VoIP Calls FAQs
Question 1) Can I personalise my caller ID on a call by call basis?
Answer) Yes, you can! You can set up a default Caller ID for each user in your Dashboard at Dashboard > Voice > Users .
However, you can also elect to present a different Caller ID for each call you make by creating a short code. This is a code that you type into your phone before dialling the number you wish to reach. So for example, if you had a short code of 22 to present the number you would dial 22 and then your number - e.g. *22+443300437543
To configure these shortcodes, simply visit Dashboard > Voice > Config > Short Codes and set up as many as you would like.
Note that some hardware "reserves" certain shortcodes for use on their specific hardware, so if your chosen shortcode doesn't work the first time, just pick another short code number or log in to the management interface of your phone and in most cases, you can disable what is often referred to as "Local Call Features". You can view more about this on Grandstream devices here.
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 2) How much do calls to 08 numbers cost me, and why?
Answer) On July 1st 2015, Ofcom rules came into place designed to make calls to 08 numbers easier to understand. Unfortunately, the opposite occurred. Ofcom's change meant the cost of the call was defined by two parties: the provider of your phone service (the Access Provider) and the provider of the person you are calling (Service Provider).
The net result is that calling an 08 number can be charged at any cost; a cost which, moreover, can vary from one day to another, although there is a small proviso that the party responsible for the service charge need to advertise the cost of their part of the call. Companies like Expediusly have therefore had to take a cautious view to calling 08 numbers and consequently can no longer take the risk of including 08 numbers in all call plans.
We strongly recommend checking the 08 number you wish to dial in our call checker before making a call to establish the current rate for the exact 08 number you wish to dial. This is incredibly frustrating, and consequently has caused businesses to move to 03 prefix numbers, which now have much clearer Ofcom guidance, and as a result, we include 03 numbers in our call plans. The site Moneysavingexpert.com has done a great job of documenting the actual issue that resulted from the "simplification" of the rules by Ofcom.
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 3) Why does my phone ring but there's no one there & I can't see the number in my dashboard?
Answer) Very occasionally, you may experience calls on your VoIP phone that look as though you have called yourself from an extension you don't recognise, or have come from a number that doesn’t look real. Sometimes these calls can present like an ordinary call as well, but you can't see them in your dashboard.
These are known as Ghost Calls & are unfortunately a well-known problem in VoIP; they're very similar to autodiallers on a regular analogue line. They have nothing to do with your provider or your equipment, they're just extremely annoying when they become regular!
There are a couple of ways to stop Ghost Calls coming through, depending on which phone you have:
1. Changing the SIP Port - Most sip ports are set to 5060 by default so by changing this port to another e.g 6085, means the Ghost Calls won't be able to get through so regularly
2. A lot of phones will have a setting to disable these direct IP calls - there are links to the various FAQs below
If you’re having trouble with Ghost Calls, we have plenty of FAQs showing you how to disable them below:
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 4) So what are Premium Rate Services and how do they affect me?
Answer) Premium Rate Services are described by Ofcom as:
"A form of micro-payment for paid-for content, data services and value-added services that are subsequently charged to your telephone bill. They tend to cost more than a normal phone call or text message.
Premium Rate Services affect you because Premium Numbers are included in this bracket, and the calls wouldn't be included in any of our Unlimited Hosted VoIP plans that we have available. Any calls made to premium numbers would be charged at a PAYG rate, so you would need to make sure that you have credit in your account to be able to make those calls! If you didn't have sufficient balance in your account, the call wouldn't connect.
This is because Premium Numbers aren't charged like a normal call - a portion of the fee paid goes to the called business, which is why the costs are higher.
There are a couple of ways to avoid these charges:
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 5) How can I check the cost of a call?
Answer)
If you're ever worried you may be calling a Premium Number, or wanted to check the cost of calling to a foreign country we have the perfect tool for you!
Our Call Cost Calculator is available on our site, in which you can either search for the number you're calling or by country, and it will tell you the cost per minute of the call and any connection charges that are applicable!
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 6) What can I do if I am experiencing nuisance calls?
Answer) If you are an Expediusly customer and would like to block a number from calling you then please see the link for more information.
If you have been called by an unknown company and, upon calling them back, have heard our audio message redirecting you to our support team then it’s possible that someone has chosen one of our numbers to use for the purpose of committing fraud.
A fraudster can set up their telephone to ‘present’ as a number they do not own for outbound calls. This means that a fraudster could call you from a number that is not in ‘service’, get information from you and you would not be able to get back through to them, subsequently, your return call would be redirected to us. If you have given out information on the phone and now believe you have been a victim of fraud we advise you to contact your local police service (on 101) and do your utmost to change the data you provided (e.g. contact your bank).
Nuisance calls can be difficult to monitor and prevent, but the VoIP industry is working hard to look into the issue, and rest assured we are committed to ensuring that our numbers are not used by anyone with ill intentions where possible
If you would like to escalate the telephone call we are able to direct you to here where Action Fraud will be able to issue you with a police crime reference number and investigate further.
Alternatively, if you have received an unwanted Sales Calls we recommend you should go either to the Telephone Preference Service or the Information Commissioner's Office for more advice.
If you have received a silent or abandoned call please head to Ofcom for more information.
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 7) Do I have to pay to call someone else on our network?
Answer) As an Expediusly customer with more than one user, you will no doubt want to place calls between you and your colleagues, with other telephony providers these calls can start to add up.
With Expediusly, however, a call between Users will not cost you anything. Whether on your desk phone, mobile app or desktop app any Expediusly to Expediusly call is free of charge. This is really useful for companies with users that are overseas, or remotely working. All you'll need to reach a colleague on the phone at no cost is an internet connection to your VoIP device.
This is because your call does not leave our VoIP Cloud and thus has no cost to us, so we don't charge you. Wherever both parties are located in the world the call will be free.
You will also find that calling internally is easy on our platform with each User being allocated a 3 or 4-digit extension number, you no longer have to type in long Direct Dial numbers for each member of staff and within a few buttons, you can be connected with HD call quality.
The same is true for calls to your Voicemail, calls to a Expediusly Conference Bridge, or if you coincidentally call a client/friend who is also on Expediusly, these are all counted as internal calls by our system.
This is a great incentive to recommend Expediusly to others, as your future calls to them could be free!
If you have any queries about call charges to external parties please head to our Call Cost Calculator
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 8) How do I set up wallboards?
Answer) To set up a call queue, you will first need access to the feature which is included as part of the “Enterprise” plan - if you are not already on this plan, you can upgrade here.
Wallboards are used to monitor all queues on a specified call route. You can also specify the time period (hour, day, week, month, quarter, year) and the time-lapse (calendar or rolling) and inbound or outbound calls, for your stats, too.
To set up a new wallboard, head to your dashboard > Calls > Wallboards > Add Wallboards.
This should take you to the screen that is shown below.
From here, there are a variety of different settings that you can customise, depending on what you would like your dashboard to show you!
Firstly, you will need to give your wallboard a name. You can then select inbound or outbound. Inbound will be all calls that come to your account and outbound calls are the calls that are dialled out from your account.
Following this, you are able to select which type of wallboard you would like - each shows different data, as you can see in the options below!
Once you have picked the settings you'd like, you can create a URL to access your wallboard and save it. Please note, you will need to be logged in to your Expediusly account in order to access your wallboard!
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!
Question 9) What is call queue availability?
Answer) Call queues are a powerful tool to any business that chooses to utilise them. To ensure both your customers and colleagues are having the best experience, it is important to manage queue availability of anyone in call queues.
How does queue availability work?
Queue availability shows queues on Expediusly wether you are ready to take calls or not. This allows individual members of a queue to regulate their own schedules while keeping the queue tended by other users.
How does queue availability differ from do not disturb?
If a user is unavailable in a queue, he or she can still be contacted via calls to the user or to a hunt group containing the user. Do Not Disturb will apply to all calls coming through the expediusly.com app.
When do I need to use queue availability?
Queue availability should be toggled whenever a user leaves his or her desk including, but not limited to, lunch breaks, a trip to the coffee machine, or leaving for the day. While this may seem tedious at first, it is very straightforward to habitualise.
How do I turn this on and off?
There are several ways to toggle your availability.
At Expediusly we prefer using a short code which can turn our availability on and off. There isn't one set up by default, so you'll need to set one up on the short codes page. These can be used on any desk phone, soft phone, or any Yay.com app.
In the desktop app, you can go to Settings > Inbound > Available in call queues to change your settings.
In the iPhone app, you can go to More>Settings>Calls>Available in Call Queues to change your settings.
In the users page of the dashboard edit the user in question, then go to the Advanced tab, there is a 'Available in call queues' toggle. If you'd like to update the status, ensure that you hit the save changes button.
If you need any further help today, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on +443300437543 or by email!