Business Phone System Reviews | SE Telecom

For many small and medium-sized businesses, their primary telecommunications challenge is connectivity. They struggle to maintain communications and workflow from different locations, losing out on key opportunities to close business and collaborate on projects.

At SE Telecom, we’re proud to be an authorized business partner of Avaya, the providers of IP Office. IP Office is an easy-to-use and manage communications system, providing businesses of nearly every size the framework they need to stay connected, and improve the efficiency of their operations. 

IP Office is an ideal solution for any company with multiple locations. IP Office allows small and medium-sized businesses to connect up to 32 sites, still having each IP Office system communicate seamlessly with the other.

IP Office helps eliminate site-to-site calling costs, and enables branches to share messaging, receptionists, office directories, and much more.

Users of IP Office can manage all their telecommunication systems from a single browser-based interface, plus quickly and cost-effectively set up satellite operations in remote locations that might not otherwise have justified the investment in a fully-equipped office.

In short, IP Office lets different branches of dispersed organizations talk more clearly and quickly to one another, while saving the organization money and hassle in making it happen. IP Office drives productivity between existing branches, and makes it easier to test and expand to new ones.

IP Office may not be the ideal fit for every business. But as a system we believe in, from a company we trust, it’s something we recommend to nearly every business we consult with.

If you would like to learn more about Avaya IP Office, don’t hesitate to contact us at SE Telecom. We would be happy to discuss how it does (or does not) fit your exact needs.

By David Chartier – Macworld

Skype, one of the go-to apps for any mobile platform these days, is taking a wait-and-see approach to Microsoft’s latest mobile platform while it focuses on iPhone, iPad, Android, and others.

At a press briefing in Sydney, Australia, Skype’s Asia Pacific vice president, Dan Neary, said that a Windows Phone 7 client is “on the roadmap,” but that “the question is how quickly we’re going to get to it.” Further turning Skype’s back on Microsoft for the meantime, Neary continued: “We feel that the best areas for us to develop are on the operating systems that we currently support – iPhone, Symbian, BlackBerry and now Android.”

That certainly isn’t a “no, not never,” but Skype is clearly not leaping out of its chair to start Windows Mobile 7 development. The VoIP company seems to be bearish on Microsoft’s mobile platforms in general. Back in February, it discontinued Skype for Windows Mobile 6.5 altogether, citing a poor user experience across the myriad of Windows Mobile devices.

Perhaps more interesting to owners of Apple’s mobile gadgets, Neary stated at the press event that Skype is due for iPad by summer. The company is also pushing hard into video chatting, as it unveiled a five-way video calling beta for Windows, and Neary hinted that Skype might support video-chatting if it arrives on Apple’s next iPhone (which we may have already seen), expected to be released this summer.

Cutting through symbolic red-tape to reveal a giant Mobilicity phone box and signal the end of wireless complexities, Chairman John Bitove and President and CEO Dave Dobbin announced tomorrow’s launch of Mobilicity’s first city-based, unlimited mobile network and presented six simple, unlimited plans.  

The industry-leading, pay-in-advance plans offer the best value in the marketplace, including:
-    unlimited North American text at $15/month;
-    unlimited local talk at $25/month;
-    unlimited local talk & text at $35/month; and
-    unlimited global text, talk, North American long-distance and data (with voicemail, call forwarding, three-way calling and call waiting) at $65/month.

All Mobilicity plans are unlimited, include free caller ID, Mobilicity-to-Mobilicity calling and do not require a contract or credit check.

“Canadians deserve easy and affordable wireless service,” said Bitove. “Mobilicity applies the simple unlimited local usage principles of landline calling to mobile communications. Pay a flat monthly fee and use the Mobilicity unlimited network as much as you want – it’s that simple.”

The company also revealed that it will have hundreds of points of distribution across the Greater Toronto Area. “We want to ensure that everyone in Toronto is able to take advantage of the Mobilicity unlimited 3.5G network, so it was important to us to have Mobilicity dealers in every neighbourhood in this city,” said Dobbin.

Canadian-industry first: $20 unlimited long-distance to China or India
Mobilicity, whose name stems from the words ‘mobile’ and ‘simplicity’, also introduced a wireless long-distance first with $20 unlimited monthly add-on bundles to East Asia (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam) and South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).  Customers will benefit from direct dialing and excellent call quality.

“We’re bringing down the cost of mobile overseas calling in a big way and making it easy to call faraway friends and family from anywhere in the city,” added Dobbin. “No one can put a price on talking to loved ones halfway around the world, but Mobilicity’s $20 East Asia and South Asia long-distance bundles sure make the process a lot more convenient and affordable.” 

Unbeatable value: $169.99 Nokia 5230 with free Bluetooth headset
The company showcased its lineup of six brand-name handsets, including the HTC Snap and BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphones. Mobilicity’s feature phone, the Nokia 5230 (featuring a brilliant 3.2” touch widescreen) is priced at an industry-leading $169.99 and comes with a free Nokia Bluetooth Headset, valued at $30. A $99.99 data stick was also featured for consumers looking for unlimited mobile internet access.

With Mobilicity, consumers don’t have to compromise quality service, features or coverage in order to save money. The company is working with best-in-class wireless partners; Ericsson built and is maintaining Mobilicity’s 3.5G state-of-the-art unlimited wireless network, while Amdocs, the leading customer experience systems provider, designed its billing, ordering, customer care and operational support systems.

“Mobilicity is the new wireless entrant with the unlimited 3.5G network that Canadians have been waiting for,” added Bitove.

No more hidden charges
Mobilicity’s pay-in-advance, unlimited service model ensures customers can use their phones as much as they want within their city coverage area without the worry of incurring extra charges.

For customers travelling outside the Mobilicity unlimited network coverage area in Canada and the U.S., low per-minute-rate roaming will be available on a pay-per-use basis, as will other extra features, such as international calling, downloads and 411 directory assistance.  Customers must first add funds into a dedicated, personal pay-per-use depository called My Wallet.

In describing the company’s unique service delivery platform, Dobbin said, “Forget everything you know about wireless companies. We’ve created a fair and uncomplicated model where all customers pay the same rates – regardless of whether they’re able to pass a credit check.”

Mobilicity’s Corporate Stores, Exclusive and Authorized Dealers, and online store will be open for business tomorrow. The company will roll-out its service in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa later this year.

PETER SVENSSON – AP News

For wireless subscribers, commitment is out and short-term relationships are in.

This year, customers have been making a big shift away from two-year contracts toward “prepaid” cell phone service, which often costs less and does not require contracts. This is happening even though contracts are needed to get popular phones such as the iPhone and the Droid.

Now prepaid service looks like it will get even more attractive, with further price cuts. That’s because wireless carriers have hit a wall when it comes to finding new customers who will sign contracts.

“I would love to have an iPhone. I just can’t swallow the $70 or more bill that would come with it,” said Jeff Finlay, a 45-year-old stay-at-home dad in San Antonio who uses a prepaid plan.

Unlike contract plans that bill subscribers each month for the services they used the previous month, prepaid services traditionally let subscribers buy minutes in advance for around 10 cents to 20 cents each. When the minutes are used up, people “refill” their accounts as needed.

For years, such plans were marketed primarily to people who did not have the credit to qualify for plans with contracts. But as the recession forced more people to cut costs, prepaid service appealed to a broader slice of the market, and prepaid services responded by offering better deals.

Now it’s possible to make unlimited calls and text messages on a prepaid plan for $45 a month — half of what it costs a customer with a contract on Verizon Wireless. At Tracfone, the largest independent provider of prepaid service, customers pay an average of $11 per month.

(more…)

Omar El Akkad

At least one aspect of GoogleGoogle ’s attempt to disrupt the world of mobile communications – selling phones directly to customers – has failed. 

The Web search firm announced Friday that it will essentially shut down the Internet store it used to sell its Nexus One smart phone, the flagship device for Google’s Android operating system. 

“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not,” wrote Andy Rubin a Google vice-president of engineering, on the company blog. “It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.” 

Google’s decision to make its own Android phone – through a partnership with handset manufacturer HTC – came as a shock to many industry players. Some companies, such as Motorola, had begun designing Android-powered phones at a time when most believed that Google’s strategy was to partner up with manufacturers in the battle against Apple’s iPhone. However those companies soon found out that Google would itself produce a competing smart phone. 

But the decision to design and sell the Nexus One was perhaps more potentially disruptive for carriers. Many major carriers, from Rogers to Bell to AT&T, have for years bundled phone sales with voice and data contracts. By selling the Nexus One directly through its web store and allowing customers to then shop around for the best contract deals, Google appears to have annoyed some of the biggest carriers in the world. Late last month, Google posted a short announcement on its Nexus One page letting users know that Verizon would not be carrying the device. Instead, Verizon opted for the Droid Incredible, another HTC Android phone similar in functionality to the Nexus One. 

Google now plans to market its smart phone through “existing retail channels,” essentially partnering with carriers around the world. The Nexus One web store, meanwhile, will essentially become a marketing portal “to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally,’ the company said.

On Thursday, The Globe and Mail reported that notable smart phone innovators Verizon, Google, and Research in Motion (RIM) are looking to develop their own Verizon, Google, RIM Entering Tablet Race. The tablet market, established by early e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle, is now dominated almost exclusively by Apple’s iPad.

Verizon’s CEO let slip the news to the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, confirming that the smart phone developer was indeed entering the tablet race, while a Google source confirmed the same to The Globe and Mail on Wednesday. RIM, the makers of BlackBerry, is rumored to be working on a tablet as well.

Despite strong competition, RIM could very well be the most compelling of them all. RIM has been more closed-lipped about plans for a tablet, and thus seem to be falling behind others in developing a viable product, but they would also provide the most-direct competition to Apple’s hold on the wide-spread consumer tablet market.

“They have two things going for them that make them a viable competitor [to Apple’s iPad] potentially,” said Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps in The Globe and Mail. “One is their connection to the enterprise. The second is, they have good distribution through carriers such as Verizon and AT&T.”

The interest by these large smart phone companies, and the success of Apple’s iPad, seem to indicate that the time of the mobile tablet has finally come. If prices continue to drop (most consumers will only buy a tablet when it reaches about half the price of Apple’s iPad), and the market deepens with other, more diverse offerings, tablets could be the next everybody-has-one device.

Our Take

The tablet presents numerous interesting possibilities for the business world as well as telecommunication enthusiasts (OK, Geeks). Though Apple’s iPad is still primarily an entertainment device for those on the very cutting edge of technology adoption, tablets could soon become primary means for writing, reading, and sharing documents, devising and delivering presentations, as well as communicating between workers and offices (through phone, text, or instant message).

Indeed, it may not be far off that every school student is handed one the first day in class, or every employee issued one on their first day in the office. As the next primary direction for some of the most  powerful smart phone developers in the world – Verizon, Google and RIM among them – the tablet will only grow in prominence.

Your Take

Tell us: Do you plan to buy a tablet within the next year? The next three years? If so, or if not, what primary things will you look for as different companies roll out their products?

For many small and medium-sized businesses, their primary telecommunications challenge is connectivity. They struggle to maintain communications and workflow from different locations, losing out on key opportunities to close business and collaborate on projects.

At S.E. Telecom, we’re proud to be an authorized business partner of Avaya, the providers of IP Office. IP Office is an easy-to-use and manage communications system, providing businesses of nearly every size the framework they need to stay connected, and improve the efficiency of their operations. 

IP Office is an ideal solution for any company with multiple locations. IP Office allows small and medium-sized businesses to connect up to 32 sites, still having each IP Office system communicate seamlessly with the other. IP Office helps eliminate site-to-site calling costs, and enables branches to share messaging, receptionists, office directories, and much more.

Users of IP Office can manage all their telecommunication systems from a single browser-based interface, plus quickly and cost-effectively set up satellite operations in remote locations that might not otherwise have justified the investment in a fully-equipped office.

In short, IP Office lets different branches of dispersed organizations talk more clearly and quickly to one another, while saving the organization money and hassle in making it happen. IP Office drives productivity between existing branches, and makes it easier to test and expand to new ones.

IP Office may not be the ideal fit for every business. But as a system we believe in, from a company we trust, it’s something we recommend to nearly every business we consult with.

If you would like to learn more about Avaya IP Office, don’t hesitate to contact us at SE Telecom. We would be happy to discuss how it does (or does not) fit your exact needs.