Phone System Services -Chicago, IL 

Whether you need a legacy phone system maintained, or an entirely new communications system for multiple offices, Andromeda Technology Solutions is the answer you have been looking for. As our expertise also includes complete data network solutions, you can rest assured that we can fully integrate a communications system that will best leverage your existing or future IT infrastructure.

In many cases, your telephone system is the first thing people will experience when dealing with your business.

• Does it show your company in a good light?
• Is it set up so your clients have a good experience?
• Does it help maximize employee productivity?

Let us show you how a phone system should be set up!

Experience the simplicity of having an experienced company to handle all aspects of your communication systems, letting you focus on running your business.

Contact us or fill out the Request form on this page now to ask us to contact you!

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Hybrid PBX and IP-based Phone Systems

We support a host of major phone systems—from Avaya, NEC, Panasonic to Toshiba— and are a certified Panasonic dealer for both a traditional PBX system, as well as a true IP-based VoIP system. The beauty of these systems lies in their very extensive feature set (over 800 features) and their mix-and-match capabilities. Each system can mix analog, digital and IP phone sets to match almost any application. Also, each system has extensive functionality built-in for incorporating branch offices, work-at-home employees and other remote workers.

We spend a great deal of time understanding all your requirements, so we can select the system and functions that are exactly what you need.

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The Phones Become the Network

If you are considering an IP-based telephone system, it is important to understand these systems are more data systems than phone systems. Unlike a traditional PBX system, a VoIP system puts a significant burden on your data network, and requires specific equipment and configuration to ensure everything is running properly.

Many traditional telephone service companies lack the skills to properly install and maintain a VoIP system. Andromeda Technology Solutions excels in all aspects of voice and data, and will ensure you get the system that is right for you.

Whether Cloud-based, Hosted/virtual PBX, or completely on-premises, we have the knowledge AND experience to guide you and implement your voice communication system to perfection.

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Replacement of Legacy Phone Systems

We have many years of experience upgrading/replacing legacy phones systems from: ComDial, Nortel, Toshiba/Mitel, and Samsung just to name a few. If you would like to experience service from a truly customer-focused organization, call us when you are ready to replace and upgrade your existing legacy telephone system.

			KX-TA KX-NCP KX-TDA KS-TDE
			IP Office Definity Magix Legend Partner
			Aspire Elite IPK I-Series DS/DSX

AndroPedia Tech Library

As part of our service, it is important to keep our client-partners well informed on Telephone system developments, news, and best practices. Here is just a sampling of typical items from our AndroPedia^SM library archive:

The current Pandemic has forced many of us to work from home. This “new” way of working is adding stress and may be creating greater cyber risks to our data. It is important to take a moment and review these popular scams and what you can do to protect yourself.

Verify Information Smartphone Scams

Criminals and identity thieves know that your personal information is valuable. A criminal can use it to open up fraudulent credit cards, empty your bank accounts, impersonate you or they can even steal it and sell it on the dark web for a quick profit.

With this in mind, criminals are always looking for new ways to get your data.

This popular phone scam begins with a criminal impersonating a representative at a company you probably already do business with or subscribe to. Many times, criminals will impersonate your insurance provider.

The criminal calls you and informs you that they are making a routine call to update and verify information on your account . . . sounds innocent enough . . . but don’t fall for it!

Some ways you can defend yourself:

• Most of the time these big companies automate this process through pre-recorded messages. If you get a call from a real human being asking to verify your information – this is your first sign of fraud. Your best bet is to get off the phone and call the company direct. Confirm that they are the ones actually trying to update your info that way.
• Don’t fall for threats or bullying! Often, when you resist these criminals they will begin threatening you and try to intimidate you into giving the info over. “You can lose your insurance” “You will face fines” If these kind of threats and bullying techniques are being used, you’re almost certainly being scammed.

The Tech Virus/Issue Scams

This scam has been around for a while but it still works on some people.

You get a call from a tech company of sorts letting you know about some issue with your equipment or software. The criminal on the phone may direct you to download a ‘patch’ or the solution to your problem. In reality, the criminal just got you to download and open a file with a virus attached. You weren’t infected before, but your equipment is now.

The criminal, still impersonating a tech employee or customer service rep, now explains that they can fix the problem for a fee.

The most popular version of this is a Microsoft scam where criminals call you to inform you that your computer is infected (wouldn’t that be some awesome customer service!). Once they get you to your computer they either have you change settings that will allow them to wreak havoc on your comp and steal data from you, or they prompt you to download a file/visit an infected website.

Once you are infected they extort you to get the outcome they desire.

At the end of the day, there are very few companies who are going to call you and tell you about a virus or an issue on your computer or smart device. If you get a call like this…disregard. If you want to make sure you don’t have a virus on your computer, contact your IT support staff instead.

Text Message Phishing or SMShing Smartphone Scams

With smart phones at our fingertips most hours of the day, criminals have turned their focus to these devices as a great way to steal information and cause trouble.

These text message phishing scams and SMS phishing (SMShing) smartphone scams use the same techniques you’ll see in an email phishing scam. They will send you messages via text designed to get you to click links, download programs/apps and they try to trick you into handing over personal information.

There are some techniques you can use to discover and avoid these scams:

• If you don’t know the person texting you or don’t recognize the number, don’t click links in their text messages.
• Your bank and other financial institutions aren’t going to text you to verify password info – if you do get a text from someone claiming to be from your bank etc. go direct to the website and handle things that way.

Fake or Look-alike Apps

A big new scam on the market, fake applications are designed by criminals to look like real applications you’d download and use on your smartphone. These applications are designed with malicious hidden code designed to steal your personal information, access your contacts, send spam messages from your phone to your network and even track your location via GPS tracking.

• Make sure you only download applications from trusted web stores and application stores.
• Take a look at the developers of the app and do some research. Make sure they are reputable and trustworthy.
• Read through the terms and conditions of applications before you download. Be sure you know what permissions you are giving developers and programmers when it comes to the data on your phone and usage.

These scams are some of the more popular ones in the market but there are many more including popup smartphone scams, IRS scams, Utility scams and the ‘yes’ scam.

The key to defending yourself is educating yourself and others on these criminal tactics as well as the techniques used to identify and outsmart them.

The post Beware! Popular Phone and Smartphone Scams & How To Defend Yourself appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

“Time Is Money”

The fact is, downtime and productivity loss from phone system failure can cost your business thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye. Today you have hundreds of options at their fingertips (literally); all one search engine away.

Don’t lose business all because your legacy phone system finally took a dive. You also don’t want to force your own hand when it comes to choosing a new phone system due to lack of preparation.

That being said, check out these 5 signs your pbx phone system is on its last leg.

Signs of PBX Phone System Failure

1. Your system is 10+ years old – Congratulations! Your system has served you well. Older systems probably don’t have parts in production or programming updates being rolled out which puts you at risk of a failure with no fix. 
2. Static Filled Lines – Nothing is more frustrating than a call filled with static. Faulty equipment and wiring can lead to this issue. 
3. Voicemail/Programming Issues – Possibly the most prominent sign your pbx phone system is on its way out are programming issues. Have you ever lost all of your scheduled programming or noticed completely inaccurate dates and times out of nowhere? Are voicemails disappearing on you? Maybe lights have stopped functioning and you are no longer notified when you have a message. Do customers and employees complain about programming issues like being routed to the wrong location or a buggy Auto Attendant function? 
4. Functional Limitations – Older systems don’t have many of the useful functions you have probably heard about in modern systems i.e. Voicemail-to-Email, Mobility, Remote Support and streamlined programming. 
5. System Overheating? – Many legacy systems don’t have adequate cooling systems. Do you have a fan sitting in front of your pbx phone system to keep it from overheating? That is an especially relevant telltale sign that your system is at the end of its life.

We have several different options in business phone systems. Our knowledgable staff is here to answer any questions you may have and help you choose the most robust system for a great price. Contact us today.

The post 5 Signs Your Phone System Is On Its Last Leg appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

Do you have a solid- state drive (SSD)? If so, you're probably aware that recent builds of Windows 10 have introduced an unexpected issue.

It causes the automatic maintenance feature of the OS to kick in and defragment SSDs much more frequently than they should be, which greatly reduces their useful lives.

The way the feature was supposed to work was that Windows Automatic Maintenance would defrag an SSD once a month. The bug, however, caused the date of the last defragmentation not to be recorded by the system, which caused the OS to assume that it was time after each system restart.

That's problematic on two levels. First and most obviously, because it increases your risk of catastrophic data loss. Second, SSD's are significantly more expensive than their HDD counterparts.

Fortunately, Microsoft didn't waste any time addressing the issue. The company's most recent update, Windows 10 2004, released as part of the most recent Patch Tuesday Update (KB4571744, build 19041.488) remedies the issue. Once this update is installed, the Windows 10 Automatic Maintenance function will work properly where SSD's are concerned.

There are a couple of silver linings here:

First, while SSD's are probably the future, they currently only represent a minority of hard drives in use.

Secondly, since SSD's were the only types of drives impacted, you may not have even been aware of the issue. Even if you are, it hasn't been happening for long enough to significantly shorten the life of the SSD you have, and the fix to prevent more damage is as simple as installing the latest update.

Even if you're not in the habit of installing Windows 10 updates as soon as they're available, if you have a solid-state drive, you'll want to make this one a priority.

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