Phone System Services -Oak-Brook, IL 60523

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:

Email, text messaging and chat applications may help you stay connected with coworkers and colleagues, but the traditional telephone and phone call remain a staple of business communication.

In fact, a phone call remains the #1 method for initial contact above any other method including contact forms and email.

Your prospects are picking up the phone all day – and it’s pretty safe to say you are too. Think about it. How many times a day are you picking up the phone on average?

• Calling coworkers
• Calling customers
• Calling vendors
• Sales calls
• Conference calls

You get the idea . . .

So imagine coming in to work for the day and finding out that your phone system is ‘down’.

No calls in – no calls out.

Think about what that might mean for your business: lost productivity, upset customers, missed opportunities. It adds up quick.

Our professional phone systems are important but often overlooked when it comes to service and maintenance. There comes a point when a professional phone system is going to reach end of life. It isn’t pleasant, but it’s a fact.

With that in mind, here are a few signs it’s time to think about and prepare for a new professional phone system.

4 Key Signs Your Professional Phone System is Failing

1. Your Phone System is 10+ Years Old

Many times, Andromeda helps businesses work on and maintain phone solutions and systems that are over 10 years old. They work just fine, serve their purpose, and ‘you don’t need to fix what isn’t broken’, right?

Once a professional phone system or an on-premises digital PBX system passes 10 years of age, it is a good time to assess your options. While the system may be working just fine, there is no guarantee it won’t crash due to several different factors.

Sometimes you can get by with replacing parts or service visits but there comes a time when nothing can be done and the system is done for.

Once your professional phone system hits its 10^th birthday you should probably sit down with your telecom service provider and discuss your options.

2. Connection Issues (Static, Dropped Calls)

While there may be other reasons for connection issues, legacy phone solutions and systems close to end of life tend to see an increase in connectivity problems.

If your phone calls start sounding static filled, or if phone calls are regularly dropping for no reason, you should reach out to your telephone service company and schedule a service call.

They will be able to determine what might be going on. Depending on the answer, it might be time to consider your options and prep for a new system.

3. Voicemail/Programming Issues

A common indicator of a failing phone system is an increase in programming malfunctions or issues.

Some regular programming issues are:

• Loss of programming records
• Incorrect time/date
• Calls getting mixed up or going to incorrect extensions
• Voicemails disappearing
• Display malfunctions (lighting or wording)

These issues are more than annoying: they can lead to miscommunications and frustrated clients/coworkers.

4. Overheating Systems

Most older professional phone systems don’t have the best built-in cooling elements. Over time, as the system ages, this can put stress on it and lead to overheating issues. Some businesses temporarily cope by placing a fan near the head of the unit or the PBX, but this is only a quick fix and won’t help long term.

A system with temperature issues is giving you a clear signal that it is nearing the end of its usability.

Recognizing the Signs

There can be other signals that a professional phone system is in need of attention or replacement, but these four are all a good indicator that its time to start exploring your options.

In our next article we will explore the steps you can take to prepare for phone system emergency and replacement.

If any of the above issues sound familiar or you believe that your professional phone system is nearing the end of life, please reach out to our team. We can help guide you towards a new and professional phone solution that fits your needs, your business, and your budget.

Give us a call at (815) 836-0030 or send us an email with your inquiry at Contact@WeNetwork.com.

The post Key Signals Your Professional Phone System is ‘Failing’ or Nearing End of Life appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

Whether you are considering purchasing a hosted VoIP Phone System or you’ve already made the switch there are some important things you’ll want to consider to make sure that you have in place.

Hosted VoIP phone solutions are a great option for small business. They offer many special functions and programming options to businesses via cloud technology and network capabilities.

These systems are easily portable – sometimes referred to as ‘plug and play’ solutions. As long as your office has proper cabling and network infrastructure, you can move phones easily across the office in minutes without having to call a technician or service company.

Hosted VoIP Phone solutions are scalable, offer many bells and whistles, make remote workforces easier to manage, offer detailed reporting options and a wide range of other business functions.

It should be mentioned that many if not all of these functions and programming options are available on digital solutions and IP hybrid solutions. Do not believe any phone vendor that tells you otherwise.

If you decide that hosted or cloud VoIP phone systems are the solution for your office, you’ll want to take a few steps to make sure that you are setting yourself up for a smooth and secure transition:

1. Consult an IT Vendor with Network Security experience

Whether you are planning a transition to hosted VoIP Phone Solutions or you already have them, it is important that you understand the implications this has on your network and your network infrastructure.

You want to make sure that you know how much bandwidth you currently have available and whether you’ll need to increase this. Making and receiving phone calls over the internet can eat up your available bandwidth and if you don’t account for this demand increase, you may suffer from dropped calls, low call quality and other issues. So make sure you have strong enough service from your internet provider.

Adding your phones to the network adds other requirements as well. You’ll want to have a network audit done to check up on your infrastructure and your network security. You may need to add equipment and/or update infrastructure for your VoIP phone solution to work.

Hosted VoIP systems without proper network security and infrastructure are vulnerable to data theft, DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks and other cybersecurity issues. Just like any other extension on the network, you’ll need to make sure that connections are secure and you are proactively protecting your business.

2. Make sure you have a plan for emergency numbers

While hosted VoIP phone systems can be great for your business, they do create some issues for emergency calls to local law enforcement, medical help etc.

Because your calls are made over the internet there is no geographic location associated with your phones and this poses a problem for first responders. Essentially, your phones cannot figure out which emergency call center to direct the call to.

Because of this, most companies with a cloud phone solution like hosted VoIP need to have a backup plan for emergency calls. This may mean that you maintain one digital or POTS line for emergencies.

If you have a burglar system or security system you might already have this set up because these solutions run into the same issues with VoIP service.

3. Find a vendor who can support your solution

There are hundreds of options available to you for your hosted VoIP Phone system. Between all of your hardware options and service provider options things can get a bit confusing.

A great first step when you are looking into VoIP is to engage your IT company and see if there is a solution they provide/work with.

All too often we get calls from companies with hosted phones looking for support and we have to turn them away because they have hardware Andromeda isn’t able to support.

When choosing your hardware and service provider you want to ask the following:

• How long has the company been around (they pop up and disappear far more often than you’d think)?
• Who is going to provide service to the hardware?

You definitely don’t want to find out once it is too late and your phones are having problems that you don’t have anyone to help you out.

Your phone system may change or be replaced but the need for a secure and reliable phone system remains the same. Additionally, your need for a technology or telecom vendor that understands your solution remains paramount. If moving to hosted VoIP Phone Solutions or cloud phone system is something on your mind, make sure to give us a call and we can work to make sure your transition is as smooth and secure as possible.

The post Hosted VoIP Phone Solutions: 3 Essential Steps You’ll Want To Take To Protect Yourself And Your Business appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

This year hasn't been good for users of Open Source software, which at one level or another, includes just about everybody.� Unfortunately, a recent grim discovery makes it unlikely that we'll see the number of attacks decline any time soon. Not long ago, two new back doors were discovered in more than a dozen libraries that have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times by server administrators.

One of them was discovered in Webmin, which is a web-based administration tool that boasts over a million installations.

While the exact date is unknown, sometime in the early part of 2018, someone compromised the server that was used to develop new versions of the program.� Once compromised, the unknown assailant used the access to distribute a backdoor that was downloaded nearly a million times, and is no doubt actively used by tens of thousands of internet-facing servers.� If you're using versions 1.90, 1.91, or 1.92 of Webmin, you are impacted and at risk.

The second recent discovery concerns the RubyGems repository.� Here, the backdoor allows attackers to use pre-chosen credentials to remotely execute commands to infected servers.� In addition to that, RubyGems developers also discovered that a cryptocurrency miner had been slipped into the code. That allows hackers to hijack infected servers to use their processing power for illicit mining operations, sending the proceeds to the hackers themselves.

These types of attacks can have an incredibly high impact because they tend to affect servers that sit at the heart of critical processes, like sending bulk emails or serving web pages.� Unfortunately, once such a system is infected like this, the only way to secure it is to perform a complete rebuild which is a time and resource intensive task that few business owners want to contemplate.

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