One of the great things about SIP trunking is that businesses don’t necessarily have to make an immediate choice between fully migrating SIP trunking right away; they can continue to use all or parts of their traditional PBX, VOIP and traditional voice services and current and previous hardware investments in concert with the new SIP voice technology.  I.T. managers can simply complement their current business services with SIP and TDM technology and continue to apply those practices in a way that takes better advantage of their unique voice facilities and requirements in concert with SIP trunking.  Also, one can continue to use current bandwidth from their current internet service provider without having to change that.  All that is needed for this versatility in services and reliable QOS with a SIP trunking gateway (often provided to customers for free by the SIP trunking carrier in exchange for their service).

When we talk about reliability of SIP trunking, SIP trunking is equal to or better than traditional voice calls over the internet.  Customers report that calls are crystal clear and often of higher quality than most VOIP systems.  SIP trunking also provides greater functionality for versatile applications like unified messaging and disaster recovery.  Why?  Because SIP trunking is IP intensive, therefore, disaster recovery with SIP trunking most often involves quickly and easily changing to different IP POP destination within the SIP network when a disaster occurs. And, that ability to quickly change voice termination protocols is also very helpful in reducing costs.

There is something for CFO’s to like about SIP to help with their balance sheets.  There can be huge telecom cost savings associated with SIP. SIP trunking allows one to have as many concurrent voice pathways as needed at any time, and those pathways can be readily increased or decreased in number.   On the other hand, with a traditional PRI arrangement, your enterprise is confined to 23 analog trunks (outbound or inbound or both) and only one single assigned digital pathway.  If you use only half of those PRI trunks, you are wasting half the cost of the PRI.  With SIP trunking, you simply change or order the highest number of pathways you need for a specific amount of time, and those numbers of pathways can be tweaked daily or hourly if you wish, depending on your voice traffic needs and how often they change.  With SIP, you don’t need to order and install or turn up a PRI if you need additional voice traffic; you simply turn up the SIP bandwidth faucet or number of pathways with your service provider.  The same goes with lower voice traffic.  Again, you tweak the number of virtual pathways you need to comply with your call traffic.   If your organization is large enough, you can also pre-order wholesale SIP minutes, which are essentially pay-as-you go SIP cost arrangements.  How does less than a penny per minute for reliable long distance sound?  How about the same cost for calls across the ocean to Europe and Asia?  These kinds of pre-paid arrangements work well for very large enterprise customers and smart wholesale telecommunications providers, who buy huge blocks of wholesale SIP minutes, then resell them to smaller customers at a markup.  The calls are clear and the cost is cheap. So we’re seeing a lot of small operators become telecommunications carriers using SIP.Another cost advantage of SIP in this scenario is that companies can easily utilize least cost routing or route calls to their on-net carrier of choice by way of the cheapest telecommunications point of presence or POP.

Although SIP is not effective or recommended for businesses with predominately large volumes of local calls, SIP can be extremely advantageous for any business routing calls across the country or to Europe.

In summary, unlike in the past, rather than having to gulp down the new technology, why not take your time and take a gradual sip of SIP technology?

Is your enterprise interested in learning more about the advantages of SIP trunking technology for telecom cost savings?  Contact a SIP trunking consultant today for a free consultation regarding how SIP technology help your enterprise.

Free Telecom Audit Savings

Businesses in need of cost savings are hitting the jackpot as they submit their phone bills to BottaBoom for a free telecom audit review. The treasure hunt is on; it’s that time of year again when Boom’s telecom auditors help businesses find end-of-year expense reductions on their telecommunications services.  BottaBoom offers  companies a free preliminary audit, which allows them to determine if they need a full telecom audit for cost savings.  According to Mark Evans, the Principal and founder of BottaBoom, “Prospective clients fax, email or mail us some of their telephone bills and we give our them a very good idea of the amount of savings they can receive from the full blown telecom audit project.  There is no obligation to do business with us, although most companies that contact us see a 30 to 50 percent savings on their telecom expense right off the bat and that is huge for them.  I’m always amazed that so many businesses are still paying telephone companies like AT&T 70 to 80 cents per minute in default long distance charges  and don’t even think about it!”  Also, Evans continued, “during the month of September, we usually get a huge influx of telephone bills coming into our office for our free audit promotion (usually thereafter, most clients opt for a full blown audit because they want us to procure the telecom cost savings for them.”  The last financial quarter of the year for the telecom audit business is kind of like the busy tax season for Accountants, we see a lot of new clientele.   Moreover, we’re seeing   more blackberry audits and cell phone audits for business cost savings than we’ve ever experienced before, they are becoming quite popular and a very important part of our telecom expense management and telecom audit business.”

For example, the state of New Jersey recently realized 3.5 million dollars in telecommunications cost savings from their telecom audit.  The state of Virginia just realized over million dollars in six months’ recurring savings on their cell phone bills, just from unused cellphones.  We estimate based on data from research firms like Gartner Group and Aberdeen Research that U.S. companies can save close to 40 billion a year on telecom costs with a telecom audit.  These are telecom cost savings from telecommunication billing errors and inventory that continues to be wasted month after month, year after year.   This year, all we want is about 1 billion of that 40 billion dollar potential market from telecom audit savings.

In addition to free preliminary telecommunications audit specials, BottaBoom also offers telecom expense management (TEM) software and free presentations for companies interested in TEM software and services.  Contact the telecommunications audit experts today for your free introductory telecom audit.

Do you need smartphone policy consulting, a cell phone bill audit or a telecom audit project?  Contact the telecom audit experts at BottaBoom today.  You can call them at 1-888-487-5326 or visit this link at telecom audit contact page.

The rules of long distance calling and pricing are changing. We are seeing extraordinarily low rates on telecommunications services across our client network because of the wonderful new SIP technology and outstanding sales support.  “SIP is allowing us to offer long distance rates are as low 1 to 1.5 cents per minute for intrastate, interstate, toll-free service and outbound long distance service,” reports Rick Meumann, President of Advatel.net, out of Long Beach California.  Advatel offers AireSpring SIP services as well as an array of hundreds of low cost telecommunications products and VOIP calling services.  Also, these new ethical carriers are offering better billing increments and truth in billing practices.  Wholesale prices for 2^nd and 3^rd tier carriers are dropping to as low as ½ penny per minute using SIP technology in the network cloud, which in turn is causing retail calling prices to drop rapidly.   Many clients were recently paying close to 3 cents per minute for traditional interstate long distance so they are able to cut their long distance costs by a whopping 50% with SIP.

What is SIP?  SIP is a very simple IP access based technology which allows companies to use VOIP technology and carrier equipment for IP telephone calls.  This IP dialing is accomplished without the company having to purchase expensive VOIP equipment on site.  It is very reliable technology, calls are crystal clear and all that is normally needed to access the SIP network by business customers is a gateway device and a router.  Companies like AireSpring offer SIP dialing without short duration surcharge calls incurred by other companies.

Getting the best bang for your buck is a key component of telecom cost savings but in addition to the huge savings for business clients, we’re also seeing phenomenal service support from cut-rate long distance agents and resellers.

Why is the telecom support service improving?   First, SIP allows for quick changes efficient management of calls. Moreover, many low long distance rate resellers who are competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC) are supported by highly knowledgeable consultants who recently lost their jobs from the major telephone carriers and subsequently opened up their own telecommunications sales companies on their own.  These CLEC consultants can easily and cheaply provide all of the business telecommunications support services and can now engineer and support high-profile customers with superior service that they formerly offered their interexchange local carrier (ILEC) customers who paid a premium for those services.  Social networking sites such as linked in, twitter and Facebook are filled with ethical, talented and knowledgeable telecommunications cost consultants.

And T1 and data customers are benefitting as well.  We’re seeing fixed long distance PRI rates from companies like Airespring for as low as $450 per month and long distance T1 rates at $150 per month.  Again, allowing long distance rates to be an average of 1.5 cents per minute. MPLS rates are also incredibly low and the support has been phenomenal, with no downtime for converting these services for cheaper rates.  That is a great deal for data, long distance and T1 service.

We often recommend CLEC pricing during for our telecom audit clients because they often use the same ILEC (big three carriers) to transport data and telephone calls, yet the SIP pricing is at wholesale rates.  This allows for maximum telecom cost savings.

Are you interested in eliminating short duration call charges for your call center or business and taking advantage of aggregate wholesale telecom call pricing?  Want to know what the difference in pricing would be if you switched to SIP technology?  Contact the telecom cost savings experts at 1-888-487-5326 or at telecom cost savings contact form for a free cost savings analysis of your call volume and expense.

Next week, this telecom audit news blog will be reporting on telecommunications aggregation and telecom wholesale pricing, which allows for the pooling of smaller end business calling customers with BottaBoom or other large entities, to gain the same or better long distance discounts that large fortune 500 clients and other high volume organizations receive because of large call volume. These tactics are producing unheard of telecom cost savings.

The comptroller audit said more than 19,000 phone lines, or nearly one in every six in 2009, should be disconnected because they go unused or are no longer needed. In addition, some telecommunications contracts have been renewed without the competitive bidding process as required by law, the audit said.

“The state is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars every month for phone lines that are not even being used,” said state comptroller Matthew Boxer. “Examples of government waste don’t get much clearer than that.”

Responding to the findings, state departments disconnected or suspended each of the phone or data lines at an overall yearly savings of more than $3.5 million.

One example of waste found by auditors included the state continuing to pay for the wireless line of a former employee for almost six years after her resignation. They also found:

• Over the course of one year, the state paid more than $250,000 in directory assistance fees when toll-free assistance was available.
• The state is owed more than $43,000 for data lines that were disconnected in 2008 and 2009. The state continued to be billed for lines even after they were disconnected.
• Many departments were not documenting the justification for paying for wireless devices for employees; about 19,000 devices — cell phones, Blackberrys and air cards — are currently assigned to executive branch employees.

Adel Ebeid, the state’s chief technology officer, said keeping track of unused lines is more difficult than it seems.

“Unfortunately we have no way of knowing which agency personnel are being hired, transferred, or terminated which is why the current policy places the notification responsibility with the individual designated by an agency to coordinate and manage their respective telecommunication services,” Ebeid wrote.

He said he has asked human resource managers to become involved with the issuance and termination of phone lines because they are familiar with the employment status of workers.

Ebeid also said memos have been sent in previous years, asking state employees to stop using the pay-per-use directory assistance service. He said he has contacted Verizon Wireless and asked them to block 411 directory assistance calls from all New Jersey state-issued phones.

The audit also found that the state renewed some of its major telecommunications contracts for more than a decade without opening the contracts up to competing bids as required by law.

Of four contracts reviewed, auditors found that each was extended at least seven times without going through the bidding process; one was extended 22 times without competitive bidding.

“The state has prevented fair vendor competition in its telecommunications contracts for more than a decade and essentially handed out a no-bid contract with each extension,” Boxer said. “As a result, the public cannot be sure that the state is getting a fair price.”

Ebeid said contract extensions were sought only after significant discounts were offered. As a result, he said, the state pays $12 million less than it did in 2007.

The comptroller’s report suggested that telephone coordinators in departments be required to periodically justify the need for all land lines not being used; review zero-usage reports and justify the need for those lines; and better monitor bills to make sure the state is not being billed for disconnected lines.

Information source: Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Is your company ready to save millions of dollars in telecom cost savings? Does your company or government entity need a contingency-fee based telephone bill cost savings audit?  Call the telecommunication auditing professionals at 1-888-487-5326 or contact us at Telecom Audit. Get a free initial telecom cost savings review.

Does your business need a telecommunications audit for telecom cost savings?  Contact the telecom cost savings professionals at 1-888-487-5326 or visit their website at telecom audit services

Last week, a distraught CEO from a small Manhattan company called us for help for just this problem. He reported that his company’s Cisco VOIP telephone system had been hacked and billed for long distance calls to Cuba to the tune of $45,000 in just three days.

Our telecom fraud investigation revealed that hackers had apparently gained access to their phone system due to insufficient security features. The criminals were able to dial in locally to the company’s number and obtain dial-tones on their trunk lines, allowing them to make numerous outbound calls to Cuba.

We actually found two problems that led to the huge losses. First, the company had received poor maintenance support from their VOIP system installer. Some features that were activated by default from the factory should have been restricted. Secondly, the company had very poor response from their long distance carrier who actually alerted the customer about unusual calls going from the customer’s network to Cuba.

Although the long distance provider initially warned the customer, the provider was then slow to cut off the traffic and botched being about to stop only the calls to Cuba. The carrier instead cut off all long distance service, which prevented the customer from doing business.

As a result of our investigation, we recommended that the client seek restitution from both the VOIP maintenance company and the long distance company for both the fraudulent charges and the lost business.

To get a better handle on avoiding this kind of problem in the first place, I spoke to an authority on the subject: Brian McDaniel, Principal of McDaniel Telecom Network Security Group. According to Brian, if companies practice the following guidelines, this kind of VOIP fraud could be eliminated:

• Ensure that all manufacturer default passwords for system administration are changed promptly, using lengthy and complex alphanumeric passwords.
• Lock out administrative access ports after three successive invalid access attempts.
• Configure the system to send an alert of the lock-out to system administrators.
• Ensure that all remote access to system administration portals is secured with encrypted challenge/response authentication.
• Ensure that all VOIP system administration ports are on a secure subnet, with Access Control Lists allowing only specific IP addresses necessary for maintenance and administration.
• Ensure that all multi-media and voice messaging interfaces to call managers or PBXs are appropriately restricted.
• Ensure that access to system speed dialing is controlled by business need and that no list entry dials trunk access codes or uses feature access codes to increase a caller’s permissions.
• Review and control all thru-dialing and out-calling from adjunct equipment. Do not allow default entries in restriction/permission lists.
• Set and enforce standards for complex passwords for voice message mailboxes. Require period password resets for these mailboxes. Regularly check for default passwords in end-user mailboxes.
• Check transfer restrictions in all integrated peripheral and adjunct equipment. Block access to ARS codes and trunk access codes.
• Check endpoint targets for keyed entry and time-out transfers in call processing mailboxes and auto attendants.
• Verify all off-net target endpoints in ACD vectors and VDNs.
• Protect often-abused features with forced account codes, authentication codes or barrier codes.

As with any crime of opportunity, hackers are lazy. If they attempt to break into your VOIP system and run into the safeguards listed above, there is a good chance that they’ll move on to an easier target.

Are you concerned that your VOIP phone system is vulnerable to telecommunications hacking? Contact the telecommunication audit experts at BottaBoom consulting at 1-888-487-5326 for a telecommunications security analysis to protect your company against VOIP fraud.

It is astounding to me how many companies do not have a comprehensive corporate wireless policy or centralized control over their wireless enterprises.  However, during a telecom audit, management quickly realizes how valuable a company-wide cell phone policy is when we implement one for them. A comprehensive corporate cell phone policy is an absolute must in today’s business environment for three main reasons:

• A wireless smart phone policy is needed to help companies maximize their telecom cost savings and prevent wasted expense.  Cost savings are most often immediate and significant.  For most large companies, on average, telecommunications expense is now one of their three largest expenses, and the smart phone and wireless portion of that telecom expense is often the majority of that huge expense. Many companies have no idea how to control their smart phones and other wireless device usage and costs.

• Management must assert control over the wireless enterprise in order to control telecommunications usage by employees, and to satisfy current strict IRS usage requirements.

• Companies need to limit corporate liability by prohibiting their workers utilizing wireless devices when they operate vehicles on the job; otherwise companies are leaving themselves exposed to potentially huge lawsuits.  Some lawsuits involving negligence by companies using cell phones on the job which results in accidents and injury are approaching millions of dollars in civil  judgments.

So now you know why you need a company cell phone policy, however, how are you going to develop a good wireless policy for your employees? As a telecommunications consultant who has written numerous cell-phone policies in the past, I recommend the following tips for writing a great company cell phone policy that will last for years into the future and will make your management take notice of your ability to control the out of control wireless monster wreaking havoc within your company.

1. Research, research, research. Benchmark with other companies. Join Telecom Audit Professionals International (TAPI) on Linked in and solicit advice from other telecom auditors and accountants. Ask peers for information and sample policies.

2. A good wireless policy should clearly outline who in the company is specifically responsible for wireless protocol, including ordering of devices, data and calling features, and administration of cost and all anything related to wireless activities.

3. The company cell phone policy should be a public relations device that provides the foundation for communicating your smart phone device to your employees on a regular basis. As your cell phone and blackberry plans change at least yearly, you should advise your employees regularly on guidelines and what limitations and features their plans contain for them.  How many peak and off peak minutes are employees allowed to use each month? They need to know this and clearly understand it.

4. Prohibit costly extra charges. Employees should not be allowed to use their carrier’s 411 directory assistance service. These costs are as high as $3.00 per lookup and can add up quickly. For directory assistance, encourage employees to program speed dial numbers on their smartphones for google411 or AT&T’s free directory assistance service. Prohibit picture sharing, texting (or place employees on the appropriate texting plan), and GPS downloads. The cell phone policy should state that the employee will be responsible for payment of these premium charges.

5. Equipment may only be ordered through the cell phone administrator. This will allow your company to maintain centralized control and ensure you are getting volume discounts across the enterprise though your wireless phone contract.

6. Make sure that company issued cell phones are used strictly for business use only. Employees should reimburse the company for personal calls or will need to specify a percentage of personal cell phone usage each month in order to meet current IRS taxation requirements.

7. Strictly forbid driving, operating any kind of hazardous machinery or equipment and using a cell phone while on company time. No exceptions. Again, this portion of the company cell phone policy needs to be reinforced with monthly emails or employee relations notifications, i.e.: company newsletters, noted on company blogs etc.
8. Lost, damaged or stolen equipment must be reported to the telecommunications wireless administrator immediately.

9. Separation of employment. The cell phone policy should clearly state that the wireless device and phone number belongs to the company, not the employee. Why? Losing a wireless device and phone number can mean a lot of lost sales and clients, as employees who take their wireless phones and numbers with them often take valuable information and client contacts with them, often to your competitors.

10. Have each employee sign the cell phone policy, agreeing that they have reviewed and understand the requirements within it. Also, the cell phone policy should be a main topic during new employee orientation and ongoing training classes.

In summary, the central part of best practice in managing wireless devices and telecommunications costs comes down to control. Without a clear, comprehensive and enforced cell phone policy, you have no control over wireless expense or use in your company. Again, you need to get control of your company wireless costs and maximize telecom cost savings and limit legal liability.

About the author: Mark Evans is Principal and founder of BottaBoom.com, a nationally recognized telecom audit company based in Tucson, Arizona, with additional offices in California and Virginia. Mark and his telecom audit staff has been saving companies large sums of money on their telecom bills for over 25 years.  If you need a professional telecom audit project or help with your cell phone bill contract or policy, mobile expenses, landline or data expense, or a cell phone bill audit, contact BottaBoom telecom audit Services at 1-888-487-5326 or go to their contact us page on the web.

If you haven’t checked the list of itemized services on your telephone bill lately, you might in for some surprises. There’s a good chance that you’re paying for bogus services.

Marilyn Goldeen of Belvedere found that charges from a company listed as ILD Teleservices had gone up—from $12.95 to $25.90. What was she paying for? “I have no idea,”she said. “I’d never heard of them.”

The Transaction Clearing Co.(TCC) was billing her, as well, and for the same sort of non-existent services. Goldeen called both companies and demanded her money back. “I told them that I hadn’t authorized those services,” Goldeen said, “and one of them told me that my son had authorized the service, which wasn’t true.”

Goldeen was the victim of what is known as cramming, in which items appear on your bill with names that seem to be—but are not—legitimate services. The Federal Trade Commission calls them mystery services, and they could be could be anything, from long distance charges, to internet services, to free 900 numbers.

A telecom auditor who’s fought the practice since it began around 1990, said the only thing you’ve purchased is a new name on your bill and an extra charge. Mark Evans, the principle of BottaBoom L.L.C. telecom audit, adds that you could have signed up for the service, without ever knowing it.

“These operations are very sneaky. Someone might call and say, ‘Hi there! are you enjoying the weather out there?’ Well, you’re being taped,” Evans explained, “and as soon as you say, ‘yes’ you’re signed up for some phantom service. And if you contest it, some actually play the edited tape back to you.”

Evans said the rip-off is usually quite small for households, because a five or ten dollar charge is easy to overlook and the customer will continue to pay it, but the big payoff comes with business accounts. An operator may call a temp receptionist with the company and ask if she wants to enter a contest to win a cell phone, or if she can verify that the company is on list subscribing to some service. It makes no difference that the receptionist lacks the authority to verify or add a service. It will show up on the next month’s bill along with a myriad of others, and remain there until someone catches their presence.

“I have saved clients thousands of dollars a year, just by going over their telephone accounts and pulling out these services,” Evans said. “Cramming is a billion dollar industry, and right now it’s perfectly legal.”

The mechanism that allows third party billing was put into place during the breakup of Ma Bell in 1984. It was intended to consolidate bills for local, long distance, and 900 numbers and minimize the number of phone bills in your mailbox. Today, everything from club memberships to free collect calls are funneled onto your bill through clearing houses like Enhanced Services Billing Inc.(ESBSI), IDL Services, and hundreds more. In the May & June 2010 issue of AARP, consumer reporter Ron Burley wrote, “Your telephone number has become a charge account—but absent the security of a password, PIN, or signature that you have with credit or debit card.”

The FTC collected $1.9 million in a settlement with ESBI’s parent company in 2008, but absent a class action suit, Evans isn’t optimistic about a short-term solution.

“There aren’t many homeowners willing to spend the time and money to sue over a $12.00 overcharge,” Evans said, “and once the customer discovers the charge, the company is usually quite willing to return the money.”

Goldeen said the companies who billed her refunded the full amount. “They said they’d reapply it to my AT&T bill, in a month or two. We’ll see,”she said.

According to Evans, if it’s your name on the bill, you have a right to the full refund. That can add up to a substantial amount of cash, because charges that have gone on for a few years can total hundreds of dollars. If you haven’t saved your bills your carrier can trace the charges for you, but don’t expect much more. AT&T is under no obligation to either verify third party transactions or address cramming complaints from customers.

To stop the practice the FTC website urges cramming victims to file a complaint even after a full refund. An online video is available to walk you through the process at ftc.gov. Or you can call 1-800-FTC HELP for more information.

BottaBoom Consulting LLC is a telecom audit firm out of Tucson, Arizona that has been investigating phone hacking, telecom fraud and cramming to victimized American businesses over the past 25 years, resulting in millions of dollars of refunded overcharges and savings to clients. If you are interested in a telecommunications fraud review or telecom fraud detection and telecom fraud prevention services for your company or a telecommunications audit project, please contact BottaBoom at: 1-888-487-5326.