VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) allows you to make and receive phone calls over your high-speed Internet connection. Calls can be made using a wide variety of devices including a standard touch-tone phone. With a good connection that has enough available bandwidth, you get the same quality as with traditional phone service, but you typically get many more features and pay far less for your calls than you’ve been getting from your local telco (Verizon, SBC, BellSouth, Qwest, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc.).

Please Note: VoIP Phone Service does not function properly with internet access over satellite or dial-up internet services. VoIP phone service, however, is compatible over Wi-Fi (i.e. wireless router) and WiMax wireless internet services.

Yes. ITS can provide either business class DSL or T1 circuits – which ever meets your business needs. Learn More.

ATA stands for Analog Telephone Adapter. Typical home and single-line office phones, whether corded or cordless, use analog signaling to communicate with your local telephone company’s switch. An ATA takes those analog signals and turns them into VOIP so calls can go out over the Internet.

Most of our customers just connect their ATA or Phone and start using the service because we have designed the service to work behind most firewalls.

If you have an older or more complex firewall, make sure that UDP traffic from you to the outside world is open. Otherwise, you won’t ever register with our server and won’t be able to make calls.

ITS VoIP startup costs can be as little as $29.95 per extension plus your monthly service fee. Monthly fees will depend on the plan you order.

Your first invoice will show the startup costs listed above, the full amount for your current month of service, plus appropriate taxes and fees.

You pay 3% Federal Excise Tax. At this point, the federal government considers VoIP an Internet service, and not a phone service, so you only pay 3% Excise Tax on all VoIP plans. VoIP taxes are currently under by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and could change at any time.

ITS makes filings with State and Federal regulators about the nature and regulatory status of VoIP and sends payments to Federal and State Universal Service Funds. We spread our costs out among our subscribers. Our fee is about 35% less than that charged by most of our competitors.

Minutes in plans that are limited cannot be carried over from one month to the next.

Yes, the FCC mandate requires all VoIP services to support 911 Emergency Calling services. You do however need to set up your 911 Emergency Calling so that when a call is made the operator will automatically be notified where the call is coming from.

No, you cannot make any calls to 900 or 1-900 numbers.

Yes, you can do any of the above, but the most convenient is undoubtedly a USB handset connected to your computer. A VoIP is quite large, and when you’re at a hotel that charges for high-speed Internet access, you’ll need your computer browser to log on and pay for access. An ATA demands a single-line phone wherever you happen to go, and many hotel phones are digital, office-style handsets which won’t work with the ATA.

Yes, we offer very competitive international rates on all our calling plans, but especially on our VoIP service.

Conversations are split up and converted into data packets then sent from one point (the phone), through the local router, onto the internet and re-assembled and delivered to the end point (the phone).

With VoIP all calls are routed over your internet connection. If you don’t have a back-up plan for when your internet goes down – either a back-up connection or other phone service back-up programmed, you will lose your phone service until the internet is restored. With ITS, this scenario can be mitigated and will be discussed as part of the design phase of our VoIP solution implementation.

In the case of a large Internet outage, since the ITS IP PBX system is not physically located inside of a client’s network, voicemail and other call handling options are still functioning as normal.

With VoIP, the phone numbers no longer are tied to a physical address. Similar to cellular, your numbers go with you, not your physical address.

Yes. In fact, because you have a virtual number, you’ll get to keep your numbers no matter where your office or phones might be located in the future.

All domestic calls bill at a flat rate of 2.9 cents per minute. We also offer unlimited calling plans or bundled plans for higher volumes that can get that per minute rate down around 2 cents per minute.

VoIP can in many cases be significantly less costly than traditional voice services. The end cost will completely depend on the ultimate design of the system, number of extensions, etc.

One of the largest areas where savings can be achieved is in usage; as all in-network calls – planet wide – are free. So if you have offices around the world and you make calls to those offices, with the ITS VoIP platform, all those calls would be free. Off-network calls are what are billed at the 2.9cent per minute rate.

Most analog lines will no longer be needed when you convert to the VoIP platform. Certain legacy services like credit card processing or alarm systems may still require an analog line, although there are internet or cloud-based options increasingly available here also.

This depends on many factors and will be determined during the design phase of the conversion. Sometimes, an increase in speed is advised. ITS will always start the process by ensuring that there is sufficient bandwidth and that the network is set up properly before advocating and installing a VoIP solution.

Most existing networks have all of the necessary components already in place. However, depending upon the design of the system, number of users, and other factors, additional equipment such as a firewall that manages the quality of service (QoS) in a converged environment, might be prescribed.

Most clients find that the feature-rich environment that is inherent in the VoIP platform provides numerous efficiencies that don’t exist with most premise-based traditional systems. These include Email delivery of voicemail messages, the ability to instantly forward calls or ring multiple phones, or the ease of working offsite seamlessly.

This depends on several factors including some discussed previously. Our process examines the existing infrastructure and bandwidth and if any upgrades are indicated, determines which models of phones are desired, a design session is conducted numbers ported and installation and training conducted. Depending on the various factors, the entire process can take a few days to a month or more.

This would depend on whether you need to retain lines for alarm or credit card processing. Often, it is also advised that an analog line or several be retained as part of a disaster recovery strategy. All of this will be discussed during the design process.

You have multiple options should your internet go down.

A. Prior to your internet being down, setup up a FailOver number which will be where calls are forwarded should your phones go down. Dial *94 + forwarding number.

B. Power cycle the carrier router / modem and your internal router. Do this in the following order: Pull the power on both devices, wait 20 seconds, plug in the carrier router / modem, wait 30 seconds the power up your internal router. Wait 1 minute and check the internet connection.

C. Call ITS to have your lines forwarded to any number you choose.

D. Take your phone home or to another location which has an internet connection.

The orange lights mean the phone cannot get out to the IP PBX server. This usually indicates that the internet connection is down at your location or that something on your network has failed. To resolve these issues try rebooting your router first and then the phones. If the lights remain yellow then it is likely your internet service is down and you will need to contact ITS if we provide the circuit or your ISP.

You have multiple options should your internet go down.

A. Reboot your router to see if this clears the issue.

B. If you are using a headset switch to the handset of the phone and see if you are still having the issue. Wireless headsets and blue tooth devices have been known to cause static.

C. Check that the router has bandwidth management, QoS and traffic shaping setup on it. Check with your IT person for this. Or if we manage the router then call ITS so we can check if the settings are current and correct.

D. Open a trouble ticket with your internet service provider. If ITS is your internet service provider call us and we will be happy to have the circuit checked out for you.

A. Reboot your router to see if this clears the issue.

B. Determine if it is happening on all phones, certain numbers or only certain users- then record the source telephone number, destination telephone number and time of the call. Call us and we will open a trouble ticket to have the call route checked out. Call examples must be within 24 hrs old or we cannot use it. The newer the call example the better for research and troubleshooting purposes.

C. If this is only happening on one phone then try the speaker to see if you still have the one way audio issue. This will tell you if it is a possible handset, headset or cord issue.

A. Most of the time when a phone gets stuck on Initializing Network or Checking DNS it is because the phone is not getting an IP address from the network. Please check the type of phone you have to see how to check the phone for its IP address:

To check Cisco SPA series phone IP information:

1. Press the menu button (looks like a paper with a fold in the top right corner).

2. Press the 9 key on the dial pad to select option 9 - Network.

3. The IP is listed second on the Network screen.

To check Yealink SIP series phone IP information:

1. Press the menu button.

2. Select the status option.

3. The IP is listed first on the status screen.

To check Polycom VVX series phone IP information:

1. Press the Home or Menu button, depending on the model of the Polycom.

2. Select the settings option in the main menu.

3. Select the status option, then Network, then TCP/IP parameters.

4. The IP is listed under TCP/IP parameters.

B. One of the most common reasons why a phone is not getting an IP address is because the network cable is plugged into the wrong port on the back of the phone. The cable coming from the switch or the wall should be plugged into the LAN or SW port on the phone. The purpose of the PC port is to give a computer an internet connection from the phone. The cable from the PC port should only be going to a computer that needs internet. If there is only one network cable going into the phone, it should be going into the LAN port.

C. If the phone still does not have an IP address, please check that the network cable is connected to the wall or a switch and make sure the switch is turned on.

D. If you have checked all of the above and the phone still does not obtain an IP address, try moving the phone to another location and swap it out with a working phone to see if it works there and gets an IP address.

E. If the phone still does not get an IP address you will most likely need to get your IT person involved. The IT person can check the DHCP server to ensure that there is an available IP addresses for the phone to lease. The IT person can do other things like check the switch port or statically assign an IP address to the phone if they choose that it is necessary.

If you require assistance getting your phones working, call us at 800-876-4487

A. Reboot your SIP Trunk gateway to see if that resolves the issue. It maybe necessary to power cycle both the SIP Trunk gateway and the carrier router / modem. If so please do it in this order: Pull the power on both devices, wait 20 seconds, plug in the carrier router / modem, wait 30 seconds then power up your internal router. Wait 30 seconds and power up the SIP gateway device. Wait 2 minutes and check to see if the phones are working.

B. If rebooting the router and the SIP Trunk gateway does not clear the issue then your data circuit may be down. Please contact your ISP to open a trouble ticket on the circuit. If ITS is your ISP please call us and we will get a ticket open right away and investigate the issue.

A. The most common cause of not receiving faxes on your ITS fax account is usually due to a SPAM Filter blocking out the incoming faxes. Just make sure your spam filter is setup to allow emails from : technicaloperations@itstelecom.com

B. Make sure you have not reached your plan limit if you are not on an unlimited Plan. If you have reached your limit simply call ITS and we can increase the number of pages on your account.

A. Verify the number you are dialing.

B. Call the number from a cell phone. If you can get through from the cell phone, call ITS to open a ticket. If you cannot reach the number from a cell phone then the problem is with the number that you are calling.

A. Reboot your phone and try again.

B. Call the number from your cell phone and verify the end system is not having the issue. If the system recognizes your selections from your cell phone call ITS to open a trouble ticket.

A. If the voicemail light does not clear when you check your message, reboot your phone.

B. If you have multiple lines on your phone and the voicemail light does not clear when you check your messages, make sure you are checking the correct VM box.

C. If your voicemail indicator light turns off on your phone by itself, it is possible that you are clicking on the VM email you received. Clicking on the email will clear the light from your phone.

D. If your voicemail indicator light turns off on your phone by itself, it is possible that you are using a shared line, and another user with the same line has already checked the VM box.

E. If your voicemail indicator light does not turn off on your phone when you listen to the VM through the VM email you received, make sure you have Read Receipts turned on or your email account. If your email account is not setup to send Read Receipts, then the system does not know you checked the voicemail via the email and will not turn off the VM indicator light on the phone.