The Fight against phone service rip offs

A federal labour MP is to stand up against companies that try to flog premium rate SMS phone services to young children and teenagers.

Some households owe hundreds of pounds to these companies, who flick the right switches and lure young people into purchasing their services, often unaware of what they are actually getting into.

Steve Georganas is to take the fight to parliament in an attempt to push for changes in the way that the prices and terms are communicated through adverts and websites.

It isn’t fair on teenagers or parents for this type of activity to go on unchecked. The services are set up in such a way to take advantage of the young mobile market.

5 Benefits of Virtual Assistants for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

Virtual Assistants (or VA’s) are independent contractors who provide administrative, technical and creative assistance to clients, and are best utilised by small businesses and entrepreneurs who benefit from outsourcing work on contractual basis, using someone who is able to work in their own home environment on a contractual basis.

A Virtual Assistant can operate very easily by using simply a telephone line and internet access, and can be a very cost effective way of running a business. Below are the main benefits of using virtual assistants:

Working on a contractual basis
By employing a virtual assistant on a contractual basis, businesses can operate in a cost effective manner, without the need to consistently pay wages that may become unnecessary, equipment and location costs are also reduced.

Flexibility
By working when needed, using a virtual assistant allows a great deal of flexibility, and by using several virtual assistants with different expertise you can command a multi-skilled workforce on a contractual basis.

Facilitate business growth and acquisition
Virtual assistants can take on the administrative tasks as the business, which can free up time for more client contact and business growth and acquisition.

Improved client service
Many virtual assistants work answering calls from clients. By using a virtual assistant, this can improve overall service of the business, with efficient call minding.

Cost effective
Employing virtual assistants on an irregular basis saves companies the expense of national holidays, sick pay and annual salary – and this can make a huge difference from small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Phone Services to be offered by Norwegian Air

Norweigan Shuttle ASA, the buget airline from Norway has announced plans to include internet and phone services on their flights which are to become available in the latter part of 2008.

Services are to include broadband telephone services and internet banking and will be provided by Call Norwegian AS.

This is fantastic news, and hopes are that this service will be taken up by all carriers, and will surely prove to be a service which is incredibly popular among business and recreational airline passengers

Increased Efficiency with Virtual Switchboard

Virtual Switchboards allow increased call handling efficiency whilst saving on the costs of the more expensive PBX switchboard system.

The virtual switchboard service offered by Callagenix is completely flexible, with options and messages presented to callers being completely customised for your specific needs.

The system operates like a virtual menu for customers, presenting callers different options via audio prompts, with control over the audio prompts given and of options presented, and allows you to provide this service 24 hours a day, providing optimum benefit for your business.

The virtual switchboard service from Callagenix includes the following:

• The means to handle tens of thousands of calls every hour.



• Custom message prompts for customers such as:





1. Over the phone recording



2. Text to speech



3. Sound files (Uploaded)



4. Professionally recorded sound files at an extra charge





• Features up to 10 options per switchboard menu (0 to 9).



• Functionality for menu return - ability to return to the previous menu.



• Specify menu option repetition.



• Define the outcome if no option is selected.



• 24-hour automatic call answering.



• Auto Fax recognition



• On – line customisation and management, call data & reports.



• Ability to link or connect to all other Callagenix phone services.

To find out more about phone and virtual switchboard services from Callagenix, visit: www.callagenix.com.

Voipfone to Rescue London’s Skype Users

A VoIP company based in the UK is set to ‘rescue’ the 10,000 Skype users in London who have been informed that as of December the 20th, those with 0207 numbers will be having their numbers disconnected.

The company – Voipfone is offering to transfer the affected Skype customers over to it’s service for no charge and the rates will be less than they were previously paying with Skype.

Collin Duffy, the CEO of Voipfone released the following statement:

“This must be distressing, expensive, and inconvenient times for all Skype customers with 0207 numbers. With companies facing mail shots, business cards, and stationery that are all having to be scrapped, we are really pleased to be in a position to help”

Number porting means customers will be able to keep their own numbers meaning minimal interruption of service will be experienced by customers transferring to the Voipfone service and will also be able to make use of services not available on their Skype accounts such as call recording, PBX extensions and voicemail to email.

IP Telephony Services from Callagenix

Callagenix are a UK based phone services company who offer services ranging from fax to email services to IP Telephony. IP Telephony is the transmission of voice calls over an internet connection or via an IP based network.

Using the Callagenix IP Telephony services, users can make calls between other Callagenix IP Telephony users for no charge. Outbound call recording can also be configured as can caller id.

IP Telephony services from Callagenix use either a device or mic and headset which then transmit your voice into a format that can be transmitted to a recipient via the Internet.

Callagenix offer a range of VoIP equipment including a VoIP or SIP Telephone, softphone, analogue telephone adapter (ATA) and VoIP gateway.

Connection Needed?

In order to adequately run the Callagenix IP Telephony services, it is recommended that you use a broadband connection greater than 128kbps in order to be able to make a VoIP call; broadband being always connected will enable you to make and receive calls without interruption. You can also view a list of supported VoIP / IP Telephony phones on the Callagenix website.

To view or enquire about IP Telephony services provided by Callagenix, visit their website at www.callagenix.com or call 0870 626 0626.

iPod Touch Hacked to use VoIP

The recent release of the iPod Touch saw the release not just of an mp3 video player, but so much more with the use of the Internet, connectable through Wi-Fi and the Apple Safari web browser.

The only real downside of the iPod Touch was its inability to connect to the internet via Edge/GSM and was limited to its ability to first find a nearby Wi-Fi connection but also to be able to connect to that network.

However, two people have been able to hack the iPod Touch to accommodate a mic into the mp3 player and connect to VoIP, and users have been able to communicate via SIP based VoIP calls – opening up the possibility that may mean iPod Touch users will soon be able to make Skype calls via a handheld mp3 device.