Press8 Pre-Sales FAQ
- What can Press 8 Communications do for me and my business?
- What is VoIP?
- How is Press 8 Communications different from other VoIP-based service
providers?
- What are the requirements in becoming a customer of Press 8 Communications?
- How much bandwidth is required to use Press 8 Communications' service?
- Why should I choose a hosted PBX versus a standard PBX?
- Can I acquire telephone numbers from you and can I transfer an
existing telephone number?
- Can I physically move my telephone to a different city and state?
- Can Press8 route calls to land lines and cell phones?
- Is 911/e911 emergency calling supported? How is e911 different from 911?
- Do you provide the capability for faxing?
- What if I need help setting up my equipment?
- What if I have a problem with my service?
- What if I am not happy with your service? Will I get a refund?
- What is a codec?
- Where can I find more information about the services and features
you offer?
- Do I have to purchase one type of plan for one company?
- How can I purchase or record my own audio recordings?
1. What can Press 8 Communications do for me and my business?
Press 8 Communications offers a feature-rich suite of telephony services. We provide a hosted PBX product, that is, a scalable and versatile phone system providing you with a wide range of features that do not exist on a standard local telephone service.
Such features include the use of auto-attendants to give your callers a voice menu allowing the caller to choose specific departments or extensions to reach. Queues allow multiple callers to wait in a "holding area" including music-on-hold while waiting for an operator to accept their call. Hunt groups provide flexible call-routing, allowing a single telephone number to translate into dialing multiple extensions & telephone numbers, either simultaneously or based on priority levels, or both at the same time!
Plus, you can become completely mobile and use our services from around the world! Stay seamlessly connected to your business from anywhere on the internet!
To see a more comprehensive list of features that Press 8 Communications provides, please visit our "Features & Benefits" page.
VoIP (Voice over IP) is general term used to describe voice traffic being transmitted via the Internet and IP networks rather then the traditional circuit-switched public switched telephone network.
3. How is Press 8 Communications different from other VoIP-based service providers?
Press8 realizes the importance of reliably delivering voice calls, and invests a lot of resources in ensuring that all voice traffic is handled on a fully QoS-enabled environment from end-to-end, including a managed network infrastructure providing reliable, redundant route paths. Press8 stands behind this claim by offering a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
4. What are the requirements in becoming a customer of Press 8 Communications?
The minimum requirement for enjoying our hosted PBX product is a broadband Internet connection. Our services are delivered over a world-class telecommunications/IP network with millions of POPs (points of presence), including advanced routing techniques providing redundancy and fail-over capabilities that are unheard of on the traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). A major benefit of services provided over IP is to give you the ability to be completely mobile. You can manage your account and use your telephones anywhere in the world with a broadband (or equivalent) Internet connection!
A broadband Internet connection includes DSL and Cable connectivity, while other common data connections include T1, (fractional) T3, and Ethernet handoff. If in doubt, please contact Press 8 Communications and we'll work with you to determine your type of connectivity and available bandwidth for introducing VoIP into your network!
Although there are many software-based telephones available (many which are freely available), users may also wish to use hardware telephones. Generally this will consist of using an ATA (analog telephone adapter) or an IP-based telephone. An ATA is a conversion adapter allowing you to plug any standard, analog telephone into while still making use of advanced IP telephony features. An IP phone is a physical telephone that can have the advantage of exclusive built-in features that analog telephones do not have the capability for.
Press 8 Communications provides a range of IP telephony products for your convenience. However, we do not require that you purchase hardware from us. Any SIP-compatible device will allow you to make use of our services. Please note, however, that when purchasing hardware from Press 8 Communications, we provide automatic provisioning to the telephone, removing the burden of having to configure it yourself. And, you can be assured that our technical support team provides complete support for devices purchased with Press 8 Communications.
5. How much bandwidth is required to use Press 8 Communications' service?
Bandwidth consumption is based on two primary factors: The number of concurrent telephone calls and the format (codec) of the voice being transferred. Typically the bi-directional bandwidth required will range from 30Kbps (kilobits per second) to 95Kbps per telephone call. Please contact a representative today for additional information and assistance in planning for success!
6. Why should I choose a hosted PBX versus a standard PBX?
There are many factors to take into consideration when making this a decision. A traditional PBX generally costs thousands to purchase the necessary hardware, software and licensing. Because you are required to maintain a traditional PBX, you become responsible for keeping software up to date, supporting your users, troubleshooting any problems, purchasing additional hardware and software when you're ready to scale, and developing your own applications to name a few.
A hosted PBX model eliminates a great deal of your startup costs, and Press 8 Communications provides a virtually unlimited salability path. We take on the overhead of maintaining our equipment and supporting your users with certified support/telecom engineers. Plus, you can become completely mobile and use our services from around the world!
7. Can I acquire telephone numbers from you and can I transfer an existing telephone number?
Yes! Press 8 Communications provides domestic telephone numbers available country-wide throughout the USA, as well as toll free telephone numbers. Telephone numbers can be purchased from any city and state no matter where you are physically located, enabling you to create a greater presence in more geographical areas.
We also provide porting services to transfer existing telephone numbers to our service. We generally have approximately 60,000 telephone numbers available. Availability changes on a daily basis.
8. Can I physically move my telephone to a different city and state?
Yes. So long as an Internet connection is readily available to you, usage is available world-wide. It is also beneficial to use a software-based telephone on your portable device. As long as you have a microphone and speakers (or a headset), you can carry your telephone extension anywhere you go!
9. Can Press8 route calls to land lines and cell phones?
Yes. Calls can be forwarded to any internal Press8 extension or numeric telephone number, whether it be a cellular telephone number or an international number.
10. Is 911/e911 emergency calling supported? How is e911 different from 911?
Absolutely, emergency dialing is included with all telephone numbers/plans. e911 refers to the ability of electronically providing the local emergency center with your physical address, saving important time in having to provide this to the operator when calling. e911 is implemented by your local rate center's emergency calling center, and so long as your region supports it, we will deliver this electronic address data. Otherwise, traditional 911 services will be used instead. Press8 understands the importance of reliable emergency services, and is fully FCC compliant with 911/e911 regulations. Additionally, we have 3 redundant failover locations to ensure your emergency call gets delivered.
11. Do you provide the capability for faxing?
Yes - Press 8 Communications allows you to configure a telephone number as a fax line. Received faxes will be stored in our Press 8 Control Panel for you to view online, as well as being delivered via e-mail to your inbox!
Press8 also allows the use of traditional analog fax machines. However, it should be noted that due to the design of traditional fax machine's transmission properties, reliability in sending/receiving such faxes may be decreased due to the differences between traditional circuit-switched networks and packet-switched networks. We recommend having faxes received directly to your Press8 service, where it is then stored for you to view online or e-mailed to you as a PDF attachment.
12. What if I need help setting up my equipment?
All hardware purchased from Press8 is delivered pre-configured and is fully supported by our staff. We also provide you with the correct configuration settings to use if you decide to configure your own device. Additionally, we provide advice in helping you to optimally setup your LAN (local area network), but is generally not necessary.
13. What if I have a problem with my service?
Press 8 Communications provides engineer-level support for you and your users. Support can be reached either by telephone or helpdesk/e-mail during business hours. To fulfill self-support, a knowledge base is actively maintained with easy-to-follow instructions including screen shots of our control panel management interface. We also provide fail-over features allowing you to route calls to an alternate destination should there be a problem involving an end-point telephone connection!
14. What if I am not happy with your service? Will I get a refund?
Press 8 Communications will take the necessary steps to ensure that we provide the services you deserve. All services are delivered on our award-winning carrier-grade network with unmatched redundancy and fail-over capabilities, with highly skilled support staff to provide the expertise you need. To top it off, we provide a 30-day window if you feel you would like to discontinue services. We will provide you a full refund of your monthly recurring cost with the exception of any actual usage charges and any hardware you may have purchased.
A codec is used to define the formatting, and specifically the compression to use when transmitting voice data. Press8 supports the traditional, uncompressed g711 codec as well as the bandwidth-friendly g729a codec.
16. Where can I find more information about the services and features you offer?
Please use the navigation below to learn more about our product:
- Features & Benefits
- Compare Plans
- Knowledgebase
- Didn't find what you're looking for? Contact us
17. Do I have to purchase one type of plan for one company?
No! You can have any mixture of metered and unmetered plans for your company. For example if you have 6 lines that are not used frequently, those can be setup as metered, but you have 4 other heavily trafficed lines then you can set those up as unmetered. (Unmetered means you get unlimited FREE calls anywhere in the Continental US)
18. How can I purchase or record my own audio recordings?
Press8 provides an innovative audio production store to allow you to easily request professional audio recordings as well as custom music on hold recordings. This portal lets you sample our multiple voice recording artists and music library so that you can choose the right audio for your phone system! Price quotes are automatically provided based on your recording type, number of recordings, and the length.
Press8 also allows you to record your own audio files either via telephone or by recording your audio on your PC (as a WAV file), and uploading it through your Press8 control panel.
