Fastmetrics Knowledge Base

Author: Cody Miller

  • Yealink T58A Phone Overview

    Video Guide: Yealink T58A SIP Business Phone

    Fastmetrics has been installing, supporting and providing training for Yealink phones and hardware for many years. Combined with our metricVOICE UCaaS, Yealinks are robust SIP compatible desk phones with modern features. The Yealink T58A is a smart business phone which supports Microsoft Teams. It has a camera option (the T58V comes with an integrated camera), a 7 inch multi-touch screen, HD audio plus more.

    See the below T58A SIP video for an overview of features and capabilities. For more Yealink user guides, see our videos on the Yealink T54W and the Yealink T41P and T42G series.                          

                         
    Yealink T58A Video Guide

    Described by manufacturer Yealink as a “premium phone for Microsoft Teams”, see a complete video overview of the Yealink T58A phone and features from Crosstalk Solutions. 

     

    Video transcript: Welcome to Crosstalk Solutions. My name is Chris and today we’re going to be taking a look at the beautiful Yealink T58A Voice over IP telephone and I mean just look at this thing. It comes with this gorgeous seven-inch touchscreen display and this is quickly becoming my favorite new phone.

    Now this has been out for a while, but this is actually the first time that I’ve had one here in my office. So I’ve been playing around with it for the last couple of days and the screen is amazing. The features are amazing. The voice quality is the best voice quality of any phone that I’ve ever used and we’re going to get into all the details about this phone in a little bit. But I have a second one here that I’m anxious to get unboxed. So let’s start there because I want to start doing some video calls between these two extensions.

    All right. Let’s get to the unboxing. OK. So here we go, Yealink T58A. Now it’s a little bit confusing as far as the model numbers go. They got a nice piece of foam here to protect this seven-inch touchscreen display that comes with this thing.

    But the model numbers, they have a T58A and they have a T58V. The difference is that the T58V comes with a camera integrated into the phone whereas the T58A has the camera separate. So you can either buy just the T58A without the camera. See, no camera on top. But there is an extra camera called the Yealink Cam50 that you can buy separately and it pops into this little port right on the back here. Whoa! Again, this is a seven-inch touchscreen display, fully adjustable. You can see you have a really nice angle of adjustment, smooth-moving angle here.

    Quick start guide, got a regular handset here. Here is the USB camera. We will get to that in a second. But you got a CAT 5 cable or probably CAT 5e I imagine. The handset cord and then you get the stand which this only has one angle that it can sit up at. So the T56, it actually has two angles for the foot stand. This one only has one angle.

    So there’s the phone. Let’s also take a look at the camera here. Again this is the Yealink Cam50 and one nice thing I like about the camera is it does have like a hardware filter, right? So you can cut the image off. You can close it and open it so that it doesn’t feel like there’s a camera staring at you all day. That’s kind of nice. Then the camera itself is adjustable. So then it sits right on the back here and goes in very nicely right there with USB 2.0 and now you’ve got a little camera sitting off the top of your T58A.

    Let’s go ahead and plug it in to fire it up. This is powered by either an AC power. They’re powered up – it does not come with the phone but you can buy separately and then it’s also powered by 802.3af PoE.

    All right. So let’s talk about this. First of all, this is not a cheap phone. This is rather expensive. The T58A by itself, MSRP with the camera, is $539. However no one pays MSRP. So the actual price for this camera on Amazon, which I have a link down below if you guys want to look at this on Amazon. I will certainly match the Amazon price if anyone is interested in purchasing this phone through Crosstalk Solutions.

    But the price on Amazon is $244.22 for the phone itself and then an additional $88 for the Cam50. So if you want just the phone itself, which can work with – you know, like if you had a receptionist that had a video door phone such as this AXIS A8105-E, this works great with this phone where you hit the button on the AXIS. It rings the phone. When you pick up the phone, the video shows on the display of the phone so you can see who’s at the backdoor or the front door or wherever.

    I will have a separate video on the connection from the AXIS over to the phone coming up in just a little bit. Make sure you subscribe to Crosstalk Solutions. So total price with the camera for this phone is $332.22. This phone has a seven-inch touchscreen display. The video resolution on this phone is 720P at 30 frames per second. So it runs Android 5.1.1. Now as far as ports go, this phone has two USB ports. It has one in the back here and then one for the CAM50 to slide into.

    The extra USB 2 port on the back is for a USB stick so if you wanted to put added storage. What you can do with that, which is pretty neat, is you can have a photo slideshow. So basically this becomes a digital photo frame when the phone is in screensaver mode. So if you had a bunch of pictures of your family or your cats or whatever, you can load it into the USB port on the back and then those photos will display on the screen and actually two different screensaver modes that utilize your photos.

    Down here below the stand, we’ve got dual gigabit ethernet ports, again one in which is PoE power in and then one out, which is also fully VLAN-capable if you want to have the phone on a different VLAN than your computers. AC power, handset port, headset port and again, this is either 802.3af power or just straight-up AC if you buy an additional power adapter.

    Take a look at the screen of the T58A. We have a few things down the side here. This is to make a phone call. You just hit the button there or certainly you can just dial on the keypad that is down below. Right here we have a directory. So if you’re utilizing either the free PBX directory that comes with the free PBX phone apps or if you’re using the Yealink directory that can be downloaded to this phone, that will show up here.

    Then we have the call history right here. So you can see all of the calls in and out of the system. Across the bottom here, we do have some extra buttons such as “Do Not Disturb,” also call history again, the directory again and then the menu of the phone itself. This will get you into the various options.

    We’re going to go through the menu, the actual GUI-based menu, the HTTP-based menu which includes all of this and then some more. So in the meantime, let’s get out of there. If you pull down from the top, you get a bunch of extra options as well. You’ve got video, Wi-Fi, “Do Not Disturb,” Bluetooth on or off. See, opening. Bluetooth is on. Bluetooth is off.

    Forwarding settings, screenshot if you want to take a screenshot with the camera, auto answer settings, regular settings. That of course gets you back to that same settings menu and you will also see some little icons up at the top for if you have “Do Not Disturb” on. Let’s try that. There. So “Do Not Disturb” is on. “Do Not Disturb” is off.

    Then if you have missed calls or voicemails, that will all show up right here. You can press the time. This is pretty interesting. If you press the time, you get a bigger display of the time but you also have an alarm, the time, a stopwatch – no, a timer and then a stopwatch. So all built in here. I don’t know exactly why you would need a stopwatch on your desk phone but maybe some people would. So there you go. You have that option.

    Now over here on the side, we can see our BLF keys, right? So for instance, if I dial from a different extension, actually let me add a BLF key. So you can add BLF keys right here and I think this second T58A, I have an extension 203. It is. So if I wanted to add 203 as a BLF extension, I can just hit plus and then it gives me the option to add a different key. Type, BLF. We will say “Label”. I’m doing this upside down so pardon me. Well, here we go. Label “x203,” value “203,” extension “203”. Saving config file now. Of course this can also be done or I should say should be done through the Free PBX EndPoint Manager. But if you’re not using the Free PBX EndPoint Manager, you can just configure your keys just like that.

    We can now see that I have extension 203 and if I for instance dial something like the Echo Test with extension 203, you can see that extension 203 is currently in use. It has turned red. So just that easy to add a BLF key. One other interesting thing I found is if you hold down on the time, you can actually resize some of the various elements. So you can actually resize the time or push it off to the side where you want it, something like that as well.

    So that was kind of a neat little feature and then there are actually 27 DSS keys here. So you have all of these keys here. But if you hit this button here, it expands out and you can have a whole bunch more BLF keys. So these are all empty right now. But if you wanted to have like a receptionist phone or something where you had 10 or 15, up to 27 different BLF keys, you can have those there and then you simply just have to expand those keys so that you can see them all.

    Now if we scroll this way, we have settings once again. We have our File Manager. So that’s to manage different files on the USB stick or on the phone itself and then you’ve got messages, which is your voicemail, your email, calendar, camera. So with the camera, you can just take pictures. There we go. We can see, like, there’s my camera right here. That’s recording. This is recording that, is this, is that.

    You have a gallery for pictures that you’ve already taken. Yeah, very handsome. Very, very handsome and then we’ve got a recorder. So this is kind of cool. So you can actually record and then if you want to do just a quick recording, we’re doing a recording. We’re entering in a test recording into the Yealink T58A. Save. And then it shows up here and you can just play it back. [We’re doing a recording. We’re entering in a test recording into the Yealink T58A.] So kind of nice if you like doing recording and at your desk, if you want to take voice notes.

    You also have a calculator, which is great. Always good to have a calculator right on the phone and then you have web browser. Though honestly, if you have this phone on your desk, you probably have an iPhone or a smartphone or just an actual desktop or laptop computer. That would be a much better browser than the one that is integrated in here.

    Now if we scroll one more time to the side, this is where we can actually touch to set up our email. So for instance, if we were going to set up whatever various type of account, you can put in your actual email address and it will try to autodetect it if it’s Gmail or something like that or it will just ask you to manually input your email settings so that you get email on this phone. Again though, I don’t know how useful email on one of these phones is going to be. I would be shocked to find out that someone was actually using one of these phones for their email.

    So now let’s take a look at the GUI interface. I’ve logged into the Yealink T58A and now let’s take a quick look through these settings. So Account Settings of course are going to be your SIP settings, how the phone is connecting to your SIP server, whatever that may be.

    Now in my case, most of these settings and certainly all of the pertinent settings were set by the Free PBX EndPoint Manager. But there are so many settings in this phone. You can do basically anything that you would ever want to do with a Voice over IP phone with this phone, much like most of the Yealinks and while not all of these options are in the Free PBX EndPoint Manager, these are all options that you can configure with the Base File Editor.

    So even if you’re using Free PBX and the EndPoint Manager doesn’t have the option that you want, there’s always going to be a base file edit that you can perform in order to add the options into the phone. We only ever have to do that very rarely though. So it’s usually not an issue. So here we can see that account one is registered to my Free PBX. Then you’ve got some basic settings and your codec settings.

    Now I have taken then G.722 high def codec and move that all the way to the top because I like to use G.722 by default. It just has a little bit better audio quality than Ulaw, which is the second one that I have here. But there are also all of these other codecs and then a ton of other codecs that I actually have disabled on the side here.

    For the video codecs, we’ve got H264 as well as VP8. One thing that I was able to find – so I was able to do a videocall from T58A to T58A and I was able to do a video call from a Bria softphone to the T58A. But I was not able to do a video call from the CounterPath X-Lite free softphone to the T58A because the free softphone uses H263 as the video codec, which this phone does not support.

    However, I was able to do a call from the Zoiper app on my iPhone over to the Yealink T58A, no problem. So Zoiper with the added H264 support. I think it was like an extra dollar or something to add that H264 support into Zoiper and then it worked just fine.

    I want to do a separate video on video calling with these devices or just video calling in general. So stay tuned to the channel for that, coming soon.

    All right. Under “Advanced,” again there’s just way more settings than you would ever need. So like I said, most of these, you’re just going to leave default. But there are a ton of settings that you can actually configure.

    For network, we’ve got our basic network settings. This phone is just set up to be DHCP and then we have options for what do we want to do with the PC port. So there are two gigabit ethernet ports on the back. One is for input, for PoE, as well as your LAN.

    The second one is for output to a separate computer and that separate computer can also be on a separate VLAN if you want and the VLAN settings are right here.

    For DSS key, this is also – just like we saw on the actual display of the phone where you can set up your own different types of functionality for the phone’s buttons. There are up to 27 keys. So 1 through 10, 11 through 20 and 1 through 27.

    Then you’ve got your programmable keys. These are the keys that display across the bottom of the phone or the main display of the phone and this phone is also compatible with the EXP40 Expansion Module and since I don’t have one connected, it’s telling me I don’t have one connected.

    All right. So here we go, features. Forwarding and “Do Not Disturb”. There are all those sorts of forwarding and “Do Not Disturb” information, general info about the phone, audio options, intercom options, transfer options, all sorts of different options for whether you’re doing a semi-attended transfer or a fully-attended transfer, blind transfer options, et cetera, et cetera.

    “Transfer on Conference Hang Up”, that is basically like when you have a three-way call, if you hang up and you had initiated that, it’s going to transfer it so that the other two people are now talking to each other and then an option for what happens when you use the transfer key on the phone. Is that a blind transfer? Is that an attended transfer, et cetera?

    Pick-up and park options, remote control options, phone locking options. Then we’ve got all sorts of other stuff, Bluetooth on or off, door phone options. This is pretty interesting. They have some door phone options in here. But I’m not really sure exactly how you would use these. Most door phones are going to have all the functionality for the door phone itself built in to the little device. But maybe this is like so that you can create a custom key or something. I’m not sure exactly what this door phone list is for.

    Then under “Settings,” again a whole bunch more stuff here, preferences, time and date, call display options, upgrade, auto provision, configuration and so, so much more, all the way down here to SIP, video, power saving, et cetera.

    The directory options again allow you to create a local directory in this phone. If you’re going to be using the Yealink directory across multiple phones though, I would suggest having that in the TFTP server that this phone auto provisions from. It’s just much easier that way and it keeps everything synchronized much easier. Then we have options for LDAP, Multicast and just sort of some general settings about the phone and some security settings included the ability to upload a trusted certificate to the phone.

    Finally just to prove that some of these video calling features work, let’s go ahead and try a couple of things. I will be doing separate videos on extension to extension video calling as well as calling from a door phone and having it display on the screen here. But that stuff does work. So let’s go ahead and try it out here. I’m going to dial extension 202. Pick it up and there we can see my shiny face, my beautiful, shiny face right on that screen, right? And you can hit it one time and make it full screen and have a full screen video call with these two extensions. Very cool.

    Also in regards to the door phone, now you can have it so that when you hit the button on this door phone, it rings either one of these extensions directly or the way that I set it up is that it actually rings a ring group and then whichever phone happens to pick up that call, the video will go through to that phone. So let’s go ahead and try it now. We’re going to hit the button. Both phones are ringing and let’s pick it up over here. Check, check, check. Check, check, check. There we go.

    So we can see on the screen the feed coming through the door and if I press like “99,” in this case, a dog is going to bark but normally that would actually unlock the relay which unlocks the door or trigger the relay which then unlocks the door. So let’s do “99”. All right. So there’s our dog barking noise which is basically our relay and we can see that the door phone works perfectly with these extensions.

    So what do you guys think about these phones? I think they are absolutely amazing. Again the price tag is a little bit steep coming in at just over $330 per phone. But for receptionists, for executives who want a super fancy phone or just if video calling is something that’s important to you, you really can’t go wrong with the Yealink T58A. I highly recommend this phone and the sound quality as I said earlier is excellent, especially when you’re running it at the G.722 codec.

    So if you guys enjoyed this video, please give me a thumbs up. If you would like to see more videos like this, please click “Subscribe”. My name is Chris with Crosstalk Solutions and thank you so much for watching.

  • A2P 10DLC Messaging Explained

    What Is A2P 10DLC Messaging?

    Firstly, the acronym A2P 10DLC stands for;

    • A2P – Application 2 Person
    • 10DLC – 10 Digit Long Code

    More simply, 10DLC just means a regular phone number.

    What is A2P 10DLC used for? This is a new protocol that changes how businesses which utilize applications to send messages to communicate with individual phone users, have to go about doing just that. This is a recent change. It supersedes previous options of short codes and the standard 10DLC protocols. So, the way in which businesses and companies that send text messages (SMS) and also outbound MMS, is changing and there are new requirements.

    Note: As a provider of A2P messaging, users of Fastmetrics metricVOICE texting functions have been notified of requirements. For any further questions, please contact support@fastmetrics.com

    Female and male texting each other via mobile phone - A2P 10DLC update

    Explainer Video: A2P 10DLC Messaging

    So why has this change been made to text messaging protocol now? What does it mean for businesses, carriers and users? More on that below, in this excellent (less than 5 minute) explainer video from the Blue Collar Nerd.

    Video transcript: What’s going on everybody? It’s Richard Kohberger here, the Blue Collar Nerd. So I have some complicated and arguably not great news for you. It involves congress and the FCC and mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T and you. It’s something called A2P 10DLC.

    So what the heck is that? Well, 10DLC, that’s a 10-digit long code. It’s what non-telecom industry people and non-aliens would refer to as a regular phone number and A2P, that stands for “application to person”. So this is a new protocol that changes how businesses using some sort of application to communicate with individuals, with people, need to go about doing that.

    So before this change, there were basically two routes that a company could use to send messages to its customers and we will think of them as like two roads. So one road was like a really major highway, like a paid turnpike and this turnpike was short codes. So if you’ve ever received a text message from a business that came from like a five to six-digit phone number, that message came from this highway.

    Now the benefit of this big turnpike is that it’s huge. It was built for this. So companies will get really high throughput, meaning they could send lots and lots of messages all at one time without having to wait. It also offered really good deliverability rates. So there wasn’t a very high chance that a carrier like Verizon or AT&T would filter that message because messages coming down this highway were considered more reputable.

    Now the downsides were that this highway, this turnpike was really expensive to use and you had to use these short codes, which weren’t very personal. A lot of companies, especially local companies prefer to use regular phone numbers that appear to be from the area. So for those reasons, many companies used the other road, the 10DLC road. But this road was not built for this. This road is more like a just regular suburban backroad. So that means worst deliverability rates. There was a higher chance of your message getting filtered, lower throughputs. You can’t send as many messages all at one time and because there was less of a process to get on this road, it meant that spammers were using it left and right.

    OK. So talks about doing something about this problem started a while ago. I want to say around 2018. So congressional leaders and the FCC, they were looking at these phone providers, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and they were saying, “Hey guys. You kind of need to do something about this.” The carriers were like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t you worry about it, don’t you worry about it. We’re on it.”

    Then some time would pass and the FCC and congress would be like, “Guys, we really need to do something about this,” and the carriers are going to be like, “Oh, that? Oh, yeah. We’re on that. Yeah. Don’t even worry about it. We’re going to take care of it.” So finally the FCC and the congressional leaders, they said, “Hey, do something about this or we’re going to be imposing a regulation.”

    So this A2P 10DLC, this is the result of that. So the carriers have built a new road and it’s not quite as small and dinky as the suburban backroad but it’s not quite as big and expensive as the short code highway.

    So how this works is there’s an initial registration process and registration fee. The registration fee is four bucks. It’s not a big deal. I should rephrase. It’s four bucks right now at 2:26 on June 8th of 2021. It could change. I’m just giving you the information that is here right now. So once your brand is registered, you will be assigned a reputation score and that score basically says that you’re legit. You’re a real company and you’re allowed to be sending text messages through this highway. Then after that, there’s a $10 per month fee to stay registered and then there’s a per text message surcharge and that surcharge is fractions of a penny.

    Now a caveat is that surcharge, that per text message charge, it’s not universal. Different carriers charge differently and the charge comes from the receiving party’s carrier, meaning when you the business sends a text message, unless you happen to know that person’s phone carrier, you don’t know exactly how much that text message is going to cost. Pretty sick, right? I know.

  • Yealink T54W Phone Overview

    Video Guide: Yealink T54W SIP Business Phone

    Fastmetrics has been installing and supporting Yealink business phones and hardware for many years now. Coupled with our metricVOICE UCaaS solution, Yealink provides robust SIP compatible phones with modern features. Yealink offers a range of voice hardware that meets the demands of our voice customers. Yealink phones include HD voice quality, high resolution displays, cordless options, wireless connectivity and bluetooth headset comptible choices. The Yealink T54W is a newer offering, which we are pleased to now offer to our voice and phone service customers.

    See below for an overview of features and basic capabilities. For more Yealink user guides, see our videos on the Yealink T58A and the Yealink T41P and T42G phone series. 

    Yealink T54W SIP phone for business
                                                         

    Video: Yealink T54W Overview

    Below, see a video run through of the Yealink T54W phone from TeleComp Holdings. Yealink describes the T54W as a “prime business phone, ideal for professionals and managers with moderate call load”.

    Video transcript: Today we will be going over the Yealink Model T54W. This guide will also apply to the T53 and the T52. Other than cosmetics and a few buttons, there are no functional differences between the three models. Let’s take a look at the LCD screen. First on the top right, you’ve got the notification LED. It will flash when you have a voicemail or missed call. Your individual extension is listed on the top two left hand buttons. The extension is listed twice so that each user essentially has their own line one, line two rollover system.

    Below the extensions, we have a few examples of busy lamp field. You see the status of other phone users. You can see if they’re on the phone or if they have a call on hold. These buttons can serve as a speed dial to the monitored person and under some circumstances will allow you to answer a call ringing into them. Next on the right hand side, there are four park slots. Park slots are an easy way to manage call overflow or to move a call from one user to another without the need to transfer.

    Yealink T54W Soft Keys

    Next let’s talk about the soft keys along the bottom of the LCD screen. They offer quick options when you need. They will change based on the activity of the phone. When the phone is idle, the following buttons are available.

    “History” will show all calls, missed calls, placed calls, received calls and forwarded calls. The option button inside this menu will allow you to add the highlighted contact to your address book, block the person or delete the entire list.

    It’s not necessary to clear the list. The phone will delete the oldest event when the list becomes full. The directory button will show you a list of all phones configured on your TeleCloud phone system. Under “All Contacts,” you will see every contact from every list on the phone.

    “My Location” will show a list of programmed users at your location. “My Company” will list all phones at all locations within your company. The personal list is built and maintained by you. It’s unique to your phone. The “My Location” and “My Company” lists are built and maintained by TeleComp as part of your TeleCloud service and will automatically be updated when new users are added or leave.

    Next is “Do Not Disturb”. Activating this button sends all calls that would normally have come to your extension directly to voicemail. This feature is useful for meetings or any situation that requires your dedicated focus.

    The “Menu” button is the last soft key to the right on an idle phone. There are a lot of options in the menu that may be useful such as WiFi, Bluetooth and screen brightness settings. However, most items in the menu are presented on the face of the phone as you need them.

    Yealink T54W Hard Keys

    Below the screen, you have physical buttons. On the left is the directional pad used for navigating menus and selecting options inside the menu. Under that is volume control. This will set the volume for whatever you’re currently using. If the phone is idle, it will set the ring tone volume. If you lift the handset, it will become the handset volume. In the middle is your keypad used for dialing and all the way to the right are additional function keys. Let’s go over those now.

    The headset button enables or disables the headset. This button must be active for any connected headset to operate properly. The mute button disconnects your microphone. When this is active, callers cannot hear you but you can hear them.

    The voicemail button allows access to your voicemail system. The hold button places a call on hold and can also be used to retrieve a call from hold.

    Your new system comes with predefined hold music. Music or recordings can be added on request. The history button will bring up the same recent call list mentioned earlier in the video.

    The transfer button serves two functions. When the phone is idle, it provides a quick way to forward your extension. When you’re on a call, it will function as a transfer button.

    Yealink T54W Call Functions

    With TeleCloud, placing a call is as simple as dialing a number. You don’t have to dial 9 to get an outside line and there are no long distance codes. Dial the number or select it from the directory and then either lift the receiver, hit speaker phone or activate your headset. The call will be placed automatically.

    You can place an active call on hold with either the physical hold button described earlier or with the newly visible soft key. You can resume a call the same way. If you need to place another call while a call is holding, simply hit the free extension line and place the call normally. Parking a call with TeleCloud is just as easy. While on an active call, navigate to the park soft key along the bottom of the LCD screen. Press “Park” and then hit the park slot you want to park the call again. To retrieve the call, tap the park slot where your call is being held.

    Call Transfers With The Yealink T54W Phone

    All right. Let’s talk about transfers. There are two kinds of transfers available, either a blind transfer or an attended transfer. Let’s go over how to do both of them now.

    Let’s do an attended transfer first. Attended transfer allows you to talk to the person before handing the call off to them. The original caller will hear hold music through the entire process. While on an active call, tap the new transfer soft key at the bottom of the screen or the physical transfer button next to the dial pad. Then dial the extension or number you want to transfer the call to. You can also hit directory at this time and pull up your phone lists. Then hit “Send”. You will be connected with the person to receive the transferred call and when you’re ready, hit “Transfer” again to connect the two callers and hang up on your end. You’ve completed an attended transfer.

    Now let’s do a blind transfer. During an active call, again hit the transfer key and dial or search to select your target. Then hit the “Transfer”. You will not talk to the person receiving the transfer. Instead the call will be sent immediately and will look like a direct call to the recipient.

    The last thing I want to talk about is conference calls. With TeleCloud, quick group or conference calls are easy to initiate and manage. It’s important to note that these are not conference bridges that attendees can call into with a meeting ID. You will have to add each new member to the call. While on an active call, hit the conference soft key at the bottom of the LCD screen and just like with the transfer, dial the number or the extension that you want to add.

    You will have a chance to talk to the new party before adding them to the conference. Hit “Conference” once again and this will bring everyone together into the same conversation. Now that a conference call has been initiated, there are new management soft keys below the LCD screen. “Manage” allows you to mute, hold or remove individual members of the conference call. “Split” allows you to break up the members of the conference back into individual calls. OK, that’s it. That was the TeleCloud Yealink Model T54 product demonstration. Thank you for watching.

  • metricVOICE – How To Make A Voice Call Via Webphone

    How To Make A Voice Call via Webphone

    The below video shows users how to make a voice call to an existing contact or any phone number, using the browser-based webphone. Webphones are a standard inclusion for all metricVOICE UCaaS users. Secure browser based calling allows users to make voice calls from everywhere. Simply login to start using your browser-based metricWEBPHONE to make calls, send chats, text and setup conference calls and more.

    Free calls are one of many standard features included with metricVOICE UCaaS from Fastmetrics. (A free demo is available to anyone to try it out). All users are given their own online portal, which they can log into. Call, chat, conference and text (SMS) directly from any browser, cell or free mobile apps from anywhere. Administrators are given ‘admin rights’ which allows extra features, such as adding new users, devices and more.

    A cloud based remote solution, metricVOICE works anywhere and across devices. It is a flat-fee service, with all features included (no add on fees). Other standard features include business telephony, texting, instant messaging, auto attendants, conferencing, voicemail and voice to text. It also integrates with MS Teams, email services, CRMs and other business tools and apps, offering a complete business telephony solution, backed by local support in the USA.

  • metricVOICE – How To Use Chat & Send Instant Messages

    How To Use metricVOICE Chat (Instant Messaging)

    The below video shows teams and users how to chat and send instant messages using the metricVOICE UCaaS service. This feature makes allows users to send chats and instant messages from anywhere, across devices. This feature is available across our free mobile apps and the browser based webphone included with service – metricWEBPHONE. Simply log in online and chat or instant message with any contact on your contacts list.

    Instant messaging is one of many standard features included with metricVOICE UCaaS from Fastmetrics. (A free demo is available). All users are given their own online portal, which they can log into. Call, chat, conference and text (SMS) directly from any browser, cell or free mobile apps from anywhere. Administrators are given ‘admin rights’ which allows extra features, such as adding new users, devices and more.

    A cloud based remote solution, metricVOICE works anywhere and across devices. It is a flat-fee service, with all features included (no add on fees). Other standard features include business telephony, texting, auto attendants, conferencing, voicemail and voice to text. Service also integrates with MS Teams, email, CRMs and other business tools and apps, offering a complete business telephony solution, backed by local support in the USA.

  • Auto Attendant FAQs

    What Is An Auto Attendant Or Automated Phone System?

    If you’ve ever called a company or organization and reached the right department by selecting from menu options (e.g., press 1 for billing, press 2 for technical support, etc.) then you are familiar with an auto attendant. This is also referred to as an automated phone system or a digital receptionist.

    An auto attendant feature makes it easier for businesses of all sizes to manage incoming calls. Inbound callers can be routed and transferred to an individual, group or department, based on a caller’s needs. A standard auto attendant feature setup provides callers with an initial greeting and then prompts to select an option.

    Basic Auto Attendant Menu Setup

    auto attendant basic menu setup diagram

    Historically, greeting and call routing functions were carried out by a live operator or receptionist. As technology progressed, relying on a single individual or group to manage multiple incoming phone calls became inefficient and costly. Today’s hosted PBX or cloud hosted phone services make it easy to direct calls through prompts and commands, via key selections or voice commands.

    What Are The Benefits Of An Auto Attendant?

    There are a variety of benefits associated with an auto attendant or digital receptionist. When asked how an auto attendant has impacted their business communication needs, or helped reach operational goals, lower costs and improved efficiency are typical responses. 

    business owner on the phone after being routed by auto attendant in front of productivity whiteboard
    An auto attendant can increase efficiency, productivity and lower business costs

    Implementing an auto attendant eliminates the need for a designated receptionist or operator. This is an obvious cut to costs. Still, there are further cost savings of an auto attendant setup. A properly utilized auto attendant allows businesses of all sizes to streamline incoming calls. Sending phone calls directly to a department, hunt group, individual, or functionality best matches the caller’s needs. This frees up teams or skilled employees from taking distracting calls which may not be for them and having to reroute or handle them. This allows a workforce to focus on the job at hand with minimum distractions. Likewise, an auto attendant improves customer experience. Customers can reach the correct department themselves, avoiding unnecessary transfers. An improved customer experience translates to a stronger business reputation. 

    How Does An Auto Attendant Work?

    An auto attendant routes incoming calls to a destination based on a caller’s specific needs and inputs. Auto attendants can also be setup based on the operational needs of an organization (seasonal call volume changes, employee vacations, etc.).

    Common Auto Attendant Routing Steps

    • Go to a sub menu
    • Transfer to a specified extension
    • Transfer to voicemail
    • Play a recorded message (business address or other)
    • Repeat menu choices

    common auto attendant routing steps

    • Dial by name
    • Go to an Operator (live person)
    • Transfer to a cell phone or mobile
    • Transfer to a group of extensions

    After an auto attendant is setup, each inbound call to a designated number included during setup will receive a basic greeting. This provides essential information about your company.  At this point, callers can then select from options provided. These options often include call directories, functions (e.g., paying a bill), or groups and departments. In addition to making it easier to route calls to the correct destination for a caller, an auto attendant can be used to relay valuable information. Alternatively, it can play music while callers wait in queue. Or, return a caller to being on hold while a process is completed.

    Auto Attendant Setup – Minimum Required Values

    • ‘0’ – where to go when the caller dials ‘0’
    • Timeout – what to do if the caller does nothing (usually send call to the same place as ‘0’)
    • Default mailbox – where to send calls if ‘0’ is not answered. (Or, does not route to a live person)

    auto attendant setup diagram basic required values

    What Is An Auto Attendant Greeting?

    An auto attendant greeting represents the voice of your company. Much like a receptionist would answer the phone with a basic greeting or welcome. An auto attendant greeting does the same, then provides info or options to a caller. Every caller routed through an auto attendant can experience the same greeting, creating across-the-board consistency. Greetings vary from company to company. Typically, your business can customize the voice and initial impression of your company. In some cases,  automated greetings can provide important information like business hours or other notifications, that may be pertinent to inbound callers at any given time.

    hello in white letters being added to a blackboard
    Customize the voice and initial impression of your company with an automated greeting

    Immediately following the greeting, callers will be prompted to select the options to help route their call to them a direct extension, group or department or to a sub-menu that can help them reach the correct destination.

    How To Set Up An Auto Attendant

    Thanks to user-friendly online interfaces and apps that typically accompany today’s business phone services, setting up an auto attendant is now efficient. This is particularly true for Fastmetrics customers who have access to the online web portal. However, the exact method used to set up your auto attendant will be determined by your service provider and/or the equipment you use.

    Since many businesses utilize more than one phone line, the first thing to consider when setting up an auto attendant or automated phone system is what numbers you’d like included. This may involve sending all incoming calls to the same main greeting. Or, it may mean excluding some calls or altering greetings based on certain numbers.

    Once you determine what calls will be routed through the auto attendant, the next step is to determine what menu options will be used. This step typically takes a good understanding of your company directory. As well as skills and functions that accompany each individual, group, or department within your company. For those who offer automated services over the phone (e.g., payments), this map also needs to include access to those features.

    Many businesses will find that a single menu is not enough to meet requirements. The addition of an auto attendant sub-menu will be required. Often, existing customers and potential new customers have different needs.  Don’t have both types of callers sit through a lengthy menu of options, when they can be routed to a sub-menu that provides specific options that meet their needs.

    happy customers improve business reputation
    Auto attendants can improve customer experience

    Once the call routing map is complete, the next step is often to prepare the scripts that will relay the information and options you need to convey. This includes a greeting, menu options, and any additional information you feel is pertinent, including operating hours and locations, in some cases.

    Are There Any Auto Attendant Script Examples?

    Each business can design their own auto attendant script ,based on the nature of their business and their auto attendant needs. A good auto attendant script will be professional, easy to follow and provide clear instructions, based on a caller’s purpose or need. Most companies choose to provide an auto attendant script with a basic greeting. This typically provides general company information or general menu options.

    Example Auto Attendant Scripts

    A basic greeting that directs inbound callers to various departments may read as follows:

    1. Hello. Thank you for contacting [business name], where our goal is to [slogan/purpose].
    2. If you know the extension you’d like to reach, you may dial it at any time.
    3. If you’d like to reach the [department name], please press 1.
    4. If you’d like to reach [department name], please press 2.

    An auto attendant script can also be used to address an inbound caller’s specific concerns or questions. For example, the following auto attendant script may be used instead of the options from the above script;

    1. For questions about your bill, press 3.
    2. To make a payment, press 4.
    3. If you’re a new customer, press 5.
    4. To repeat the menu options, press 6.
    5. For all other inquiries, press 0.

    Some businesses may want to include additional options. This can allow inbound callers to gain valuable information that doesn’t necessarily require human interaction, like business hours.  In this case, a script example to use could be;

    1. If you’d like information about our business hours, please press 2.
    2. If you’d like information about our business location, please press 3.
    3. To hear about our recent specials, please press 4.

    How To Record An Auto Attendant Greeting?

    First, write an auto attendant script and determine who will be the voice of your company, or find someone who will be the ‘voice of your business’. Then you will need to record the auto attendant greeting. This can be done in a variety of ways. Via handset, mobile, or via desktop. The exact process depends on the tools and apps provided by your phone service provider and the equipment you will be using. For Fastmetrics phone customers, auto attendant greetings can be setup and managed via the admin login of our cloud web interface.

    It is common practice to record and upload an auto attendant greeting via a .WAV file. Follow the instructions on how to record your greeting via the link above. If you are an existing Fastmetrics customer and need additional instructions on how to record an auto attendant greeting, please contact our local support team.

    What Is A Phone Menu?

    A phone menu is one of the fundamental parts of your auto attendant greeting. A phone menu routes inbound calls by matching caller needs to a respective department, group, individual, message or resource. In order to create a successful phone menu, it’s important to map out the logical way you’d like inbound calls to flow.

    Example Phone Menu Options

    If your business has a customer service team and a sales team, your phone menu may include the following options;

    1. If you’re an existing customer, please press 1.
    2. If you’re a new customer, please press 2.

    Phone menus should be clear and simple to understand. Make it easy for callers to quickly identify and choose the options that best suits their needs. For example, if you send existing customers to a different sub-menu, your options may be similar to the following;

    1. If you’d like to make a payment, press 1.
    2.  If you have billing questions, press 2.
    3.  If you need technical support, press 3.

    What Is A Hunt Group?

    A single extension may connect to a specific handset or individual device, a hunt group is a phone feature that routes a call to a pre-defined group of numbers or extensions. How the hunt group works or prioritizes lines, depends on the mode you choose. For example, when a hunt group is set to broadcast, all available lines included in the group will receive the call and ring simultaneously. Similarly, when a sequential mode is used, a phone call will be routed to the first specified line. If that user does not answer the phone call or if the line is busy, the call will be routed to the next prioritized line within the call group. Hunt groups can also be used to send calls to a number based on idle time, last call, etc.

    Do I Need A Hunt Group?

    A hunt group is not only relevant to businesses with high call volumes, such as call centers. Small and medium sized businesses can also benefit from a hunt group feature. Hunt groups increase the likelihood that every inbound call ends with a human-to-human interaction. This is preferable to an inbound call hitting a voicemail, or a busy signal. Additionally, hunt groups also assist in fast-paced business environments where a missed call can have a significant negative impact on operations or sales. If a staff member is away from their phone or busy, a hunt group can ensure that the caller reaches another similarly qualified individual.

    Can I Use An Auto Attendant With Smartphones?

    With a cloud based business phone service, the auto attendant feature can be used to reach any line included in a phone tree. This is regardless of whether it’s a headset in your office or a mobile phone in the hands of a remote employee. This includes landlines, cell, VoIP, and toll-free numbers within the United States.

    mobile phone being used in front of laptop connected to CRM
    Automated phone systems can be managed and connect to various devices

    In addition to functionality across multiple devices, authorized admin users can access and manage the auto attendant feature by using the Fastmetrics admin web portal.

    How Much Does An Auto Attendant Cost?

    The costs associated with a hosted PBX or business phone service vary from provider to provider. Auto attendants are frequently considered a basic feature, included with a business phone system. Fastmetrics customers with business phone service have free access to over one hundred included business phone features, including an auto attendant.

    Can I Change My Auto Attendant Settings?

    Communication needs of your business may change over time. Cloud hosted business phone services are designed to facilitate changes easily. An auto attendant is no different. Users can change their auto attendant settings at any time by logging into the admin web portal interface. Accommodating changes in call volume, employee availability and customer needs is made as simple as possible in a single online interface.

    Can I Integrate My CRM With My Auto Attendant?

    Primary features like auto attendants and hunt groups are designed to increase efficiency and improve the customer to employee experience. Each phone provider is different, however Fastmetrics phone services integrate with CRMs such as Salesforce.com and Zendesk, via our Chrome Extension; metricCRMconnect. This extension also recognizes phone numbers within the Chrome browser and enables seamless click-to-dial. Got more auto attendant related questions for your business? If you are a Fastmetrics customer, contact our support team. We will be more than happy to answer any questions about your auto attendant or help set it up for your business.

    What Is An Auto Attendant Or Automated Phone System? – This Question Answered And More

    Who Controls The Auto Attendant Phone System Feature?  

    Typically, an account administrator will have control over the auto attendant feature and establish rules for the main company phone number. However, if you are an admin, you can also set up additional users with administrative rights that can access and manage the auto attendant phone system feature by using the Fastmetrics metricVOICE web portal.

    Can I Use an Auto Attendant With My Phone?

    If you’re using a cloud-based phone service, you can set up the automated phone system with any phone that’s listed in the phone tree. This includes landlines, mobile phones, VoIP and toll-free numbers in the U.S. 

    How To Change an Auto Attendant Greeting Message?

    In some cases, you may need to change the auto attendant script or greeting. This is essentially a voicemail, custom company greeting, or audio file that callers hear right after dialing your number. If you find that your business hours have changed or if you need to notify your customers and clients about any urgent changes about your business operations or holiday closures, changing an auto attendant default greeting is crucial. 

    First, you’ll need to record a new voicemail greeting using a handset, mobile, or desktop computer, depending on the tools and apps provided by your phone service provider. For Fastmetrics voice customers, you’ll then need to upload the new custom greeting in the .wav format using the admin login in the Fastmetrics metricVOICE cloud web interface.

    Why Do Businesses Have An Auto Attendant Phone System?

    There are several reasons why businesses opt to use an automated business phone system: 

    • It empowers businesses to filter incoming calls to appropriate routing destinations — like the sales department or a live operator — and ensures all direct callers are answered promptly, which in turn provides a better customer experience.
    • The upfront dialing options save time and offer an improved level of customer service.
    • They can better manage their call flow with sufficient menu options and ensure the right person handles the call.
    • They don’t have to worry about hiring a full-time receptionist to manage the calls to the main company number since the system acts as a sort of auto receptionist or virtual receptionist. This saves you money in the long run since you don’t have to worry about paying another employee or covering their insurance and other employee-related costs.
    • An automated answering service ensures employees don’t have to worry about answering calls that aren’t meant for them and waste time routing the call to the appropriate person or department. This enables them to focus on other tasks and get more done.

    What Is The Difference Between An Auto Attendant Phone System And IVR?

    An auto attendant routes the calls to the appropriate department or person. In a sense, an auto attendant isn’t “intelligent” as it can’t do much else other than route calls. You can set different parameters for your auto attendant phone system, such as configuring a day and night mode. However, the system will send the calls to a call queue or a mailbox. It will also play music while it hunts.

    An IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, is a more sophisticated version of an auto attendant. The voice input response from an IVR depends on the input and the response. It can handle automated tasks with advanced rules that involve numbers and simple questions with yes/no answers delivered via voice command. For example, you can use an IVR to let customers pay their credit card bill by cell phone or ask them to fill out a simple customer satisfaction survey.

    If you have more questions, feel free to reach out to us here at Fastmetrics. We can help your business connect better with the best auto attendant phone system. 

  • Polycom VVX 400 Series User Guide

    Polycom VVX 400 Series User Guide

    Polycom VVX 400 and 410 Phone Manual & User Guide Video

    The Polycom VVX 400 and 410 series are dynamic IP phones with a range of features and HD voice compatible. Watch the phone training video below, or skip to a specific phone function or feature, by clicking on a link in this index below.

    Polycom VVX 400 Overview

    Overview: On the front display, you will see the time and date and other information such as busy lamps to show the status of colleagues if set up, or the speed dials on the keys on both sides of the screen.

    Polycom VVX 400 IP Phone

    Also, you have your extension which is your line. If two line keys are configured, you will see this line number by two keys. Missed calls, or call features you have setup such as call forward, call divert, will display along the top of the screen. The buttons along the bottom of the screen control the features. These option keys change when you are on a call.

    Polycom VVX 400 – Call Buttons

    Call Buttons: The Home key on the right side of the screen provides access to all of the phones features: Calls, Messages, Directories, Call Forward, Do Not Disturb, Settings and Applications. On the right hand side we have a Headset button if you are using a headset, a Speaker button, a Mute button. At the bottom is the volume control to adjust the ringer volume and the earpiece or speaker volume when you are on a call. And we have the dial pad. On the left side of the dial pad is a Transfer key, a Messages key for access to the voice portal, and a Hold key.

    Navigational Arrow Buttons

    On the right are the navigation buttons. The up arrow gives access to your speed dials, favorite list for your most frequently dialed numbers, once programmed. It will store 100 numbers for you. The right arrow key displays your calls placed. The down arrow key displays your missed calls. And the left arrow key navigates back to the main screen. Highlight any number from the lists and press Dial to make a call.

    Polycom VVX 400 – Screen Control Keys

    Screen control keys: The Redial key will activate a call to the last number you dialed. The Retrieve key is used to retrieve a parked call by entering an extension and Enter. The Pickup is pressed to pick up a ringing call of a colleague. Press the More key to see other options. Forward allows you to set a call forward from your handset for Always, No Answer and Busy.

    The DND button is Do Not Disturb. This is useful if you do not want your phone to ring because you have a meeting, for example. Pressing once changes the display to indicate Do Not Disturb is active and an icon appears by your extension and up at the top. To remove Do Not Disturb, simply press DND once and the action is removed. Messages provides access to a list of voicemail messages and you can connect to call your voicemail.

    Placing a Call with the Polycom VVX 400 phone

    Placing a call: Dial the number first. This is the best way to avoid any timeout when looking up a number and going back to find the screen has returned to its idle state and the number has cleared. Once finished dialling, the call will connect, or press Send.

    You can then use the speaker or lift the handset. If using a headset, press the Headset button. By lifting the handset first or pressing the Speaker key, a list of previous calls dialled displays and you can scroll and select a number to call. If you dial incorrectly, press the Delete key to delete the last digit rather than needing to redial the full number. When dialling the destination number, the full number including the area code is required.

    Polycom VVX 400 – Answering a Call

    Answering a call: A ringing call displays on the screen. Options appear for you to handle the incoming call on the display: To VMmail to send the caller to Voicemail, Answer, Reject to disconnect the caller, press More for other options such as Forward to a colleague, Ignore to silence the call, or Lines. Answer by pressing the Answer soft key, the Speaker key, or by lifting the receiver.

    Call Transfer: Announced Transfer

    An announced transfer is when you want to let the person you are transferring a call to know who is on the line or to see if they are available. When a call is in progress, press the Transfer button using the dedicated button. The caller will be placed on hold and hear hold music. Dial the extension number you wish to transfer to or the outside number such as a colleague’s mobile. If your colleague is not available to take your call, press Cancel to return to the caller and stop the call to your colleague. Announce the caller you want to connect into and press Transfer to complete or replace the receiver.

    Call Transfer: Blind transfer

    Blind Transfer: This one is useful in an office where a colleague is just opposite you. When a call is in progress, press Transfer, press the Blind key, enter the number to transfer, press the Send key and the call is passed, or hang up the phone.

    Answering another call while on an active call

    If a call is in progress and another call is coming in, you will see the screen indicate the new caller and hear a call waiting beep. Press the Answer key to speak to the new caller. The first caller will go on hold and hear the hold music. The screen changes to show the 2 callers and the one you are speaking to is highlighted. To go back to the first caller, simply highlight the number using the Arrow key and Resume. The other caller would now be on hold. You can conference call with both callers by pressing the More key and then Join. If the caller on hold disconnects their side, the screen would change back to one call status.

    Polycom VVX 400 – Three Way Conference Call

    Setup a 3 way conference call: When a call is in progress, press the Conference button. The caller will be placed on hold and hear hold music. Dial the extension number you wish to conference or the outside number such as a colleague’s mobile. Speak to the person and see if they are available to join first. Press the Conference button again.

    You are now in a three way conference. To split the conference, press the Split button and both lines are put on hold. Select the number of the caller you want to speak to privately using the Navigation keys and press Resume. To return to the conference call, press More and Join, then all thee of you are back on the call. If you end the call, the other two callers stay on the line and are in a private call. This is useful if you want to introduce two people.

    Group PickUp: Call PickUp

    If a Group PickUp has been set, you can pick up another user’s ringing phone if they are in the same group as you are instead of having to leave your desk to pick up the call. To do this, press PickUp using the soft key or lift the receiver and press PickUp using the Line key if the caller is set as a busy line on your handset.

    Polycom VVX 400 – Call Park

    To park a call, press Transfer and dial *68 followed by a colleague’s extension you wish to park the call at and then key # to complete. There is a voice prompt to guide you. You can also park the call at your own extension in the same way by dialling *68 and then press the # key to complete. To retrieve a parked call, press Retrieve and the extension the call is parked at followed by Enter. If this is your own extension, press Retrieve and Enter, followed by the # as prompted. If no one picks up the parked call, the extension that parks the call will ring after a set time.

    Setting Call Forwarding: Call Divert

    Call Forwarding: On the screen, press More, then the Forward soft key. Select Call Forwarding Always or press 1. For Contact, enter the number to send calls to such as your mobile or a colleague’s extension or any other number and press Enable. On the Home screen, you can now see the arrow next to the Line key indicating that call forwarding is active. And the top of the display also indicates that the forward is active. Important to note that this Call Forward only forwards your handset, your direct dial.

    If you are a single user, this may be okay depending on the settings. If you are part of a group, this will not forward the group number. This will need to be done via the online portal which can be activated from any internet device. If you are in a small office and you want to forward the main number, this is done on the online portal and not via the phone unless it is setup for you on the handset. The forward on the phone will only forward you direct extension calls.

    Removing Call Forwarding: Call Divert

    To remove call forwarding on your phone extension, simply key More and Forward then Always, which is enabled, Select and Disable. Your line status on the Home screen returns to idle.

    Adding Numbers to the Contact Directory and Speed Dial List

    Adding contacts: Press the Home button. Select Directories and Contact directory. Press Add. Enter a first name.  Move down to last name. Contact is where you enter the person’s number. Other fields can also be filled as required. To display on your Home screen as a speed dial, add the line number in the Favorite index field and enter a label. Once complete, press Save. You will see the number in your directory.

    Fastmetrics is a Polycom Authorized Solution Advisor. We provide in person training and support to our hosted phone service customers with Polycom hardware, from dedicated Voice Engineers. Also see our other phone user guides, from the basic Polycom SoundPoint IP 335 to the more complex VVX offerings. We are currently offering a choice of unlimited free Polycom VVX 310 or Yealink T42G IP phones, to new phone service customers.

    Polycom Authorized Solution Advisor

    FAQs

    How To Solve Unregistered Line on Polycom VVX 400 or VVX Phone

    The unregistered line error is a general error that happens with Polycom VVX business media phones due to incorrect LAN configuration, network fluctuations, or issues with SRTP services. As a result of incorrect settings, the phone cannot authenticate with the SIP proxy. 

    There are a few ways to troubleshoot and solve this error and improve your personal productivity (or that of your office staff). 

    • Check the firmware version on your Polycom VVX 400 Series phone color display using the screen controls and make sure that the phone is using a supported version. Contact your provider to see which firmware version you should be using.
    • Power-cycle the phone:
      1. Unplug the phone from the power line.
      2. Wait 60 seconds.
      3. Plug the phone back into the power source.
      4. Let your phone start and reacquire proper configuration settings.
    • Go through the following troubleshooting steps:
      1. Check firmware.
      2. Check your firewall settings.
      3. Check your local network settings.
    • Contact your phone provider to obtain correct settings for the LAN network and firewall or use an ethernet cable.
    • If the above instructions don’t solve the problem, you can try changing the boot server:
      1. Write down the Polycom IP phone’s IP address.
      2. Open up a web browser on a computer that uses the same network.
      3. Enter the phone’s IP address to access the web interface for phone configuration.
      4. Click on Settings > Provisioning Server > DHCP Menu.
      5. Locate the Boot Server field and select Static.
      6. Click Save.
      7. Let your phone restart and obtain the correct configuration.

    How To Factory Reset VVX 410 When the Default Password Does Not Work

    If you purchased a used Polycom phone, you should reset the phone before using it. But sometimes, the default password does not work. Use this Polycom VVX 410 user guide in that case. You’ll need to use the phone’s MAC address to reset the phone:

    1. Note down the MAC address of the phone:
      • Polycom VVX 410 and other Polycom 400 Series phones have the MAC address on a sticker label on the phone’s back.
      • If you can’t read the sticker, navigate to Settings > Status > Platform > Phone to find your MAC address in the S/N field. 
    2. Unplug your phone from the power source.
    3. Plug the phone back in
    4. Wait until you see Cancel and then press the Cancel button.
    5. Quickly press and hold down the 1, 3, and 5 keys.
    6. Keep the buttons pressed until you see a prompt asking you for the admin password.
    7. Enter the MAC address of the phone as the password.
    8. Confirm when asked for confirmation and proceed with the resetting process.

    Hopefully, this Polycom VVX 410 user guide has proven helpful.

    How to Redial a Number With Polycom VVX Series or VVX 400 Polycom Series

    If you want to redial a number with your Polycom VVX 400 Series phone, follow the steps below:

    1. Press the right arrow key on the dial pad to access the Placed Calls list. 
    2. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight a previously placed call.
    3. To redial a number, press Dial.

    How Do I Enable Do Not Disturb on Polycom VVX 400 Series?

    You can enable the Do Not Disturb (DND) mode to send all incoming calls directly to voicemail on the phone speakers and prevent the phone from ringing. The received calls are still logged into your Recent Calls list. 

    If you have shared lines, DND will only disable the ringing. You’ll still see a visual call notification and be able to answer the call.  

    Follow the steps below to enable the DND mode with the Polycom desk phone:

    1. Press the Home button to enter the home view.
    2. Select DND.

    By default, DND applies to all lines on your phone. If you want to enable/disable the DND mode only for a specific line, use the up and down arrow keys to select the correct line and press DND. 

  • Yealink T41P & T42G User Guide Videos

    Yealink T41P & T42G Video User Guides

    Allen, from our Voice Technician team has been putting together a range of user guide videos for the Yealink T41P and T42G business phones. Yealink phones are a great option combined Fastmetrics managed business phone service. Yealink phones provide a range of custom features. HD quality voice is also possible when bundled with reliable internet service.

    How To Adjust Ring, Speaker Phone & Handset Volume

    How To Show Call History On Yealink T41P and T42G Phones

    How To Access Voicemail and Set A Name / Greeting

    How To Perform An Attended Transfer On Your Yealink Phone

    How To Perform A Blind Transfer On Your Yealink Phone

    How To Perform A Transfer Directly To Voicemail

    How To Setup A 3 Way Conference Call

    Fastmetrics has more than 17 years experience as a specialist business internet, voice and managed services provider throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide business phone service solutions to companies of all sizes. Our hosted cloud phone service offers the choice of free Polycom VVX 300 or Yealink T42G business handsets, on a 3 year term. All our business phone services are supported 24/7 by dedicated Network and Voice Engineers.

  • What Are Some Bluetooth Headset Compatible Phones?

    What Are Some Bluetooth Headset Compatible Phones?

    Recommended Bluetooth Compatible Phones & Headsets

    Recently we had a some questions about Bluetooth headset compatibility, from a hosted voice customer who uses Yealink phones at their business, combined with Fastmetrics managed voice and UCaaS (metricVOICE).

    Customer Bluetooth Questions Answered;

    1. Is it possible to use a Bluetooth headset with my Yealink T41P phone?
    2. If not, what Yealink phone model would I need?
    3. What is the best Bluetooth headset to use with my Yealink phone?
    4. How much do these types of headsets cost?

    We answered the above questions and more Bluetooth FAQs around compatible phones and headsets below.

    Fastmetrics support confirmed that the Yealink T41P is not Bluetooth compatible, without further customization. Update: some out of the box Bluetooth compatible phones from Yealink include the more recent Yealink T58A and the Yealink T54W SIP phones.

    Yealink T41P business phone needs a bluetooth adapter for bluetooth wireless headset compatability
    Yealink T41P Business Phone

    The Yealink T46G IP is another Bluetooth phone compatible straight out of the box;

    Yealink T46G bluetooth compatible SIP business phone

    Also mentioned to our voice customer, other phones which are Bluetooth compatible are the Polycom VVX phones. Fastmetrics also supports various Polycom phones (now known as poly) as a Polycom Authorized Solutions Advisor.

    Answering Your FAQs About Polycom and Yealink Bluetooth Compatible Headsets

    What Are The Best Bluetooth Compatible Phones?

    Further follow up information was provided by Allen, a voice technician from our local San Francisco support team. “For direct Bluetooth support, the Yealink T46G and the Polycom VVX 600 are best. The Polycom VVX 500 is a close second. However, your existing phone can be served by a base station type Bluetooth headset. Devices like the Yealink EHS Adapter (EHS36) might be necessary depending on the headset model you choose”.

    Yealink EHS36 Wireless Bluetooth Headset Adapter
    Yealink EHS36 Wireless Bluetooth Adaptor

    What Are Some Bluetooth Compatible Headsets For Yealink Phones?

    Allen also provided the following info from personal testing; “You will find more Bluetooth compatible headsets under the heading; ‘Tested wireless headset list compatible with Yealink IP Phone’ in this link. Personally, I have used the Yealink T46G with a Bluetooth dongle installed and it works great. I use the same headset for my cell phone to make calls. The same goes for the Polycom VVX 500 and the Polycom VVX 600 phones”.

    What Is the Best Yealink Bluetooth Adapter?

    The BT41 USB Dongle and EHS36 are some of the best Bluetooth adapters for Yealink phones. The BT41 USB Dongle is compatible with Bluetooth version 4.1 and has backward compatibility with Bluetooth 1.1, 1.2, 2.0, and 3.0. The EHS36 is a wireless headset adapter compatible with a wireless headset (including Jabra, Plantronics, and Sennheiser headsets) and the following Yealink IP phones:

    • T29G
    • T27G
    • T27P
    • SIP-T48S
    • T48G 
    • T46S
    • T46G
    • T42S
    • T42G 
    • T41S
    • T41P
    • T40G
    • T40P

    How To Make Yealink T41P Accept A Bluetooth Device / Headset

    If you’re looking to use a headset that is Bluetooth compatible with Yealink, the Yealink T41P is not compatible with Bluetooth out of the box — additional customization is required. If you need a Bluetooth compatible phone, you can use the Yealink T46G or any of the Polycom VVX series phones. Alternatively, you can use a Polycom Bluetooth adapter for headsets, or a base station type Bluetooth headset.

    What Do Bluetooth Compatible Phones Cost?

    Fastmetrics offers the choice of unlimited and free Yealink or Polycom IP phones for all customers who sign a 3 year contract for cloud voice service. (This does not include Bluetooth compatible headsets). Jabra headsets are recommended by Yealink for Bluetooth calls. These can be found on sites like Amazon, starting from $20.99 USD.

    How To Connect Your Yealink Phone To Bluetooth

    To connect a Yealink phone to Bluetooth, you can use a USB Dongle BT41, Yealink Bluetooth adapter, or a Yealink wireless headset adapter. The dongle lets your phone connect to a wide variety of Bluetooth compatible headsets for Yealink phones.

     To connect the headset, follow the steps below:

    1. Turn on the headset.
    2. Long press the multifunction key on the headset until you see a flashing red and blue light.
    3. Plug in the USB dongle.
    4. Activate Bluetooth on the phone by referring to the phone’s user manual.

    Select the Scan option on the phone. The phone will then display all detected Bluetooth headsets within a 32 feet radius. Select your Bluetooth headset to complete the Yealink Bluetooth pairing process.

    How To Set Up Polycom Phones For Bluetooth

    To use a Bluetooth headset with your Polycom phone, the first thing to do is enable Bluetooth. Then, pair your headset and connect your Bluetooth device to the phone. Follow the steps below:

    1. Go to Settings > Basic > Bluetooth Settings.
    2. Select Bluetooth and make sure it’s set to On. You should see the Bluetooth icon in the status bar. 
    3. Turn on your Bluetooth device and make sure it’s in Discovery mode.
    4. Return to Bluetooth Settings on your Polycom phone and select the option Manage Devices.
    5. Press the Scan option. The phone will then detect all available Bluetooth devices in the area.
    6. Select your headset from the list of available devices.
    7. Press the Pair option to complete the Polycom Bluetooth pairing process. 
    8. Select Connect. You should see the Bluetooth headset icon and a message telling you the device has been connected. 

    Keep in mind that you can pair up to five Bluetooth devices or headsets with your Polycom phone. However, only one headset at a time can be connected to the phone. So let that serve as a bit of a Polycom headset compatibility guide. It’s also worth mentioning that your Polycom phone will always connect to the last connected Bluetooth device after the phone has been restarted.

    Which Bluetooth Compatible Devices Work Best With Polycom Phones?

    It can be confusing to find the best Bluetooth compatible device for your Polycom phone, especially if it belongs to the Polycom VVX series. Different phone models have different headset options, not to mention different built-in ports. Generally speaking, Plantronics and Jabra Evolve headsets are compatible with most Polycom phones, but you may need a Polycom headset adapter to complete the setup. 

     

  • SonicWALL Firewall Setup For Fastmetrics VoIP

    SonicWALL Firewall Setup For Fastmetrics VoIP

    The following guide provides details to setup a firewall through your SonicWALL network security device. The instructions will work on many TZ- and NSA-series devices. However, they will not work on the SonicWALL TZ-170.

    sonicWALL TZ500 network security firewall switch

    If you have a SonicWALL device and Fastmetrics business phone service, configure your SonicWALL and test that phone calls work. Misconfiguration of your network security device may lead to your phone(s) not ringing or calls dropping out.

    We recommend following the below steps and also checking settings are correct via this PDF.

    Setup your SonicWALL firewall for Voice over Fastmetrics (VoFM)

    Setup Address Object

    1. Network > Address Objects
    2. Select Custom Address Objects
    3. Under Address Objects click Add
      • Name: Fastmetrics
      • Zone Assignment: WAN
      • Type: Network
      • Network: 216.38.158.16
      • Netmask: 255.255.255.240
    4. Click Add
    5. Click Close after it says “Done adding Address object entry”

     Modify Access Rules

    1. Firewall > Access Rules
    2. Select All Rules View Style
    3. Click Add
    4. On the General tab:
      • Action: Allow
      • From Zone: LAN
      • To Zone: WAN
      • Service: Any
      • Source: Any
      • Destination: Fastmetrics (address object)
      • Users Allowed: All
      • Schedule: Always On
    5. On the Advanced tab:
      • Set UDP Connection Inactivity Timeout to 120 seconds
      • Click OK when the warning comes up
      • Click Add
      • Click Close after it says “Rule action done…
    6. Repeat 1-5 but in step 4 reverse From and To zones (From: WAN, To: LAN)

    Existing Fastmetrics customers – please contact the Fastmetrics Support Team or if in the United States, call 1-800-724-7100 and press 3, for any further assistance.

    Need hands-on help setting up your SonicWALL?

    Setup a video call, screen share or remote support session with a Fastmetrics Network Engineer using Logmein123.com.