Phone System Services -New-Lenox, IL 60451

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:

Have you ever spoken with a telecom salesman? If you have, you probably noticed they speak in what appears to be code. PRI . . . POTS lines . . . PBX . .  .VOIP? What does any of this even mean?

Lucky for you, we decoded some of the most common telecom acronyms so that even you can speak phone system.

 Most Popular Telecom Acronyms

• VoIP – (Voice over Internet Protocol) is an alternative way of making phone calls. VoIP transmits the sounds you make over the Internet. There are different styles of VoIP systems but the two most common are cloud based and on premise.
• SIP – (Session Initiation Protocol) is an industry standard method of achieving VoIP.  Telephone Systems and many communications devices now have the ability to perform SIP protocol by way of trunk access (dial tone), video, etc.
• PRI – (Primary Rate Interface) a multi-channel digital circuit that brings 24 lines of telephone system communication for incoming/outgoing dial tone. Essentially, it allows multiple inbound and outbound calls at one time. This is often a less expensive approach for a company that has more than 10 analog (POTS) lines.
• PBX (Private Branch Exchange) This is typically a physical box on location at your business that holds all the programming required to make calls, transfer calls, host Voicemail and many other key functions.
• POTS – (Plain Old Telephone Service) also known as analog telephone lines.
• IP-PBX – (Internet Protocol-Private Branch Exchange) is a telephone system that integrates with Internet functionality such as VoIP and SIP services.
• PSTN – (Public Switched Telephone Network) is known as traditional telephone lines.
• ISDN – (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the PSTN.

More questions? No worries, check out our Telecom Phone Systems page and let us help answer some of your additional questions! Or reach out to us for a conversation about your needs.

The post Phone Systems Decoded – 8 Commonly Used Telecom Acronyms & What They Actually Mean appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

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.

Microsoft has been moving toward a unified "single version" of Outlook that would offer a seamless user experience across all platforms and devices. Unfortunately, thus far, that objective has remained elusive.

In late 2020, however, the company announced "Project Monarch" which seeks to create a new email/calendar client that will finally accomplish the company's long-stated goal.

Their goal is providing the same look, feel and functionality, no matter what type of device you log in from, and regardless of the OS that device runs on.

The company has provided a mock-up of the "One Outlook" dashboard on the Project Monarch blog. However, based on the information we've been able to glean about the initiative thus far, it's unlikely that Windows 10 users will be able to see it in action until mid to late 2022. Having said that, Windows Insiders will likely get an early preview of the client toward the end of 2021, but this preview won't replace the mail and calendar apps in Windows 10 right away.

Even though the finished product appears to be quite some distance out, this is big news and welcome indeed. Although far from perfect, Outlook is a wildly popular email platform with legions of users. Creating a unified user experience is a very big deal, because increasingly, consumers use a wide range of devices that are often powered by different OS's. It's not at all uncommon for a user to have a Windows-based PC, an Android-based smartphone, and a MacOS-based laptop they use at home and on the weekends. Being able to have the same user experience across all of those devices is invaluable.

Kudos to Microsoft for finally putting some teeth into the idea, and for providing a road map and a time frame for when we'll finally see "One Outlook."

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