra work in my network?
Fonality PBXtra fit seamlessly into your network. You simply plug the system into your office router and plug your IP phones anywhere in your network. (Certain configuration settings may apply. Talk to your sales rep for specifics.)
- + How do I install PBXtra? Do I need to configure any hardware?
Your PBXtra server and all associated hardware arrives preconfigured and tested from Fonality. Once you have it in hand, your PBXtra server will need to be connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable. You will also need to configure your PBXtra server to work on your network in accordance with our PBXtra Installation Guide. This will include assigning your PBXtra server a static IP address, setting up and plugging in your phones, and then entering all of your user information for each phone extension. After that, you will need to configure how you want your PBXtra to handle your incoming calls through the Fonality Web-Admin tool. These last two steps, adding user information for each phone, and configuring your queues and call treatments, will require access to a PC on the internet with a web-browser (You cannot use the PBXtra Server itself as it has no web-browser). That's it! If you have any issues with your installation, our Customer Care Team is just an email or a phone call away! Also, with each PBXtra shipment, we schedule an installation and training appointment to ensure that your server is set up correctly, to answer any of your remaining installation questions
- + Do I need an Internet connection?
- You need an Internet connection to make changes to Fonality PBXtra because that portion of the software is hosted in our server farm. This means that your system will oper-ate normally (route calls, voicemail, etc.) when your Internet is down. Of course, if your Internet is down, you will not be able to use VoIP and your telecommuter extensions will not function. Fonality recommends that all of our customers keep at least one PSTN line so that their main office stays operational during Internet outages. Learn about our exciting PSTN-Fallback feature.
- + What else do I need to get my system up and running?
It’s often easy to confuse a VoIP phone system with voice services. A phone system requires dial tone to place calls. Even if you plan to only use VoIP with Fonality PBXtra, you’ll still need to purchase phone service from a VoIP services provider (much like you would regular phone service). Fonality PBXtra gives you the most flexibility to choose your telephone service type and service provider. You can choose your existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) line, an Integrated Access T1, or a VoIP service.
If you use your existing PSTN line, you’ll need to order a server that includes a Base Analog Expansion Card and as many Analog Line Ports (FXO ports) as you want PSTN-lines to connect. If you want to connect to a T1/PRI line, you’ll need to order a system with a T1 interface card. If you choose to use a VoIP service, Fonality PBXtra provides you with the ability to use VoIP-only or a combination VoIP and PSTN service with our unique PSTN-Fallback feature. Fonality recommends that you keep at least one PSTN line active so that your main office stays operational in the event of an Internet outage.
- + Do I need a PBX technician to configure my Fonality PBXtra system?
Absolutely not! Fonality PBXtra is designed as a turnkey telephony solution for businesses that don’t have telephony professionals in house. Once activated, the system automatically performs basic configuration itself. When Fonality PBXtra arrives, all you’ll need to do is connect it to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, and follow our PBXtra Installation Guide to activate your server to work on your network. Additional customization typically includes assigning your server a static IP address, plugging in your phones, and entering your user information for each phone extension.
After that, you can configure your system to handle your incoming calls through PBXtra’s web-based Administrative Panel. These last two steps — adding user information for each phone and configuring your queues and call treatments — requires access to a PC on the Internet with a web browser. If you have any issues with your installation, our Installation Support Team is an email or phone call away. With each shipment, we schedule a post installation appointment to ensure that your server is set up correctly, answer any remaining installation questions, and show you how to use the most common features of your new phone system.
Submit a support ticket now
- + What are my bandwidth requirements for VoIP?
- VoIP calls require 90Kb for the first call and 64Kb (up and down) for each additional con-current call. Most ordinary small office routers are capable of gracefully handling 5 si-multaneous calls, while routers with QoS capabilities (recommended) handle around 20 calls per internet T1.
