This page covers the most frequently asked questions related to PBXtra VOIP PBX system. If you have a question that is not answered below, please contact our sales team.

1. Why is PBXtra better than my current key system?
2. What is hybrid-hosted and what does this mean for me?
3. How many extensions can I have?
4. Do you support multiple offices?
5. Does Fonality integrate with a CRM system?
6. Are Fonality’s systems secure?
7. Does PBXtra provide offsite redundancy?

1. Do I need to run new wiring for the IP Phones?
2. What type of servers do you use?
3. Do Fonality phone systems come with phones?
4. Can I use my existing IP Phones?
5. Can I use an IP phone that is not on the list?
6. Can I use analog phones?
7. Does the hardware come with a warranty?

1. How does Fonality work in my network?
2. How do I install my Fonality Phone System? Do I need to configure any hardware?
3. Do I need an Internet connection?
4. What else do I need to get my system up and running?
5. Do I need a PBX technician to configure my Fonality system/service?
6. What are my bandwidth requirements for VoIP?

1. What are your support hours?

Why is Fonality better than my current key system? Many smaller companies use key telephone systems made by large manufacturers. For simplicity sake, think of them as the inexpensive phone systems you would find at your neighborhood retailer. Key telephone systems are feature-lean, unscalable, and make companies sound small. PBXtra Standard Edition, on the other hand, gives businesses PBX features such as voicemail, auto attendant, telecommuter support, VoIP and/or PSTN capability, and more.

For companies looking for call center capabilities, PBXtra Call Center Edition provides robust ACD reporting with unlimited queues and skills-based routing; call recording; call barging; monitoring; detailed reporting; and more. PBXtra provides businesses of all sizes with big-business capabilities at key system prices.

What is hybrid-hosted and what does this mean for me? PBXtra’s unique patent-pending hybrid-hosted technology is a part-hosted, part-premise architecture that has the reliability of an on-premise system with the ease of maintenance and management of a hosted system. System functionality is handled by the server at your office, in combination with the servers at our central data center.

Our hybrid-hosted architecture makes sure that your system always runs optimally. Our servers continuously monitor your system for a wide range of error conditions, any of which automatically generate support tickets to Fonality’s 24-hour support center for immediate action.

When Fonality engineers release patches and new versions of PBXtra’s software, they are automatically pushed to your system so that you always have the latest functionality. And, if you ever suffer a serious hardware problem or natural disaster, your system is easily restored because your configuration files are always backed up. Think of it as disaster recovery without the associated price and complexity. This patent-pending hybrid-hosted technology ensures that your phone system is always secure, monitored, and updated.

How many extensions can I have? Fonality PBXtra allows you to create unlimited extensions on your system.

Note: the heavier the load on the server the more RAM the server needs. 256MB is fine for 1-5 extensions, and 512MB is recommended for more than 5 extensions.

The hull hosted service is infinitely expandable as long as your high-speed Internet connection supports the number of concurrent calls you intended to make or receive. The concurrent calls metric is the only limitation per site. For example, you could have 1000 phones but only make 10 calls at a time, and a standard Internet connection from your local cable or phone company would be sufficient for those 10 calls.

Do you support multiple offices?Yes we do. And it's affordable. No VPN or dedicated connectivity between of-fices is required. One click of the mouse and your branch offices will be 4-digit dialing each other for free.

Does Fonality integrate with a CRM system? PBXtra Call Center Edition with HUD Agent offers the ability to integrate with web-based CRM systems such as SugarCRM and Salesforce.com. When an agent receives a call, HUD does a quick query of the CRM system and displays the profile of the customer who is calling, so that agents can view their history before they answer the call. HUD integration with a CRM system is a powerful way for businesses to better manage customer and partner relationships.

Are Fonality’s systems secure?Absolutely. We takes great care in ensuring that your system is secure and private. The data sent from your on-premise equipment to the data centers and vice versa is encrypted. Your phone conversations are private, and all of your voicemails and audio files are stored on your on-premise server so only you have access to them.

For fully-hosted solution, all information transmitted over the Internet via our Admin Panel interface is secured via HTTPS. All of your CDR information, Company Directory, extension number and contact information, etc. is stored securely on our servers.

Does PBXtra provide offsite redundancy?Yes. Our data centers provide a variety of redundancy services. For starters, every configuration change you make initiates a configuration backup in our data center. In the even of a problem, your settings can be rolled back to a previous configuration state. Copies of your call detail reports (CDRs) can optionally be stored in our data center to expedite running reports via our Admin Panel interface. PBXtra customers get the additional benefit of reducing the overhead of their premise server when running CDR reports directly from Fonality's Data Center. PBXtra customers can disable the option of storing CDR information at our Data Center if it is a security concern for your organization.

I need to run new wiring for the IP Phones?No. As long as you already have Ethernet cables running to each workstation for your desktop computers, you should not have to run any additional wiring

All our IP phones come standard with two Ethernet ports (located on the back of the phone): one to connect the phone to your Local Area Network (to a wall jack or a switch), and one to also connect your computer to the LAN. This second plug acts like an Internet ‘splitter’ in the same way that a power strip provides multiple power outlets while using only a single wall outlet.

What type of servers do you use?PBXtra offers either HP or generic servers in mini-tower, rack-mount, Celeron, Pentium 4, Dual-Core Pentium 4, and Dual-Core Xeon varieties. You may also add RAID, re-dundant power-supplies, fully redundant servers, or RAM upgrades to your server.

The fully-hosted solution does not require the customer to purchase servers.

Do Fonapty phone systems come with phones?

Can I use my existing IP Phones?

Can I use an IP phone that is not on the list?The phones for PBXtra are priced separately. Phones need to be purchased from Fonality so we can configure them to work with the phone system.

The fully-hosted service requires at least one IP phone, but the monthly cost of service does not include the cost of the phone. You have the option to purchase a phone outright or rent one from us on a monthly basis.

Can I use analog phones?Yes. PBXtra can expand to accommodate the use of analog phones. However you will need to order an analog phone card and as many analog phone ports as you have ana-log phones. Each analog phone card can hold up to 4 analog phones ports. Having an analog phone card also lets you use a regular cordless phone with the system. PBXtra handles analog phones very gracefully, using call-waiting to indicate a second line (call-appearance), and stutter-tone to indicate that voice messages are waiting.

Full-hosted solution customers do not have the option of using any analog device with the UNBOUND service. Customers must use a Fonality-provided IP phone with the UNBOUND service.

Does the hardware come with a warranty?Yes. All phones come with a one-year manufacturer's warranty. Our servers come with warranties as well. If you choose our Dell line of servers, you get a 1-year onsite warranty, with the option to purchase a 3-year upgrade.

How does Fonality work in my network?PBXtra phone systems are designed and provisioned to fit seamlessly into your network. You simply plug the system and/or your IP phones anywhere in your network. (Certain configuration settings may apply. Talk to your sales rep for specifics.)

How do I install my Fonality Phone System? Do I need to configure any hardware?Your PBXtra server and all associated hardware arrives preconfigured and tested from Fonality. Once you have it in hand, your PBXtra server will need to be connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable. You will also need to configure your PBXtra server to work on your network in accordance with our PBXtra Installation Guide. This will include assigning your PBXtra server a static IP address, setting up and plugging in your phones, and then entering all of your user information for each phone extension. After that, you will need to configure how you want your PBXtra to handle your incoming calls through the Fonality Web-Admin tool. These last two steps, adding user information for each phone, and configuring your queues and call treatments, will require access to a PC on the internet with a web-browser (You cannot use the PBXtra Server itself as it has no web-browser). That's it! If you have any issues with your installation, our Customer Care Team is just an email or a phone call away! Also, with each PBXtra shipment, we schedule an installation and training appointment to ensure that your server is set up correctly, to answer any of your remaining installation questions.

Full-hosted customers only need to connect the IP phone to power and an active Internet connection. No other hardware installation is required. Customers must have a router of some sort to split their Internet connection between multiple devices (IP phone, computer, network printer, etc.) but most customers can use their existing router without issue.

Do I need an Internet connection?You need an Internet connection to make changes to PBXtra because that portion of the software is hosted in our server farm. This means that your system will operate normally (route calls, voicemail, etc.) when your Internet is down. Of course, if your Internet is down, you will not be able to use VoIP and your telecommuter extensions will not function. We recommends that all of our customers keep at least one PSTN line so that their main office stays operational during Internet outages.

Fully-hosted customers require an Internet connect to use the service. If your Internet connection is down for any reason, you will not be able to use your phone to make or receive calls, and you will not be able to use any other function of the system such as checking your voicemail or calling another extension in your office. VoIP phones require the Internet like your television requires your satellite or cable provider - even with power, there would be no service without signal from the satellite or cable box. Unlike traditional analog lines, VoIP requires both power and an active connection to the Internet.

What else do I need to get my system up and running?It's often easy to confuse a VoIP phone system with voice services. A phone system requires dial tone to place calls. Even if you plan to only use VoIP with PBXtra, you'll still need to purchase phone service from a VoIP services provider (much like you would regular phone service). PBXtra gives you the most flexibility to choose your telephone service type and service provider. You can choose your existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) line, an Integrated Access T1, or a VoIP service. If you use your existing PSTN line, you'll need to order a server that includes a Base Analog Expansion Card and as many Analog Line Ports (FXO ports) as you want PSTN-lines to connect. If you want to connect to a T1/PRI line, you'll need to order a system with a T1 interface card. If you choose to use a VoIP service, Fonality PBXtra provides you with the ability to use VoIP-only or a combination VoIP and PSTN service with our unique PSTN-Fallback feature. We recommends that you keep at least one PSTN line active so that your main office stays operational in the event of an Internet outage.

Fully-hosted customers receive all the features of a comparable version of PBXtra AND the dial tone - in one package! With this service, all you need is the phone you ordered. Connect the phone to your high-speed Internet connection, and the phone does the rest. Once the phone has registered with the Fonality Data Cluster, you are ready to place and receive calls.

Do I need a PBX technician to configure my Fonality system/service?Absolutely not! PBXtra and Fully-hosted solutions are designed as turnkey telephony solutions for businesses that don't have telephony professionals in-house. Once activated, the system/service automatically performs basic configuration. When Fonality PBXtra arrives, all you'll need to do is connect it to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, and follow our PBXtra Installation Guide to activate your server/service to work on your network. Additional customization typically includes assigning a static IP address, plugging in additional phones, and entering your user information for each phone extension.

After that, you can configure your system to handle your incoming calls through PBXtra’s web-based Administrative Panel. These last two steps — adding user information for each phone and configuring your queues and call treatments — requires access to a PC on the Internet with a web browser. If you have any issues with your installation, our Installation Support Team is an email or phone call away. With each shipment, we schedule a post installation appointment to ensure that your server is set up correctly, answer any remaining installation questions, and show you how to use the most common features of your new phone system.

What are my bandwidth requirements for VoIP?VoIP calls require approximately 80Kbps (up and down) for each concurrent call. Most ordinary small office routers are capable of gracefully handling 5 simultaneous calls while routers with QoS capabilities (recommended) handle around 20 calls per high-speed Internet T1.

fully-hosted VoIP calls require approximately 20Kbps (up and down) for each concurrent call. Using this service, most ordinary small office routers are capable of gracefully handling 20 simultaneous calls while routers with QoS capabilities (recommended) handle around 50 calls per high-speed Internet T1.

What are your support hours?For normal (non-critical) support issues, North American customers can call Fonality from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM in local time zones. Critical (system-down) support is available 24/7.