Telco Depot Releases Xblue x16 Phone System Help

Are you interested in the purchase of an Xblue x16 Small Business Phone System? Then you'll want to check out our F.A.Q.s and How To's, which you'll find on our Xblue pages. We know researching a phone system and all its features can be overwhelming. This information is here to help you get a better understanding.

What is a Hot Dial Pad? What is the Phone Book Feature, and how do I use it? Well we discuss these and other important topics and how they pertain to the Xblue x16.

You can always browse our Knowledgebase to find new explanations and to read our most popular posts.

In an effort to keep you informed we are updating our site with information you probably didn't realize you needed to know. We understand the "simple" things sometimes aren't so simple in fact they can be quite overwhelming so we've made and will continuously be adding new information to help you find the right phone system for your business.

We Need Your Input For Video Development

We want to thank everyone for their wonderful feedback regarding the valuable information they find on our site. Our aim is always to educate and demonstrate how you can do your own telephone system installation and maintenance.

To this end, we’d love to hear from you. Let us know if there are any topics we should cover with our video “how to” series? Just drop us a line at info@telcodepot.com and we’ll be happy to add it to our library.

Again, thank you for your wonderful feedback and keep those ideas coming.

Why you need AC power and line protection for your systems

So when you ask me “Why do I need AC power and line protection?” I would answer you with this question, “Would you run your home or business computer without antivirus software?”

Antivirus software protects your computer from destructive and harmful software. Similarly, both AC power and line protection are designed to prevent voltage anomalies and disturbances from damaging equipment; including your telephone system, network, and computer equipment.

AC protection is used to protect equipment from voltage problems coming through the commercial electrical power. So if your equipment plugs in to an AC power outlet, it is at risk and susceptible to damage. And to prevent harmful voltage disturbances on telephone lines and broadband data connections coming into your building, line protection is used to isolate and protect your equipment connected to those services

Have you ever seen the lights flicker for no apparent reason? How about when the power goes completely off and then back on? How about in a thunder, or lightning storm? Those types of events give you a clear indication that there is a disturbance somewhere. But what about disturbances in that which you can’t see?

Brown outs, black outs, surges, sags, and spikes are a few terms used to describe voltage disturbances. Regardless of the type, voltage disturbances; either on AC power, telephone line, or broadband connection; whether you can see them or not; are potentially fatal to your equipment. And if not fatal, will reduce the life expectancy of the equipment.

Just a couple other quick thoughts; a manufacturer’s warranty will not always cover repair or replacement on damaged equipment. And, you might want to check your insurance policy, some insurance companies do require AC power and line protection be installed before they will cover telephone, network, and computer equipment failures.

And remember, no amount of protection is going to stop a direct lightning strike, but most damage from lightning is caused from down wire hits. A strike to the outside telephone lines 500 yards from your office will travel down the path of least resistance; you telephone lines straight to a very sensitive piece of gear, your telephone system. This is the type of strike, protection systems are designed to stop.

My advice, invest in proper AC power and line protection for your systems and equipment, rather than dealing with the possibility of lost revenue, loss of critical business or client data, and all the headaches of ordering, installing, and getting new equipment up and running. Give us a call or check out the AC power and line protection options we have online.

What does an Automated Attendant do?

Most of us in this day and age have had experience on the receiving end of an Automated Attendant. Whether you call a retail store, local pharmacy, or an 800 number you typically hear a recording that “asks” you to dial a number to get the information or person you need to speak with. We all know that drill, “Dial one for customer service, two for sales, and three for billing. Dial zero if you want to listen to this message over and over and over!”

So what does an Automated Attendant do? Basically it does the same thing as a live operator or attendant would do when answering calls; provide directions, provide store hour and locations, transfer a caller to a specific person or group of people, or take a message. The difference is the Automated Attendant is a machine that “listens” for the caller’s response in the form of a digit or digits the caller dials. And with todays voice recognition technology such as found in our Syspine and D-Link Response Point phone systems, Automated Attendant systems allow the caller to speak the option rather than dialing it.

On a telephone system the Automated Attendant may be a piece of outboard gear or standalone device, or it may be integrated into the telephone system, such as an integrated voice mail product. In any event the Automated Attendant allows the recordings and menus to be customized to meet the needs of the business or application. The menus are programmed to emulate transferring calls to groups, individual people, or to voice mail.

If you are thinking “Sure, but it doesn’t cover every scenario callers are calling for”, you would be correct.

However, properly designed, programmed, and implemented Automated Attendants will have multiple menus that guide the caller to the appropriate choice. They will give the caller intuitive menus and instruction. As well as a method to repeat the instructions, and preferably, a way to opt out for assistance and speak to a live operator.

Automated Attendants have significant advantages both for businesses and their customers. The automated attendant reduces the amount calls an operator receives answering and transferring simple calls, freeing that person to answer the more important and/or least common requests. For the caller, this speeds up the process of getting to the right place quickly.

Be sure to understand the capabilities of the Automated Attendant of the system you are purchasing as this is an excellent example where all Auto Attendants are not created equal. Ask us for details.

What is a Key System?

The traditional or original definition is that a Key System, also known as a Key Telephone System, is a telephone system that has the capacity for multiple lines and multiple telephones. The telephones have individual buttons for each specific telephone line, allowing direct access to each telephone line using its corresponding button.

That may seem too simple of an answer, but that sums up how the Key System was introduced, but not necessarily how we regard it today. The key system was introduced in the 1950’s; the Western Electric Company introduced a series of key systems, including the 1A2, which is regarded by some as the one that started it all.

These early key systems were mechanical devices that provided basic communications features serving a small number of phones and telephone lines, having very simple call handling capabilities, for example; to place a call on a specific line you pressed the corresponding button and dialed. If you received an incoming call on a specific line that specific line button would light up on your phone, your phone would ring, and you pressed that specific button to answer the call.

So why didn’t I explain to dial ‘9’ when placing the telephone call above? Easy, dial ‘9’ was a PBX feature not a Key System feature. Introduced in the 1960’s PBX systems, or Public Branch Exchange, were larger systems providing phone service to hundreds of telephones and telephone lines. PBXs were more sophisticated providing powerful features such as dialing plans that routed numbers to specific lines based on the numbers dialed, and grouping several telephone lines under one button on the telephones.

Over the years, advancement in technology for telephone systems went from relays and wire to computer chips and software. You still need wire today, just not as much! The advancements in technology increased the capacities, capabilities, and features of telephone systems in general. The Key Systems became more advanced and powerful, rivaling the features that were once only available on the more expensive and larger PBX systems. Now Key Systems had dialing plans and could group several telephone lines under one button.

As time passed, the feature and capabilities between a Key System and PBX began to overlap. Key Systems inherited many PBX features and even introduced new features and applications. PBXs became more sophisticated as well; they even began inheriting those new features and capabilities found in Key Systems. Today what we see is a hybrid of the two, with differences narrowing. Even the number of telephones and telephone lines is not as much of a differentiator as it used to be, some Key Systems grow very large now, competing with the lower end of PBXs. And in some cases, PBXs were scaled down to compete with Key Systems.

So what is a Key System? It is still best to provide the traditional definition, a telephone system with phones that have individual line buttons for each specific telephone line. But in today’s world I tend to think of a Key System as a solution for small to medium size businesses that provide powerful features and capabilities, and in many cases when compared to a PBX, the Key System is the more economical solution.

How to Run Ethernet Cable in an Existing Wall

With a little planning, some plain old common sense, and a few basic tools, running Ethernet Cable in an existing wall isn’t as difficult as it appears. Always chose an interior walls to run a cable as exterior walls often have solid sheet insulation making it impossible to pass the cable through.

Before starting you will want to gather some basic tools, such as: a flashlight, sheetrock saw/knife, ornamental chain (or nylon string/fishing line with a small fishing weight), drill with a 3/8” or 1/2” drill bit. You will also need you jacks and mounting hardware. It is a good idea to identify a path where the Ethernet cable will run from the network or phone equipment to the wall where the jack hardware will be mounted. Make sure the cable path will route over the top of plumbing and pipes, cross electrical wiring at 90 degree angles and never pass the cable over the top of a fluorescent light fixture. The total cable length cannot exceed 328 ft (100 m), including any patch cables. It is generally a good idea to never run the cable more than 300 ft to leave allowance for patch cables.

Visually inspect the wall where the jack hardware will be mounted. Also inspect the opposite side of the wall as well. If the cable is dropping down from the top of the wall, inspect the top, from underneath the floor, inspect below. Make sure there aren’t any obstacles that would prevent the cable from running through the wall to where the jack will be located. For example, gas pipes, water pipes, electrical cabling, or any construction obstacles, such as adjacent walls may be in the way to drill or route the cable. If there is an obstruction, go to plan B if possible – find a new location for mounting the jack hardware.

From the attic, or above a drop ceiling, locate the studs at the top of the wall that are on each side of where the jack hardware will be mounted on the wall. With a pencil or marker, mark a spot between those studs. This will be where the hole is cut, allowing the cable to go into the wall. If the cable is to be routed from underneath, say a crawl space or basement, locate a spot between the studs underneath and mark the location for the hole. Either way, it can be tricky to find the correct spot for this hole and you might need to measure things several ways to find the exact location. My dad always told me “measure twice, cut once”.

For the jack hardware, the hole is usually 16 to 18 inches off the floor and centered between the two studs. Determine the exact distance by measuring from the floor to the center of an existing outlet, which will keep the new jack’s location consistent with the existing construction. The center between studs is typically 7½ inches from one side. I use low voltage rings (purchased from my local Home Depot) for mounting the jack, so centering between the two studs gives more than enough clearance and works best for me.

Now for the fun part, drilling and cutting a hole into a perfectly good interior wall where the jack hardware will be mounted. It is a good idea to double check everything before drilling the holes. If something doesn’t make sense, stop and rethink. I’ve found I can always make the hole bigger if I need to, but not the other way around. It is important to use a drill bit that is a thicker than the diameter than the cable. When ready, drill the hole at the top of the wall.

Next drop a pull string down in the wall through the top hole. A small ornamental chain from the local hardware store is my preference, but nylon string or heavy fishing line can be used. For the string or fishing line, tie on a weight to the end of the pull string, something that will fit through the top hole, like a fishing weight.

Drop the chain or weight through the hole and feed the pull-string through until the end is resting at the bottom of the wall. The chains works well because you can hear it rattling on the inside of the wall all the way down. If there is insulation in the wall you will need something rigid to push the pull string to the bottom. Something like flexible tent poles or a one piece fishing pole, might do the trick. If you are going from the bottom up, you can typically just push the cable through a couple of feet without the need for a pull string.

Confident the pull string is at the bottom of the wall, time to cut a hole in the wall. Use your jack and mounting hardware for dimensions and mark the hole. Use a sheetrock saw to cut the hole. Locate the end of the pull string and attach it to the Ethernet cable. I usually use a link in the chain, or loop the string and tie it in a knot. Remove the four or five inches of the cable insulation, stick the wire through the link or loop, then twist the wire around the cable so it won’t come off when you pull the cable through. Remember however you attach the cable to the pull string it has to go through the hole at the other end.

From the top of the wall, simply pull the pull string through the wall. The end of the Ethernet cable will follow. Once the cable is through the wall and routed to the equipment, cut the cable at the wall end 2 to 3 ft longer than needed. To finish the job, install the jack and mounting hardware, and wire everything up.
Take your time running the first cable and be sure you don’t use excessive force when pulling cable. Scraping cable over a rough or sharp surface will ruin your hard work!

Most find this work rewarding and it will go faster with more hands so get some friends or coworkers to help.

iPhone's New Competition: a Google Phone?

Apparently all Google employees took home the new "Google Cell Phone" for the holidays. The stories are leaking all over the place.

But is this hardware for real or is Google playing a joke on everyone? I'm quite suspicious.

For one, Andy Rubin, head of Google's Android development, made a statement at the end of October that the company had no intentions whatsoever to start making cell phones. How does a company go from making a public statement to releasing their cell phone in less than 2 months? Something doesn't add up.

Second, the alleged name of the phone is the "Nexus One." My personal distaste for the name aside, Nexus is already a popular trademark for many computer and electronics companies. Google is not a follower, nor do they go with overused names such as Nexus.

Google created the Android operating system that is used on a number of cell phones, like the new Droid, along with other electronics devices--such as Barnes and Noble's new Nook.

Rubin's statement made it clear that if Google were to make hardware, they would become direct competition for each of these devices. And that was not in the best interest of the Google Corp.

But if the rumors are true, here are the alleged details.

The phone is by default "unlocked." Meaning it is not carrier-specific. So don't expect to get a 2-year contract discount.

It runs on the GSM network only. Which means Verizon is left out, yet again. This doesn't make sense of course, and furthers my belief that this phone is a fake. Why would a company like Google make a phone for ATT, which is notorious for customer complaints?

The Nexus One is supposed to be very fast, thinner than the Droid and iPhone. It lacks a physical, pull-out keyboard, but has speech-to-text.

The phone will be released early 2010. But I don't believe it's Google hardware. Perhaps there's a new player in the cellphone race, like Panasonic or ASUS. The rumor machine is a great and cost-effective way to advertise pre-release.

Read more at Tech Crunch.

Telco Depot's My Account Redesign: Integration with UPS

Recently placed an order with us? You'll notice we've enhanced our customer account pages.

Telco Depot has made it easier to track your packages, print invoices, and edit your account information.

We have connected to UPS to provide you current tracking information. No more copying and pasting tracking numbers! Simply click the My Account link at the top of the page, enter your email and password, and then click the Track Packages link. Easy as that!

On our package tracking page you'll see a list of your order's shipments with their current location and expected delivery date.

If your business needs an invoice for accounting purposes, now you can print one directly from the My Account menu.

The benefits of becoming a Telco Depot member are getting better and better!

Features still to come: Member only discounts, Organized support for your business phone system purchase, and a Do It Yourself community--connect with other SMB's who have taken control of their business communications.

So join today!

Unified Messaging is Great, but Why Can't It Do More?

Long before my arrival at Telco Depot, I was frustrated with voicemail systems. Especially when you have 20 or so new messages. And you know that only one or two of those are actually important.

But still, you have to listen to all of them. And of course the one voicemail you want to hear is at the end of the list. You listen to the auto attendant's voice (why is it always a woman's voice?) drone on about the date and time and the caller's information; finally you get to the message and push Delete. Over .. and over again.

Over the course of a life, that can add up to a lot of wasted time. Unnecessary wasted time--that really irks me.

But unified messaging brings those voicemails straight to your email. It's actually a very cool feature. And it is a helpful solution.

The business phone system I have at work is an Allworx phone. I have to say the Allworx is the first system where I saw voicemail to email capabilities in play. But it's available as a feature on most modern systems.

Skipping over unimportant missed calls is as easy as deleting junk mail. And ah...not a single auto attendant word had to be spoken.

Yesterday, for instance, 5 minutes after I left work my blackberry starts vibrating. I open it up to see a new email. And the subject line includes "Outside Caller" and the caller's phone number. And you know what? I didn't recognize the number and therefore assumed it's probably another SEO company trying to sale its services. So I clicked Delete. How satisfying.

Now, what am I going to do with all that free time?

However...I believe there is still much to improve upon. And thus are my complaints.

Even though I delete the voicemail email, I still have to go to my office phone the next day and delete it again on my voicemail box. Which means auto attendant not avoided.

My theoretical solution: Have a link in the email, that once clicked, removes the voicemail from my box. Voila!

Second grievance: When I receive a call at the office, my phone displays the caller id. Fancy right? Well, why can't that information be included in the email? Or could it even look up my personal address book and display even more detailed info. Then it'd really be easy to sort through the muck.

That's all. A short grumble for a feature that I find quite valuable.

Telco Depot is pleased to announce the addition of the Panasonic KX-T824

Product line development continues at Telco Depot and the Panasonic KX-T824 fills a void in the traditional Key System space. This easy to install and use system starts as a 3-line, 8-station package that comes with 3 LCD display, speakerphones. With the addition of circuit cards the system can grow to a 6-line, 16-station and then finally an 8-line, 24-station configuration.

Use Telephone Company based voicemail or add the optional voicemail and/or Automated Attendant card for internal control.

Panasonic; a great brand name, a great value.

Check out Elliot’s new Jargon Hover Feature

We've received numerous comments on just how friendly our site is relative to others. One thing we noticed when talking to folks is they don’t often realize we have a good glossary of terms found on the top navigation bar.

To remedy this, Elliot built his hovenator. When viewing product or informational pages you'll notice that when you drag your pointer over underlined words the definition will pop up. Move the pointer away and the definition vanishes.

If you see a term you don’t understand or is missing from the glossary just let us know. We eat, drink and sleep telephony jargon, so we sometimes go overboard in our writing and forget to add a term to the glossary.

The hovenator; just one more way Telco Depot lets you do it, with our help.

How do I choose between a Linksys PAP2 and SPA2100 VoIP adapter?

The PAP2 and the SPA-2100 are both 2-Line Analog Telephone Adapters(ATA) that convert VoIP signaling to an analog voice signal so you can use your traditional telephone devices; i.e. your home phone or business phone system. So which one is right for me? The basic answer lies in the need for a router or the need to minimize bandwidth usage. I’ll address these individually.


Router Functionality
The PAP2 only has one Ethernet LAN port while you notice that the SPA-2100 has an additional RJ45 WAN port. The additional WAN port on the SPA-2100 is due to the built-in router. In case your network doesn’t have a router (i.e., your computer connects directly to your DSL or cable modem) you will need to use the SPA-2100. If your network has a router you can use either the PAP2 or the SPA-2100 (in this case the WAN port of the SPA-2100 is connected directly to your existing LAN).

One easy way to determine if your DSL or cable modem is also a router is does it have additional Ethernet connections to allow the device to share between multiple computers. If so, you can use either the PAP2 or SPA2100; if not, you must use the SPA2100.

Quality of Service
An important function of the router on the SPA-2100 is providing QOS (Quality Of Service) to the two voice channels, when the SPA2100 is used as your router it guarantees that the voice channels get priority over none real-time data transactions such as file transfer and web page content. If you do heavy streaming of video or audio, ie gaming, etc. we recommend the SPA2100

Keep in-mind that the Ethernet interface on the SPA-2100 is 10BaseT and therefore, will limit your modem data to 10Mbps. Most networks handle 10Mbt connections just fine.

Bandwidth Usage
Both the PAP2 and SPA-2100 support multiple voice compression standards; G.711 (A-law and μ-law), G.726 (16/24/32/40 kbps), G.729 A, and G.723.1 (6.3 kbps, 5.3 kbps) voice coding. The most commonly used voice coder is G.711 because at 64Kbps speed it is the closest thing to a standard voice signal. The downside however is it requires 64Kbps data rate in each direction (transmitting and receiving voice). Once you add the network overhead it requires, you must have sustained data rate of about 100Kbps on both the up and down channels.

In cases where adequate bandwidth is not available or being used by multiple ATAs you can compress the voice using G.726, G.723, or G.729. Because of its quality per compression rate G.729 is becoming more and more popular. The data rate requirement for G.729A is only 8Kbps (12.5% of the G.711). Yes you will gain bandwidth; however, you will also compromise voice quality. Also note that tones cannot be decoded with G.729, and therefore, fax and in-band DTMF can’t be used with this compression.

One advantage of the SPA-2100 is concurrent support G.729 on both channels. The PAP2 can only support G.729 on one channel at a time. If you can afford the bandwidth, or if you are using the ATA on an internal network, I recommend you use G.711.

Note: if you are unsure of you download and upload speed of your internet connection go to www.speedtest.net , click on a test location and it will give you your public IP address as well as your download and upload speed. In most cases expect your download speed to be much faster than your upload.

Ringer equivalence number (REN)
While REN is probably not something that will come into your decision process I want to let you know how it affects your telephone performance. REN is a measurement of how much ringing power certain telephone equipment takes or generates (in this case the ATA generates the ring). From the ATA side REN determines how many telephones can connect to each ATA line and still get them ringing properly.

SPA-2100 Max Ringer load = 3REN
PAP2 Max Ringer load=5REN

In a case where you plan to connect the ATA to a line port on your key system or to a single phone the difference in REN values are meaningless. However, if you trying to drive 3 phones bridged to a single ATA port, REN value can be a factor. You can usually find the REN use value of your telephone on a label on the bottom of the phone.

Need additional help in deciding which ATA works for you, give us a call @ 800-390-1200

xBlue Networks X16 Programming Tips

With the newest version of software on the xBlue Networks x16 there are several items you will want to be sure to change; in particular are the items where the default values are almost always changed.

Caller ID on each individual telephone is defaulted to “off”, be sure to change to "on" as the majority of you will have Caller ID as a feature on your lines from your Telephone Company. We find that most people want this on, in fact one of the more frequent tech calls we receive is in regard to Caller ID not working and the fact is it has to be turned on at each phone.

The Backlit Display is defaulted of “off”. This allows for the display to go dark after about 5 seconds of inactivity on the phone. This is a great feature if using your x16 as a home phone and you don’t want a bright blue night light in your bedroom. In most offices you will want to turn this to “on” to keep the display on all the time.

The Call Forward Timer is set to “0” by default. This is the time a phone will ring on transferred calls before forwarding to the preset location; usually voicemail. We set this timer to “24” seconds which is the usual time for 4 rings. Be sure to change this timer if calls transferred from the Automated Attendant go straight to the user’s voicemail.

Set up these three items to avoid any frustration when programming and using your new x16 Key System and call us if you have any questions at 800-390-1200 or e- us at info@telcodepot.com.

Why does my phone ring and nobody is there when I answer?

A common and particularly annoying problem occurs between a telephone or telephone system and the phone company when a call is not absolutely terminated. The symptom is simple. A call rings in and you answer and you have nothing but dead air, no busy tone, no error tone. You think somebody tried to call you and the next call that comes in you typically ask the caller if they tried calling earlier and if they say no, this does not (necessarily) mean you are losing your mind.

The quick answer to this is a phenomenon called “Phantom Ringback”. It occurs when you think you end (or terminate) a call by hanging up. If the Telephone Company does not give a positive disconnect signal back to your phone system, your system thinks the call is terminated, but the Telephone Company does not. The Telephone Company in fact thinks you are trying to access custom calling features which are accessed by “flashing the hookswitch” (a short disconnect signal) then awaiting your dialing codes such as forwarding, etc. So the Telephone Company is thinking you want to do something else with this call and after a while a timer kicks in and the Telephone Company rings you back; in essence saying “what do you want me to do with this call?” So, you hang up again until you hopefully get a real disconnect.

There is a simple solution to this problem. If you have analog lines (POTS) service, the Telephone Company should have “Disconnect Supervision” enabled for all lines. The difficult part of this is, when you call the phone company; do not call this a feature as clerks taking those kinds of calls do not have a clue what “Disconnect Supervision” is. Instead call in to repair services and have them make sure that the Central Office (C.O.) Tech enables “Disconnect Supervision”.

Chances are the Telephone Company will deny any trouble with this, but after a few calls you usually notice the problem mysteriously goes away; problem solved.

If you still need help with this situation, give us a call and we'll get on the line with the phone company and push your case.

Social Networking: It's Everywhere

Social Networking isn't a new concept...we've had forums and blogs for a while now. Classmates.com is today a "golden oldie."

Yet the modern form of social networking (what I like to call the "Real-Time Status Updates Movement") is pretty young. And we as a society are having some trouble integrating it into our daily lives.

Major sports events are restricting Twittering during games.

A recent headline in the UK claims social media is costing businesses $2.25 billion dollars a year. How so? Apparently employees are updating their Facebook status instead of doing their job.

Google just launched Social Search--just what we need, another tool to help us sort through the social muck of our friends, relatives, and colleagues.

But the growth of Social Networking, and I am referring to Facebook and Twitter specifically, didn't explode until the past year. Twitter struggled into 2008. Facebook began as a connection site for college students and didn't really branch out into other demographics until 2007.

My View as a Father and an Employee

I’m a relatively new Social Networker. My 3 kids have MySpace and Facebook accounts and one of them has a Twitter account. Feeling the need to know what they were up to online, I decided to open a Facebook Account last Christmas. My initial thoughts were to just have an account so I could monitor them.

However, I must admit that I have been sucked into social networking as millions of others.

After initially getting an account, my children added me to their accounts as a friend. Then bam: my kids' friends were adding me, their parents were adding me, and friends from 20 years ago were adding me. My Social Network Web was born. And so I got into it. I started searching out people I had lost contact with over the years. Now suddenly they were back in my life.

I learned quickly that people do not use discretion when disseminating information online.

Recently, I decided to make a permanent schedule change within my company. Neither I nor my management team has announced it to my department. However, the news somehow leaked and a former employee asked me online when I was moving to my new schedule. My personal business was advertised to everyone online (which includes several of my peers) before I had the opportunity to let anyone know.

And I think this highlights a common problem with Social Media. How can you mix personal and business? What do you really want to know about the people you work with? And what would you rather not have your boss find out about you?

Social Networking has some wonderful tools. Just make sure you use a little common sense and discretion. Not all information needs to be advertised to everyone in your Friends List.

H1N1 Considered a National Emergency

In an effort for the Obama Administration to more effectively address the H1N1 Flu Pandemic, President Obama on Friday declared the Virus as a National Emergency. It was noted that no single incident caused the upgrade of the Virus. However, when reading about the Virus Upgrade, it basically was issued to assist the government in avoiding its own “Red Tape”.

CNN & MSNBC report that Dr. Thomas Friedman, Director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention states that over 1,000 people have died since April from the H1N1 virus, and with over 20,000 persons hospitalized for the virus.

Is there anything we can do to avoid catching the Flu?

We recently covered tips for the office. But I thought I'd look a little further and see what the Centers for Disease Control & Preventions Website recommends:

• Get a regular Flu Shot. It’s not necessarily the H1N1 Flu Shot, but does cover the 3 most common Flu’s for this upcoming Flu Season. You may need to ask your doctor if you need the H1N1 vaccine.
• WASH HANDS thoroughly and often. Use Hand Sanitizers, which are alcohol based.
• Protect others if you are sick by staying home. It may appear you are trying to be the good employee by going to work sick. However, you could be spreading your illness to the entire office staff.

Our advice as a telecom industry leader: Use a Hand Sanitizer to wipe down your work area and phones. You may not think you share your phone with others, but who knows who may use your phone when you aren’t at your desk.

Here’s to Staying Healthy !!

Fall Has Arrived, On a Personal Note

We all have busy lives. It's so easy to let the seasons come and go, hardly noticing the changes. Slow down, just a bit, and enjoy.

Fall is by far my favorite. I live in North Carolina and my home sits on 30 Acres of country land. When I sit on my back deck, the view can sometimes stop my breath. A field spreads out below me, met by the border of a thick forest. The border glows with shades of gold and deep reds.

It seems that each year the colors become more brilliant. I have three dogs and I often walk them down the field, and we wind our way through the trees. The air is cool but not yet a winter chill.

I have noticed the fruit trees are still heavy with fruit. The Persimmon, Pecan, and Apple Trees are all loaded to the breaking point. An uncle, who is a farmer, says that it's a sign of a hard winter to come. I hope he's wrong.

Wherever you are, if the fall is upon you, take a moment and relish it. Pretty soon, the rush of the holiday season will be here. Take a walk in the woods, beach, or park. Go buy a pumpkin or two and carve out some crazy faces with your kids, significant other, or best friends.

Or visit a Farmer's Market as I enjoy doing. If you like to cook, buy some fresh apples, bake an Apple Pie from Scratch and let the aroma fill your home.

If you don't cook, a fragranced candle could do the trick.

Is there to be a Microsoft Store in Manhattan?

Manhattanites are scratching their heads over the unexpected appearance of a strange new glass monolith across from the Plaza this morning. Is it a sign from above or merely a close encounter of the wrong kind!

With the one upsmanship in full swing between Microsoft and thriving rival Apple Computer, how will they comply with their directive. As I read today, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner boasted, “And stay tuned, because we’re going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall.”

We understand the notion that Microsoft cannot let Apple succeed but to open stores right next door is like saying , ok you’re better than me so I’ll be happy to take the crumbs. An interesting gamble, I hope it pays off.

Review of the Voyager 510S headset and HL10 Lifter

Overall I like this headset very much for its functionality. I have the "optional" Remote Lifter on my Allworx 9224 and I also pair with my BlackBerry Curve as I constantly take and make calls on both phones during the course of the day.

I personally find the headset to be comfortable compared to any of my other cell phone bluetooth sets. It fits snugly and I can wear it all day. The battery life is exceptional and anyone who knows me will tell you I can talk all day.

I read lots of reviews where people don't like the handset lifter because it looks awkward. I agree, but the functionality is excellent. I have my Allworx phone at the maximum height because I like an upright phone. With the lifter on the lowest setting it lifts and hangs up like a charm. Very convenient being able to make a call by touching the headset or pressing the button on the interface; the same with hanging up.

An unexpected benefit is that Plantronics is serious about its 30 foot range from the base station. I can be at least 30 feet away in the conference room and even further to our break room, hear the incoming call tone and answer the call. They have another convenient feature so that if you have the headset in the cradle to recharge, when you lift the headset it will lift the handset and answer the call while still giving you time to put the headset on.

To simplify the installation and setup of this product we've added the Voyager 510S and HL10 Remote Handset Lifter to our "how to" video library. Check it out for yourself.

On the negative side I do hear some of the usual Bluetooth hiss, especial during periods of silence in a call. I've adjusted everything to get the transmit and receive levels where I like them but the hiss is a constant. I stopped noticing it by the 3rd call so I only dinged the rating slightly as a result.

I have my choice of any headset we carry and this is the one I use. I guess I just love the flexibility of changing between my Allworx office phone and my BlackBerry cell phone.

Bing, Google, and Twitter - Oh my!

First came the news of Bing's deal with Twitter. Then Google announced a similar deal. $100 million in Twitter's bank account later and we've got an interesting direction change in search engines.

The new rage is real-time searches. This is one of the effects caused by the Twitter storm. No other site can reveal what everyone's talking about, in real time.

But how are Bing and Google going to integrate Twitter content into their searches? And how are 140 character bits going to become valuable results for users?

Today there are over 5 billion tweets, and steadily growing. So if you think SEO is hard...getting your tweet to the top of search engines is not going to be any easier. It will all come down to retweets, mentions, and the # symbol. If these terms don't mean anything to you, they soon will. You may need to go ahead and pull out Twitter for Dummies. (Or check out Twitter's Getting Started Guide.)

This deal with the search engines kills the notion that Twitter is a trend. It is already a powerful tool for businesses, and in time it will become even more so. "How's your SEO" and "Are you tweeting enough" will become synonymous. For customers, this is a great thing.

Twitter requires interactment. It requires conversation. It requires the human touch. A tweet needs retweets, and to get retweeted needs followers. And followers (most followers) are real people with thoughts, needs, and interests. Unless you're satisfying your followers, don't expect to show up high in tweet searches.

Oil hits $82 per barrel and the dollar keeps losing value against other currencies

Needless to say, oil producing countries are searching to trade in currencies other than the dollar and, as a result, the dollar continues to lose ground. The effect of rising oil prices will be felt once again at the corner gas station and the trickle down affect drives other prices higher and higher. Rising prices results in inflation that in turn will undoubtedly cause the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

What can we do to stop this snow ball effect? Use currently available technology and reduce unnecessary travel. Example: Use Skype or ooVoo for video conferencing with your clients or colleagues thus saving you time, money, use less gas and eliminate air travel and associated travel expenses, yet still achieve your business objectives. I am positive that while it will take some getting used to this "new ways of doing business", the end result is an improvement in bottom-line for you (or your company/employer) and your family & health benefits from this as well.

Ron Bregman

DOW Exceeds 10,000 and Inspires Skeptical Optimism

October 2008 was the last time the DOW had reached 10,000 points. It's more than a year later and finally the DOW has had two consecutive days ending over 10,000. What does it all mean?

We all know that the DOW Jones is an indicator of our country's economic stability. I'm quite concerned with the DOW and it's performance, being my 401K ebbs and flows according to the success of the Stock Market. Is "The Great Recession" coming to an end? Personally, the Stock Market is too finicky of an indicator. I think Main Street's performance is much more reliable.

Unemployment? I would think that's a key indicator in how Main Street is performing. New York, Telco Depot's home state can boast a lower than national unemployment rate of 8.9%. Just 8.9%! Can you imagine such a percentage rate as being considered a good thing? To compare, the nationwide unemployment rate is hovering close to 10%.

Bloomberg Press on the otherhand, is reporting that first-time filings for unemployment benefits is down for the first time in nine months. Possibly an early sign of recovery. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Consumer Spending? Everything I have read, consumer spending is up. The government posted a 1.5% decline in retail sales for September. Most analysts agree this data is over inflated due to the end of the Cash for Clunkers incentive, which ended in August. Most analysts feel that consumer spending was up in September.

Home Sales? The Government (whether you like it or not) has stepped in with an $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Realtors everywhere seem to agree with the Nov. 30th deadline approaching that home sales are finally moving. The concern now seems to be whether or not to extend the incentive, since it is working at such a crucial time.

The above are the news bits and pieces that I found in doing just a few minutes of research.

My opinion? I think the DOW exceeding 10,000 has given skeptical optimism and hope to the average American. A close friend of mine, who is a day trader has overcome an entire month of losses in just 2 days.

Telco Depot, Corp. has had a very good week with an onslaught of new orders--is this a coincidence? If you're an SMB owner, what kind of effects have you seen? Is your company gaining hope?

Third quarter earnings reports are being posted for some very large companies like Google, who boasted a strong profit--what a shocker eh? Analysts are giving mixed messages about consumer spending over the holidays, but the majority seem to think sales will be higher than last year.

All of these indicators seem to come to the conclusion that Main Street is beginning to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Telco Depot adds Ooyala as its video hosting service

Building high quality video content sounds fun and easy, but when you get into the details of production hardware, editing software, and then online publishing, a simple project can become overwhelming. So when we came across a solution out there that eased one of those production aspects, we were quick to bite.

Recently we added a library of "How To" help videos to our site. We soon found that the quality of the video streamed from our web server was inferior to the video on our YouTube channel . And it should be the exact opposite!

We discovered the reason for the poor quality was our web server.  To stream high quality video and audio requires a server dedicated to such a task. So we considered building a separate server.  But then we found out we'll also need Adobe's media server software to handle the job.  Adobe's packages cost $5000 and up.  That's quite an investment to make when you're just starting out.

But it doesn't stop there.  So you get a server...big whoop.  Who's going to program that server and maintain it and provide real-time analytics purely on video content?  To stream the video, you need a nice looking Flash player, error handlers when network issues occur, and interactive buttons to keep the user's attention.

While we here at Telco Depot are all about "Do it Yourself," sometimes you have to realize others can do it for you better, faster, and much cheaper.

Our lead engineer, Elliot Laffey came across Ooyala months ago and he was attracted to the idea immediately.  In a very appealing package, Ooyala claimed to solve our headache.

The biggest concern with the video hosting company, however, was that they require a 12-month contract up front. Not only are you investing in hundreds of dollars a month, but you're also committing to a long term relationship. 

After some lengthy discussion, we found in our case, that the advantages were enough to commit to the 12-month term. It is not so much that we won't have videos in 12 months.  It's more like, what if we decide to take on the task of hosting the videos ourselves in 6 months?

Well, we're stuck now.  Ooyala hosts our video content.  And...we're very pleased with the service.

We had a great player interface online in a matter of hours.  No more choppy audio for us!

In fact the quality of the video stream when played from our website is now better than YouTube's channel. Our users can even embed our videos, using our custom player, into their blogs, newsletters or their own web site--without the cumberson ads that YouTube likes to place on top of their players.

Give the embedding feature a try.  Just visit our videos page, hover over the player and click the embed button.  Easy!
By the way, I have a list of videos to film, but we’d love to prioritize anything you want to see. If you’d like to know how to install something, program something or fix something, simply drop us a note or better yet, pick up the phone and call us.

So we discovered that video production wasn't so easy...but it sure still is fun!

Unified Messaging with the Syspine Response Point by Microsoft

Did you know that the Syspine system will deliver your voicemail messages to your inbox or any PDA that will play a .wav file? This function of Unified Messaging is a standard feature on the Response Point. You merely have to point your messages to your e-mail address or to your handheld device and Syspine does the rest.

This is an especially useful feature for anyone spending most of their time away from their office. Realtors and other salespeople, particularly like this feature. It is also handy for anybody who spends a lot of time away from their desk; in meetings, labors or other work areas.

In today's economy, every call is more important that every. You never want a voicemail message to just sit. Use Unified messaging to stay on top of your business.

Telco Depot's first video debut is a smash! "Introduction to the Plantronics Remote Handset Lifter"

Actually that's a lie, but come see the first of our "how to" series on everything thing telecom you need for your office. Sit back and enjoy our review.

Elliot's first effort as a director was severely hampered by the poor acting of Tom Grinde in the role of a frustrated Executive. The film however receives rave reviews for its honest portrayal of the life and times of the Plantronics Voyager 510S Bluetooth headset. Some call the dual connection controversial. Others see it as utter convenience.

But if you haven't yet heard, this headset device connects to both your office phone and your Bluetooth enabled cell phone to take calls from either device. If you think it sounds shocking, wait until you see the footage.

The heart of the story unrolls in part II which will show up in theaters (actually only on our web site and youtube.com) in the next few days. Unlike most sequels, this story continues with how to install the infamous Plantronics HL10 Remote Handset Lifter and how to pair your Voyager 510S with your cell phone.

A real story of efficiency triumph over the dreaded paper shuffle while on a call.

Grab some popcorn and a soda, then click here to learn and enjoy: "Introduction to the Plantronics Remote Handset Lifter" and look for the sequel "How to install the Plantronics Remote Handset lifter", coming soon to a Telco Depot web site near you.

Enjoy the movie!

Help prevent the spread of H1N1 Virus in your office

Your telephone is a common culprit in the spread of germs and virus and colds in the office environment. The H1N1 is believed to be spread person to person mainly through coughing and sneezing. The telephone handset is often overlooked but consider the number of times you’ve coughed or sneezed into your handset while on a call. Also consider the number of telephones where more than one person uses the handset.

An ounce of prevention is in order. During this H1N1 flu season take the time to daily wipe the handsets of your telephones, particularly those in public places like conference rooms, break rooms, copier rooms and waiting areas. An antibacterial wipe works best and no, you won’t harm the handset. If you use a headset, we don’t suggest sharing with anyone for this same reason. A good way of thinking of this is to compare this to washing your hands.

Stay health this winter!

Learning About VoIP Part 1: From the View of Someone Who Had No Clue

Ever heard of VoIP before? Chances are you've been introduced to this concept of phone service already and don't even know it. For those of us who aren't fluent in speaking telephony (I include myself ) VoIP is an abbreviation for Voice over Internet Protocol .

I started working at Telco Depot with little to no understanding of current communication technologies. It is a lot to take in, but I'll offer you my perspective in hopes that you’ll be able to better understand or relate.

Like me, you’re probably just beginning your research into an alternative to plain old telephone services lines (or POTS lines)—what kind of hardware you need, can you install/maintain it yourself, and how it all works.

Part 1 – An important but brief overview

So how is VoIP different from standard phone service? Well, it’s significantly cheaper for one. But it also offers features that are either not available or that are high in cost to a landline plan.

Some of these VoIP features include Call Forwarding, Call Return, Call Block and Do Not Disturb. Ever wanted your voicemail to be forwarded to your email box? With VoIP, you can. Pick and choose the messages you want to hear right from your PC.

Are you all about the environment and going green? For those of you who find saving energy just as important as saving money VoIP is a great alternative.

Now because VoIP uses the internet as its platform for service it means that anywhere - I mean anywhere that you can find a stable internet connection you'll also have access to your VoIP service. I will discuss how this works and what you need in a future post.

These are the basic facts about Voice over Internet Protocol or "VoIP". In my next post I'll explain in greater detail the benefits, how it saves on energy as well as the draw backs of VoIP.

Ricky Victome is the graphic designer for Telco Depot.

Allworx awarded "Best of Show" for IT Expo 2009

Allworx again wins a fantastic award for it all IP Key Telephone System at this year's IT Expo show held earlier this month in Los Angeles. This validates what we've been saying about Allworx and their premium IP solution.

Check this system out for yourself and you'll see that dollar for dollar this is the best value on the market today for a pure IP solution in the 2 to 100 user space.

Tom Grinde
VP, Sales

You can program the xBlue x16 to add a Voicemail Directory

The xBlue system is a terrific value but as with any terrific value you may not get all the features of the high end system, but that’s how you hit the low price point. While the x16 does not have “Dial by name Directory” as one of its features, you can create a directory of sorts in the Automated Attendant by using the single one touch menu.

Under voicemail programming in the system menu there are three greeting to record Daytime OGM (Out Going Message), Night time OGM and Aux OGM. The Aux message corresponds with the dialing of the digit 7. So you can record the Aux Greeting to say for Tom Grinde, dial 301; for Paul Olivieri, dial 302; for Elliot, dial 303, etc.

A great price in a great little system and some real functionality when you get creative.

Caller ID not working on your xBlue x16?

With the newest software now out in the field for the x16 one of the common support questions we get is “why doesn’t my Caller ID work”. In most cases it was known to work on the old system, but when the lines are plugged in to the new x16 KSUU it no longer works.

The new software has a feature which allows you to turn off Caller ID from displaying on the telephone. This is a helpful feature for Doctors who don’t want a patient in the office to overhear a conversation and be able to look at the display and see who they are speaking with.

To turn it on, simply go to phone programming, scroll down to “CID” and make sure it is set to “Y” for yes. That’s it. There is nothing else that controls Caller ID in the system.

Good Luck!

Tom Grinde