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5 Things to Know Before Going Wireless

5 Things to Know Before Going Wireless
Before you decide to go wireless or not, there are many points to consider. You may be asking yourself if wireless is for you. Well, today, many people are asking themselves the same question. If you watch the headline news, you are bound to see stories involving mergers, federal regulations, and new tax rules. This all points to the fact that VoIP has made a definite impression on American citizens and is here to stay. It may be difficult for some people to remove the telephone cords from their homes; we have depended on them for over 100 years. But once many people take the time to weigh the pros and the cons, most choose to go wireless. Here are some reasons, why you should make the switch to wireless.

1. Wireless Creates a Faster Network

Wireless networks are fast. With VoIP, you can create a network that incorporates data, audio, video, and computer web features. You can easily monitor your network for problems and troubleshooting is much simpler with web based applications rather than hardware applications. VoIP uses less bandwidth than other applications and this in the long run saves money. This is of special value to businesses. Businesses can also provide better customer service with integrated programs. Not only does this increase productivity, but also it saves time and money in the long run.


2. VoIP Saves You Money

Overall, VoIP is much more inexpensive then PSTN. You simply pay for your Internet service, and then whichever VoIP provider you choose. For a one time monthly fee, you can have unlimited local and long distance phone calls. You will need to check with the VoIP service provider that you choose for exact details on their rates. Sometimes, your VoIP service provider will allow free calls within the world to another computer, yet there may be a fee for calls worldwide to a landline phone. Always check with your chosen service provider for exact details regarding your chosen plan. Included in many VoIP service plans are free features. These features include Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Do Not Disturb, and more. Again, check with your chosen service provider for an overview of all the features bundled with your plan. The biggest benefit is the unlimited long distance calling. This has proven to be the number one reason why most businesses are switching to VoIP. For businesses such as sales or jobs that have mobile employees, these benefits go without saying. But overall, the average cost of VoIP is considerably less when compared to the cost of PSTN.

3. VoIP Enables you to Talk with More than One Person at a Time


With VoIP, you can talk with more than one person without paying extra for services such as three way calling. With VoIP you can have more than three people on the phone at once. VoIP is the perfect solution for those who want to explore the features of conference calls. This is very important for businesses that have employees overseas. By using the video conferencing features, employers will increase their productivity.

4. Enjoy Greater Flexibility


By using VoIP, you can take your VoIP equipment with you whenever you travel. Your VoIP service provider will send you a converter that will allow you to use your converter with any standard telephone. The converter comes programmed with your telephone number, allowing you to take your phone and phone number with you worldwide. All you will need is a high speed Internet connection and you can use your VoIP phone service. This is of extreme benefit to mobile employees. No longer are outdated telecommunications systems necessary, or are employees trying to run businesses on prepaid cell phone plans. By using VoIP, an employee will have access to his/her phone number, wherever they are located. Whether out of state, in a hotel, or traveling on a business trip, customers will be able to call the same number as well as leave voice mail on the employee’s computer.

5. You can Save Money for Family and Friends by Choosing Your Area Code

Many VoIP service providers will give you the option of selecting your own area code number. This is a tremendous benefit to family and friend members who can call you locally, if you select the same area code number.

5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Business Using a Toll-Free Number

5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Business Using a Toll-Free Number
Toll-free numbers allow customers to contact your business without them having to pay for their call. Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to call a business with a toll-free number than those who only have a long-distance number, and 90% of Americans say that they use toll-free numbers. By following these five easy steps, you can discover for yourself how a toll-number can help your business grow.

1. Expand your market. Toll-free numbers allow you to use the same number for receiving local toll and state-to-state calls. This gives you the opportunity to market your business nationwide. Even if you don't provide service in certain areas, toll-free numbers have the flexibility to block calls from those areas.

2. Advertise your number. Toll-free numbers lend an air of legitimacy and professionalism to your business. By using a toll-free number, your business may appear larger and more established to the consumer which will make him/her trust you more.

3. Initiate a direct response mechanism for impulse buyers. By allowing your customers an avenue to immediately react to your company's efforts calling for their action, this prompts significant increases in phone orders. It has been found that these buyers generally order more merchandise and higher ticket items nearly every time they call.

4. Qualify your buyers. Toll-free numbers enable your business to use time more efficiently and effectively. With a toll-free number, you know that someone who has called your business is already interested in what you have to offer. You spend less time trying to find interested prospects and let the number find them for you.

5. Analyze your call detail. Toll-free numbers allow you to track calls and access all of a call's details such as the number, time, date and duration of every call. This information cannot be blocked and is an excellent tool for generating leads which can lead to more sales.

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: HSRP MAC Addresses And Timers

CCNP Certification / BCMSN Exam Tutorial:  HSRP MAC Addresses And Timers
To earn your CCNP certification and pass the BCMSN exam, you've got to know what HSRP does and the many configurable options. While the operation of HSRP is quite simple (and covered in a previous tutorial), you also need to know how HSRP arrives at the MAC address for the virtual router - as well as how to configure a new MAC for this virtual router. This puts us in the unusual position of creating a physical address for a router that doesn't exist!

The output of show standby for a two-router HSRP configuration is shown below.

R2#show standby

Ethernet0 - Group 5

Local state is Standby, priority 100

Hellotime 3 sec, holdtime 10 sec

Next hello sent in 0.776

Virtual IP address is 172.12.23.10 configured

Active router is 172.12.23.3, priority 100 expires in 9.568

Standby router is local

1 state changes, last state change 00:00:22

R3#show standby

Ethernet0 - Group 5

Local state is Active, priority 100

Hellotime 3 sec, holdtime 10 sec

Next hello sent in 2.592

Virtual IP address is 172.12.23.10 configured

Active router is local

Standby router is 172.12.23.2 expires in 8.020

Virtual mac address is 0000.0c07.ac05

2 state changes, last state change 00:02:08

R3 is in Active state, while R2 is in Standby. The hosts are using the 172.12.123.10 address as their gateway, but R3 is actually handling the workload. R2 will take over if R3 becomes unavailable.

An IP address was assigned to the virtual router during the HSRP configuration process, but not a MAC address. However, there is a MAC address under the show standby output on R3, the active router. How did the HSRP process arrive at a MAC of 00-00-0c-07-ac-05?

Well, most of the work is already done before the configuration is even begun. The MAC address 00-00-0c-07-ac-xx is reserved for HSRP, and xx is the group number in hexadecimal. That's a good skill to have for the exam, so make sure you're comfortable with hex conversions. The group number is 5, which is expressed as 05 with a two-bit hex character. If the group number had been 17, we'd see 11 at the end of the MAC address - one unit of 16, one unit of 1.

The output of the show standby command also tells us that the HSRP speakers are sending Hellos every 3 seconds, with a 10-second holdtime. These values can be changed with the standby command, but HSRP speakers in the same group should have the same timers. You can even tie down the hello time to the millisecond, but it's doubtful you'll ever need to do that.

R3(config-if)#standby 5 timers ?

<1-254> Hello interval in seconds

msec Specify hello interval in milliseconds

R3(config-if)#standby 5 timers 4 ?

<5-255> Hold time in seconds

R3(config-if)#standby 5 timers 4 12

Another important HSRP skill is knowing how to change the Active router assignment. I'll show you how to do that, and how to configure HSRP interface tracking, in the next part of my CCNP / BCMSN exam tutorial!