Calls & Lines
Are you getting the best prices for your lines and minutes? Does your current supplier strike the balance between managed services and wires-only that is right for your business?
Applinet have the skills to understand the requirements of your business and the likely challenges you may face. Or experience shows that we can save clients an average of 20% on calls and lines.
How can Applinet save you money on calls and lines?
You will get better value from Applinet than from other Carrier Network Services providers because:
- While we have many carrier partners, we are carrier independent. We will mix and match the most suitable of the options available into a best value package that suits your business.
- The prices we pass on to our customers are very competitive because we buy large volume directly from carriers.
- We are proactive in reviewing the rates we have given our customer: every 6 months we compare the rates to the best buy available and if there are any savings to be made we will get back to you with lower rates.
- We are able to mix different technologies i.e. ISDN and SIP in one package, offering you a single point of contact with clear accountability for the quality of all you communications. This also means you will get a single bill for all your communications, tailored to the level of detail you need.
Applinet offers:
Carrier Pre Selection (CPS )
Carrier Pre-Selection uses network access technology, so traffic originating from your site will be routed directly to your chosen network with no need for auto-diallers, manual prefixing or PBX reprogramming. The "selection" of the preferred provider is done automatically at the point of entry (the local exchange) to the public voice network. You keep your existing phone numbers and continue to make calls as usual.
Applinet Carrier Pre-Selection service ensures all your calls are routed via the most cost effective network. It's a simple process, everything is done by us, hassle free to you and with no downtime.
SIP Trunks/Lines
A SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunk or line connects a company's PBX to the Public Switched Telephone System (PSTN) via the Internet, using Voice over IP.
What are the advantages of a SIP connection?
- Lower line rental costs
- Lower cost of external calls and free calls between sites for companies with multiple locations. You can also arrange free calls to partner organisations provided they use SIP too.
- More control over your phone numbers: a relocation will not necessarily mean you'll have to change them (and consequently change your corporate literature), as numbers can be ported over the Internet. This also means you can have a local presence - through your advertised telephone numbers - in geographic areas where you don't have offices.
- A back-up option: SIP can carry voice calls across data connections offering you an alternative to ISDN in the event of a failure.
What does it take to establish a SIP connection?
- The PBX has to have an interface for SIP trunking connectivity. This can be installed on any type of PBX be it analogue, digital or IP.
- Your network has to contain an edge component to handle SIP traffic. This can be a firewall with complete support for SIP or an edge device connected to the firewall.
- You need an Internet Telephone Service Provider to give you SIP connectivity to the PSTN.
Applinet will take care of all three steps. Simple and hassle free for you!
Non-Geographic Numbers (NGN) and Number Translation Services (NTS)
Non-geographic numbers are used by businesses with multiple locations to give their customers one direct telephone route to their services, or indeed by any business intending to acquire a national presence.
Used in conjunction with Number Translation Service, NGNs offer a lot of flexibility to route calls to any landline or mobile number, or to multiple numbers according to predetermined criteria.
How can you benefit from NGNs and NTS?
- Encourage potential customers to contact you by making the calls cheaper (local rate charges) or free for the caller
- Route incoming calls in the most effective way, so that customers aren't left stranded, confused or de-motivated after making the effort of calling you
- Create the perception that your business has a national presence
- Create a revenue stream with NGNs like 0844 and 0871
- Monitor how your internal resources are used by measuring and analysing what/when/how calls are diverted
- Control the destination of your NGN number(s) easily and conveniently, using a secure web interface
- Choose from a large pool of numbers - Applinet is able to give you access not only to 08x numbers, but also to 01x and 02x
What are the NGN options?
- 0800 Free to callers - the number's owner pays for the call.
- 0844 Paid by callers; there is the opportunity for the owner to earn revenue depending on the rate and call volume.
- 0845 Paid by callers at BT standard local rate. It may be free to the owner, subject to volume.
- 0870 Paid by callers at BT standard national rate. There is no call cost to the owner. There is an opportunity for the owner to earn revenue depending on the retail rate and the volume of calls.
- 0871 Paid by callers. There is no call cost to the owner; there is an opportunity for the owner to earn revenue depending on the rate and call volume.
- 010 / 020 We can now give regional presence based on the STD code of each area, subject to availability.
- 09 Callers pay a range of retail rates upwards of to £1 per minute depending on the service offered. These numbers are tightly regulated and strict criteria have to be met in order to obtain them.
Applinet's number translation services will provide you with a wide range of options for incoming call management:
- Single translation - Calls made to an NGN are directed to a landline or mobile number.
- Time translation - Calls are directed to a maximum of 15 alternative landline or mobile numbers, according to a set of criteria i.e. the day of the week and/or time of day.
- No-answer divert - If a call is not answered by the fist designated number, it will be re-directed to another number.
- Message box - If a call is not answered, the call is re-directed to an automated message service.
- Geographic divert - Based on the geographic area in which they originate (postcode, STD codes, counties or regional TV areas), calls can be redirected to a specific number e.g. the nearest branch to the caller, or a regional call centre.
- Call ratio distribution - This option is useful to organisations with more than one site. The amount of Incoming calls distributed to each location is proportionate to their capacity to deal with calls.
- Clients can manage their own translation options through an easy to use web interface.
Use this service in conjunction with other Applinet services:
- Auto attendant - is an automated call answering and messaging service.
- Queue manager - provides tailored messages to inform the customer of their rising position in the queue.
- Record voice announcement - lets you set up pre-recorded messages for your callers.
- Call pre-screening - presents the callers with a menu of options and routes their call according to the option chosen.
- Store locator - routes customer calls to the most appropriate person, branch, office, service or source of information according to the Calling Line Identity (CLI) of the inbound call.
- Speech recognition - offers a range of bespoke services based on Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and speech recognition technology.
- Data capture - lets you set up a series of questions that your customers respond to by leaving voice clippings on the Interactive IVR system.
Business Mobile Phone Packages
When choosing a business mobile phone package, it is crucial to consider your company's specific needs. A package that is perfect for one business may be completely wrong for another. The 3 most important factors in choosing a business mobile phone package are:
- Who you call
- When you call
- How much you call
Applinet have secured excellent deals from all of the major network providers, which enables us to closely match the network and the package to your business needs, at the best price possible. We can offer excellent business mobile packages from Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, 3 and Virgin. We also specialise in Smart and Blackberry mobile technology.
Applinet will produce a report on your current mobile usage and growth predictions, then we will recommend a variety of options for you to choose from. This detailed report will highlight key cost-saving areas.
Most providers, especially the network providers themselves, insist you spend your connection fund on their own mobile hardware. Applinet will allow you to spend this fund on any hardware or professional services in our vast portfolio.
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Network audit
Applinet strives to always offer our clients the right solution for them and not just a solution we take off the shelf and pass to you. For that reason, with every new potential client, Applinet carries out a network audit including: 1) Mapping your network - for a variety of reasons including acquisition, change of personnel, growth or consolidation, clients simply do not know what their communications networks consist of. 2) Benchmarking your telecommunications expenditure - we often find organisations are paying by 15 to 40% too much for a good quality solution or set of solutions tailored to their needs. We produce a report showing where savings can be made. 3) Designing a solution that is right for now factoring in the future - Applinet can help design the right solution pulling together multiple suppliers. FREE audit offer available till the 12th of December. Contact us today to arrange your free audit |
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