Are you considering replacing/upgrading your phone system?

Needing to move from an Analogue to a VOIP system ahead of the BT Switch off?

Complete your order application in December and get Free installation on your phone system*.

• Can we use existing handsets?
  Possibly! Tell us what they are make and model and we will advise on their sutability.
• Do I need a special internet connection?
  No not really, we can generally provide our service on any internet. In some cases we may suggest you replace your router, or if you are particulary poor internet speeds then we may need a second connection. Mear Technology can supply internet as well if required.
• How much disruption will there be?
  We can keep disription fairly minimal. Generally we will organise the port of your number. This can take anywhere between 7- 14 days depending on how many numbers there are to move. We will normally install your new system and divert numbers from the orginal system/provider to 3CX while we wait for the port to complete. This alllows you to start using the system straight away and manage the migration.
• We would prefer a cordless phone instead of a deskphone?
  We can do this. we can happily swap out the T54w for 2 cordeless DECT handsets and one DECT basestation.
• Do all the phones need to be at one address?
  No, You can cover multiple addresses for no additional cost.
• Are there other costs?
  Yes, There are setup and porting fees paid to the Trunk Provider. There will be charges for additional handsets.

*Offer is based on 24-month leased contract supplying 3CX Pro licence (Not Enterprise). Buy in December for installation in January. We will be able to do some installations in December but this is subject to availability and survey.  There will still be a £25 account setup and £25 porting fee for each Single Number or £75 for a multi-number port for a range of numbers, charges paid to VOIP Unlimited. 

*Capex contracts are available. December offer on the Capex contract is 20% discount on installation up to a maximum of £300 off setup and installation but no free handsets are included.

All costs exclude VAT

To qualify for the promotion a quotation must be raised by Mear Technology and accepted by the client, along with an established Direct Debit mandate. 

Offer valid on any order completed 1st December 2023 – 31st December 2023

The post Offer: December Phone System appeared first on Mear Technology.

• 3CX: https://www.3cx.com/blog/news/desktopapp-security-alert
• Trend Micro: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/23/c/information-on-attacks-involving-3cx-desktop-app.html
• Crowd Strike: https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/crowdstrike-detects-and-prevents-active-intrusion-campaign-targeting-3cxdesktopapp-customers/
• 3CX appoints 3rd party to investigate issue https://www.3cx.com/blog/news/desktopapp-security-alert-updates/ (30/03/23)

What Mear Technology have done for our clients

30/03/23 am Identified all machines we manage with 3CX Desktop app 18.12.407 & 18.12.416.

30/03/23 am Removed the affected version of 3CX desktop app on all clients and installed Web App (PWA) version. Sent a secure message directly to affect staff with instructions on what to do. Staff will need to Activate this install.

30/03/23 pm forced a full scan of all machines that received

30/03/23 pm patched all phone systems

What else can we tell you?

All our customers using our Managed Antivirus will be glad to know that the infection was picked up by our Antivirus blocked and cleaned at the point of deployment.

How to activate/Install 3CX Web App (PWA)

To do this please log in to your webclient details can be found in your 3CX Welcome email

Click Apps (bottom left corner)

Click Web App (PWA)

Click install

The post 3CX DesktopApp Security Alert appeared first on Mear Technology.

Source: https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/v18-update-5/
Two heads are better than one, let alone an entire team! No need to rely on a single person to respond to messages. Update 5 integrates seamlessly with WhatsApp & SMS* making it possible for your entire team to collaborate and respond to incoming client messages. We’ve also added predefined message templates to shorten response times even further. Also, don’t forget to check out our exciting new Live chat features!

* To enable SMS & Whatapp you need a SMS/Whatsapp provider. Mear Technology have this feature available and can add this to your package for as little as £6.30 per month

Answer WhatsApp & SMS messages as a team

Group messaging alleviates delayed responses and removes the reliance on specific users to answer messages. Unlike with WhatsApp Business, you can route incoming WhatsApp messages to all users or selected groups of agents to respond. The agent can take ownership or transfer to other more skilled agents, allowing for quicker and better resolution of customer queries.

Set up the integration easily using our WhatsApp integration guide.

SMS gets a complete overhaul

Particularly important for our US customers, SMS integration has received an overhaul with Update 5, drastically improving reliability and ease of use. Now configuration is done directly in the SIP Trunk config. You do not need to configure numbers twice and SMS will be auto-configured for all DIDs.

Important: Previous SMS configurations in the Management Console must be deleted and re-created after installing V18 Update 5. See the simplified method in our SMS configuration guide or check out the guides for our SMS providers that were supported on our old messaging proxy: Bandwidth, Flowroute, Telnyx, Twilio.

Supercharged live chat features and styling

3CX Live Chat has taken another leap forward with more options, customization, and styling. Included with this release:

• Additional styles: Choose from 3 bubble icons and chat box animation (Slide up, slide from the side & fade in)
• Greeting customizations: Set up your own intro greeting and online/offline greetings. Automated responses at the beginning, first message, and end of the conversation.
• Agent options: Choose if you want to show your agent’s name and avatar or select a default ‘generic’ team agent name and image.

Pre-defined message responses

Users with ‘Manager’ permissions can now create and modify as many quick response templates for their group as needed. All agents in the user group will have full visibility of the templates making responding to any type of chat message simple and fast. Navigation is easy using the categories and language filters.

Easy system management from the Web Client

Users with ‘System Administration’ access to the Management Console can now quickly and easily edit users in their group or all system users directly from the Web Client. The new ‘Admin’ option in the menu bar also allows access to creating and editing live chat configurations. Read more on user rights in our extension management guide.

Other features and improvements

• Android and iOS Apps now ONLY connect to V18
• Instance Manager has been deprecated. All previous release builds will no longer communicate with it

How to get V18 Update 5

Our clients need to take no action. We will be rolling out these update out of hours at various time over the up coming month.

The post 3CX V18 U5 Adds WhatsApp Integration & Improved Live Chat appeared first on Mear Technology.

South Coast-based Voip Unlimited has confirmed it has been slapped with a “colossal ransom demand” after being hit by a sustained and large-scale DDoS attack it believes originated from the Russian cybercriminal gang REvil.

Their Status page indicates attack is still ongoing but they have managed to regain control of their network and majority of their services are up with intermittent quality issues while the attackers pursue their relentless attack.

Unrelated, London-based Voipfone (see status page here) is also still suffering outages on voice, inbound and outbound calls, and SMS services. Like Voip Unlimited they gave also regained control over some of their services but customer continue to be effected by the attack.

Mark Pillow, MD of Voip Unlimited, told us the company takes “full responsibility of the availability of our services to our clients” and that he is “extremely sorry for all inconvenience caused.”

In a statement, he explained: “At 2pm 31st August, Voip Unlimited’s network was the victim of an alarmingly large and sophisticated DDoS attack attached to a colossal ransom demand.”

As a result of the attack some of VoIP Unlimited’s network experienced “intermittent or total loss of internet connectivity services” although customers using its Voip Unlimited Ethernet and Broadband services are understood to have remained largely unaffected.

In the news

https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/02/uk_voip_telcos_revil_ransom/

What is DDoS attack mean?

Distributed Denial of Service Distributed Network Attacks are often referred to as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. … The DDoS attack will send multiple requests to the attacked web resource – with the aim of exceeding the website’s capacity to handle multiple requests… and prevent the website from functioning correctly.

Sounds hard? No, not really!

Unfortunately not any more, all the hard work has been done by criminals. Criminals can just pay and consume.

How does it work?

DDoS attacks are carried out with 1000’s of compromised and dedicated machines connected to the internet.

These machines consist of computers and other devices (such as IoT devices)which have been infected with malware, allowing them to be controlled remotely by an attacker. These individual devices are referred to as bots (or zombies), and a group of bots is called a botnet.

Once a botnet has been established, the attacker is able to direct an attack by sending remote instructions to each bot.

When a victim’s server or network is targeted by the botnet, each bot sends requests to the target’s IP address, potentially causing the server or network to become overwhelmed, resulting in a denial-of-service to normal traffic.

Because each bot is a legitimate Internet device, separating the attack traffic from normal traffic can be difficult.

The non technical explanation of a DDoS attack

Imagine you are a bouncer at the door of a night club (firewall). You are allowing VIP guests in only to your event (Good traffic). While you are checking invitations an angry mob of 10,000 non VIP guests arrive at the door and smash at the door and demand access. The bouncer closes the door to try and safe guard the club. The crowd does not go away. Behind the 10,000 mob is waves and waves of more angry guests they just keep coming.

This is why DDoS attacks are so difficult to mitigate. Even if the club installs water cannons to disperse the crowds more keep coming, preventing the VIP guests getting close to the doors to be let in. So as the VIP (friendly traffic) can’t get to the door it gives up and goes home. This is also what happens to the digital traffic, it gives up and goes home.

The post DDoS take down VoIP appeared first on Mear Technology.

All our existing customer will get V18 soon after the official release.

Microsoft Teams Integration

3CX now natively supports Microsoft Teams. With our Teams integration, Teams users can dial 3CX users and vice versa. Teams users can dial out via 3CX and leverage 3CX’s extensive SIP trunk provider support. You can now save on costly MS365 calling plans.

More importantly 3CX PBX features are far more advanced than Teams phone system features and they are much easier to configure also. To configure, follow our Microsoft Teams Business Voice configuration guide which includes a simple four step process.

Other features and improvements

• Ability to send emails from 3CX by utilizing Microsoft 365 Integration.
• Improved chat handling to: Add/remove chats, transfers & forwarding images.
• Updated Welcome Email.

The post Microsoft Teams Integrated with V18 appeared first on Mear Technology.

Optimized for Bluetooth Devices

The new 3CX Android App update makes working on the road a breeze. Connect it to a Bluetooth capable device, such as your car’s Bluetooth system, and you will be able to:

• See the caller ID of incoming 3CX calls
• Reply to a conversation from a message notification received during a call.

Automatically add conferences to your device calendar

The device calendar has been integrated with the Schedule Conference feature so it’s even easier than ever before to create a conference. When you schedule a conference, the app will automatically create a calendar event so you don’t have to!

Audio improvements across the board

We’ve improved audio handling on all supported devices. We now enable Telecom API. Combined with a better echo cancellation, your calls on Bluetooth devices will sound better than ever before.

Other fixes and improvements

• Improved integration with Android DND mode.
• Improved chat: Take ownership, transfer and mark chats as dealt with.
• Fixed app failing to reprovision in some cases.
• Fixed Facebook ID being shown in Facebook chat messages.
• Fixed incoming queue calls omitting queue name after name matching.

Download Now

Head over to the Google Play Store to download the Android app now and let us know what you think in the 3CX Forums!

Source: https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/latest-android-app/

The post Better Audio and Bluetooth Integration with latest Android app appeared first on Mear Technology.

ISDN an PSTN

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), which really came into being in the 1990s, is a set of communication standards that are used for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitised circuits of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The PSTN is a broad term for the world’s collection of interconnected, circuit-switched, voice-oriented, public telephone networks that (whether operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators) make up the infrastructure and services for public telecommunication.

Originally, ISDN offered the chance for digital services to operate through the same copper wire as the normal telephone system.  It became popular with businesses because it offered a faster Internet connection than dial-up. Fast-forwarding through different attempts to upgrade includes B-ISDN, transmitting data over fibre optic cable, and ISDN BRI (improving voice services), and the building of modern internet protocol (IP) based networks which can support both broadband and landline telephone services, and ISDN now seems to be only of real use for internet access in areas which haven’t yet been reached by broadband.

Also, as noted by Ofcom, the old PSTN is reaching the end of its life and is becoming increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, which is another reason why a switch-over to a better alternative is necessary.

What’s Happening With the Switch-Off?

BT Openreach have announced that starting from the end of this year and finishing in 2025, it will be “switching off the UK telephone network as we know it” by moving 15 million lines to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) based replacement telephone service. In essence, this means that the Internet (broadband) will be used to carry telephone calls rather than traditional copper wires.  Since ISDN used the copper wire phone network, this change marks the ISDN switch-off.

The Alternatives

With the now inevitable switch-off of ISDN, the main alternatives for businesses are:

– SIP, which uses virtual, cloud-based phone lines rather than physical lines. This may be more suitable for businesses with an on-premise phone system. Many existing phone systems are already compatible with SIP.

– Hosted VoIP/ a Hosted IP phone system may suit businesses that don’t want to commit or retain an on-premise phone system.  As this option uses the business’s internet lines, it essentially means that the business rents a phone system.

What Are The Advantages?

Broadly speaking, the switch to VoIP should bring many advantages, such as:

– A greater breadth of capabilities.

– Cost savings and fewer system failures and outages.

– Scalability and portability (VoIP phone systems can go wherever the company goes).

– Greater communications mobility, flexibility, and increased productivity and collaboration. The importance of this has been particularly well-illustrated with the need to use remote, cloud-based communications and collaborative working platforms during the pandemic.

– Better security that’s continuously updated.

– Greater reliability.

– Improved customer experiences.

– Clearer calls, making it easier to keep existing numbers, and the choice to have broadband provided separately from the telephone service.

– Better identification and prevention of nuisance calls, thereby saving businesses time and money and potentially protecting against scammers.

What Are The Disadvantages?

Some disadvantages of switching to VoIP could be:

– Potential problems with latency.

– Vulnerability to phone systems going down if there’s a broadband outage or if the electricity supply is interrupted.

Possible Impact Downstream

Both Ofcom and Openreach have acknowledged that the area of concern, if preparations are not made sufficiently in advance of the switch-over, is downstream services such as security and fire alarms, telecare devices, retail payment terminals, and equipment for monitoring and controlling networks.  These rely on some attributes of the PSTN that may not be fully replicated in VoIP-based platforms, hence the importance of adequate preparation.  This will require service providers to test their equipment to see if it will continue to function over IP and then replace, upgrade, or reconfigure it as appropriate. These service provider businesses will also need to ensure that customers (from residential users to large commercial and public sector entities) are made aware of the issue well in advance so that necessary steps can be taken to maintain service(s).

Ofcom has stated that the government will work with the sectors that use these downstream services (e.g. health, energy, transport, and business) so that they are aware of the change and can prepare in time.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Although the move is industry-led, there is little doubt that analogue and old, expensive to maintain copper wire phone systems will not be able to provide the scope, flexibility, speed, capacity, and economies of the digital alternative as businesses now rely heavily on the Internet. The switch-over will be spread over four years. Provided that there is adequate information and support given by the regulator and BT Openreach, and coordination among communications service providers (CSPs), and adequate advice and help for downstream providers, then change should be manageable, and disruption should be minimised.

Particular attention clearly needs to be paid to those sectors and organisations (many of which are vital to UK business and infrastructure) that still rely on some attributes of the PSTN that may not yet look as though they can be fully replicated in VoIP-based platforms. With this already being acknowledged and working groups already planned to tackle the issue, a smooth transition looks more likely.

The pandemic has increased the digital transformation of many businesses and the advantages of the switch to VoIP and digital appear to be in-keeping with this, and look likely to benefit businesses going forward.

More information about the switch and what to do about the migration can be found here: https://www.bttcomms.com/phasing-out-and-switch-off-of-isdn/.  Also, Ofcom provides some useful information about its plans for the switch-over here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/137966/future-fixed-telephone-services.pdf.

The post ISDN To be Switched Off appeared first on Mear Technology.

Why Are The Panasonic PBX Telephone Systems Discontinued?

In recent years Panasonic has worked hard to find a way to continue the business by making their organization and its relationships with partners as sustainable as possible. However, it has become apparent that this is not possible to continue given the current business environment based on the limited capability of factory resources as described below.

• A sharp decline of the market and rapid shift to cloud-based solutions.
• A technological mismatch between factory and future market needs and trends.
• Lagging behind their competitor’s R&D activities.
• A constant financial deficit due to the reasons above.
• Shift to new types of demand (Teams, Zoom, etc.) significantly accelerated by Covid-19 which makes the future of the Panasonic business untenable and unpredictable.

I Have A Discontinued Panasonic PBX Telephone System What Can I Do?

Step 1) Get in touch with Mear Technology

Step 2) Have one of our consultants discuss your business needs

Step 3) Accept quotation let us take care of the rest.

Mear Technology has a number of solutions to help find the right fir for your business. All we want is the opportunity to engage with you.

The pandemic is not a reason to not move forward. We have helped may business move during the Pandemic lets see what we can do for you and Your business.

When Are The Panasonic PBX Telephone Systems Discontinued?

In 2 years time, the Panasonic PBX telephone systems will be discontinued. Panasonic PBX telephone system parts will be discontinued and will become hard to source. Repairing old PBX and SIP telephone systems will be even harder once Panasonic discontinues these items. Users need to source alternative communications solutions once these items are no longer supported, before the year 2023.

What will happen to my Panasonic PBX Telephone Systems when it is Discontinued?

Nothing it will carry on working. If you are unfortunate enough to have a fault or a vulnerability is discovered there will be no support available and parts will become increasingly harder to source.

Will there be much disruption if I switch from my Panasonic Phone system to one of Mear Technology solutions?

No, Mear Technology will manage the process for you provide training and keep your disruption to a minimum.

The post Panasonic PBX Telephone Systems Discontinued – 2023 appeared first on Mear Technology.

Based in Livingston Mear Technology believe in offering a customer focused experience. We offer a range of IT Support services that we tailor to our customers need’s. We are a one-stop provider for your IT need (support, sales, broadband and telecoms).  If you are interested in us reviewing all your IT overheads, we would be happy to spend some time with you and see where we can help, streamline and reduces unnecessary overheads.

Why review your phone system?

After embracing a work at home model struggled with traditional connectivity options. Businesses feel trapped by the circumstances, unable to migrate.  We do not apply one solution to every customer approach. We want to understand your businesses and deliver a solution that meets your needs.

• Are you missing calls as you do not have the same staff in the office?
• Are staff unable to work from home?
• Are you missing the opportunity to convert website visitors to leads?
• Worried you will not be able to manage to move your phone system till you can get back into the office?
• Having to pay extra for Website Live Chat/Web Meeting/Call Reporting/Voicemail?
• Have a Analogue Phone System in the office?
• Looking to review and reduce costs where possible?

If any of the above sounds familiar, please get in touch (using the form below). If you can get a break down of your calls or an itemised bill  we would happily review and highlight any potential saving. There is no hard sale we are hear to help!

Why would consider using Mear Technology?

Your business would be valued. We are not a huge team big enough to deliver small enough to care. Your business is more than just a number! Our Technicians will get to know you and your team! We are local your trade stays local and allows us to respond. Distance is not an issue with us either we have customers in the USA, Germany and around the UK.  We host and manage the phone system for you. We are not just processing invoices for 3rd party systems our technicians are skilled and experienced.

Whatever service we offer our customers stay with us for long periods without retentive contracts.

[contact-form to=”stephen@meartechnology.co.uk” subject=”Phone System – Its not too late to switch.”][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Best Contact Number” type=”text”][contact-field label=”Tell us about you and your situation” type=”textarea”][/contact-form]

Please fill out the contact form and one of our team will get back to you during office hours and help with your enquiry.

FAQ

• I don’t have a phone system can you still help?
  • Yes if your a surviving with just one phone in the office we can still help!
• Do Mear Technology need to to visit our office?
  • Not normally but it does depended on your knowledge. We want to ensure we present the right options to you and if that requires a site visit we will do so why following current guidelines.
• Can you supply us with a new number?
  • Yes we can. we can supply all local, national and many international numbers.
• Is your system scalable?
  • Absolutely we can handle small and large deployments.
• My staff are at home will that cause a problem?
  • No not really we can deploy now while all your staff are at home. Their broadband may have issues supporting calls but we can assist with finding solutions for these staff

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Technician view of live chat on Mobile.

For many businesses our website are brochures, a modern day shop window. Offering a gimps into what our business can do for them. Getting visitors to your site is one thing but how do you get them to move beyond just browsing your page to actually walking in and buying something.

Simple! Talk to them. Adding a live chat to your website is nothing new but for many businesses the technical restriction of implementing such a services as well as the financial obligations makes this a non starter.  With 3CX your business communications can flourish during normal business operations and under more strenuous times like remote working under covid-19.  3CX is a business phone-system that can be ran on-premises or in-cloud or provided as as service. 3CX unlike most phone-systems goes beyond just delivering VOICE. It enhances your business continuity and communication.

• Work at home – NO PROBLEM
• Conference rooms – NO PROBLEM
• Webinars – NO PROBLEM
• LIVE CHAT with free calls and webchat – NO PROBLEM
• STAFF meetings and collaboration – NO PROBLEM

With no extra charge you can add a very powerful live chat to ANY website. Take a enquiry from a website visitor over the option to move beyond live chatting to a in person chat via the web browser or even convert to a video call.

To find out more why not visit our website for a free chat. Try our live chat and speak to one of our helpful staff.

 Useful links

• 3CX Live Chat information

#3cx #webmeeting #livechat #VOIP #Phonesystem #website

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