VCCS Telecom

 So you're stating a business and need phone service, what now?

When starting a business, a phone line is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. Some might call their local phone company right away, while other savvy entrepreneurs may shop around for virtual or VoIP phone service options only to discover there is a whole other world out there. So what should you do and what do you need to ensure a minimal start-up cost for what you need while allowing for expansion in the future?

Ask yourself, what are your telephone needs?

Will you be working from home mostly, or from the road? Is it a mixture of both?
Will you have more than one person that needs phone communications in the business?
Do you plan on getting office space down the road and will you hire more employees? If you have done a business plan these answers may be on hand and have possible timelines attached to them.

Finding the right company...

Do they offer services that best fit your business model right now?
In most all cases I would avoid the local telco. The may offer some type of Virtual or VoIP services but usually are attached to a regular phone line, include no extras and have costly forwarding minutes. I do however recommend a Single Number Forwarding type service where you pick up a local phone number that you can forward to your mobile, attach to a VoIP softphone, or even a mobile device softphone for VoIP.

Do they allow for future growth with other services?
When you bring on other people in the business or want to give your company that fortune 500 feel you may look at an Auto Attendant service (press 1 for sales, press 2 for billing, etc). If expanding beyond your domestic market you might want a Toll Free number at some point also. Make sure you know the cost of additional lines as well as the features they come with. Be aware of any introductory offers that may tip the scales when adding these additional lines or features. At some point when you grow you will look at a more robust IP-PBX Phone System with additional capabilities. Find out if the VoIP company offers this type of service and if you can easily transition your services and virtual phone number over when the time comes.

Do they have support on your schedule?
This of course ranges on a per company basis and you may have specific needs. Daytime, night time, do they respond within 2 hours or 2 days?
Will the company make recommendations and help you decide what packages and features are best suited for you at the time or are you left with figuring out the setup and options on your own?

I hope this article provides some valuable insight into one of the most important business tools any company, large or small will need. For those interested in our Single Number Forwarding service specifically please check out http://www.vccs.ca/smb-solutions/single-number-forwarding.

Thanks for reading!

Matthew Martin
Chief Consultant
VCCS Telecom

Linux and SIP hack attempts are all too common. There are dozens of stories out there including a client of mine that incurred $18,000 in losses. Here are a few tips on securing your IP-PBX Phone System.

1) Make sure all passwords are changed from the defaults immediately.

Root:
> passwd

Mysql:
mysql asterisk --execute="UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('XXXX') WHERE User='root';"
mysql asterisk --execute="FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

- Don’t forget the Admin passwords if any through the Admin GUI.

- Only login with a standard user account and use “sudo” when needed.

- Consider changing the SSH port to something other than 21

- Use Complex SIP Passwords for Extensions and Trunks!

2) If using VoIP -

- Use IP AUTHENTICATION with your SIP Provider!! Avoid registrations with passwords at ALL costs if you can!
- Instead of using a registration string use “Qualify=yes”.

3) Things to notice in your CLI: "Pinball activity”.

Multiple Messages such as "wrong password for ext xx" or "attempting to register but host is not dynamic" etc. Basically random messages with IP’s that you do not recognize. Don’t confuse them with your remote agents though! Use IPtables to block malicious IPs.

iptables -A INPUT -s x.x.x.x -j DROP (add blocked IP)

(CentOS)

> /etc/init.d/iptables save (save settings)

(Debian)
To allow ONLY specific IPs

iptables -A INPUT -s “friendlyip.1” -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -s “friendly.ip.2” -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -s 127.0.0.1 -j ACCEPT # yes, accept connections from localhost.

Save--
iptables -A INPUT -s 0/0 -j DROP

- Don’t forget your remote IP if needed and your ISP/Router/Gateway.

4) There are more root password hack attempts than SIP registration hacks due to linux hack attempts versus targeted SIP hack attempts. Lock down remote SSH wrong password attempts.

1. Open /etc/pam.d/sshd in a text editor.

2. Right before @include common-auth, add the following on its own line:

auth required pam_tally.so deny=3 unlock_time=120

3. Right before @include common-account, add the following on its own line:

account required pam_tally.so reset

- See also: /var/log/auth.log and /var/mail/root for unauthorized access and attempts.

5) Disable un-needed services such as FTP, TFTP, and any other remote access services not needed.

6) Install Fail2Ban - Scans log files like /var/log/pwdfail or /var/log/apache/error_log and bans IPs that make too many password failures. It also updates firewall rules to reject the IP addresses.

7) Restrict Default Access -
1) Bind your mysql server to localhost. To do this you need to edit /etc/my.cnf and set "bind_address=127.0.0.1"
2) Enable host based access on your httpd.conf. If you are using the apache server on your local network only, it would be wise to do a bind address to the local network interface

8) Asterisk Based -
1) Edit /etc/asterisk/manager.conf and change 0.0.0.0 to 127.0.0.1
2) Ensure "allowtransfer=no" in /etc/asterisk/sip.conf

Good luck and safe calling!

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An IP-PBX is the new generation of SME phone system which can leverage Voice over IP technology and Unified Communications. Its flexibility allows any type of business model to have a custom tailored solution based on the individual needs, unlike legacy systems that often require you to adapt to them.

While some companies prefer an on-site system, a hosted PBX will provide you with the same features but with a lower start up and TCO. Here are 5 reasons why you want to switch to an IP-PBX phone system.

1) SIP Trunking

This technology is the most common transport method for IP Communications or, Voice over IP. SIP trunking allows not only voice but also data across the network such as video and SMS enabling video calls, conference calls and data lookup for Caller ID and CRM purposes. Another major benefit of VoIP is the ability to connect calls long distances across the internet while passing off calls to the PSTN network only when reaching the calls last internet hop. This in turn is one of the main reasons that VoIP can significantly reduce costs in your local and long distance phone bill and even connect calls for free between branch offices and remote workers. IP communication also trades up an expensive PRI for a full or fractional T1 or an existing high speed internet connection.

2) Virtual Numbers

Using VoIP and Direct Inward Dialling (DIDs) you’re able to obtain Virtual phone numbers to connect to your phone system at a very reasonable cost. This means that multiple site locations can have many different phone numbers routed over the internet to even a single phone system without the need to have equipment in that particular city or country. This is very useful for routing calls to different departments such as customer service, technical support groups and call queues. This functionality has many valuable applications. I once worked with a call center that put ads in various locations for job applicants in order to determine the best city for its new location. They were able to see where the most interest was coming from based on the local DID that was called most often.

3) Remote Workers

The need for Remote Workers comes in many different forms. Mobility is often critical for on the road sales reps, technicians, executive trips, and in various types of on the road positions. Perhaps an employee is out sick for the day and you can’t afford to have other employees affected, or maybe their child is sick at home and they are forced to take the day off. Whatever the case, IP Telephony allows you to easily forward calls from an extension to an employee’s cellular phone, remote Softphone, or IP telephone. Employees also have the ability to retrieve voicemail, receive faxes by email and make outbound calls. When connected remotely to the phone system using VoIP technology, features such as forward, barge and application integration can remain seamless.

4) Mobility

Cut over time is a common issue when moving locations as is changing and moving employee extensions and lines. Down time and installation can often be a headache when you have an employee move locations or leave or join the company. Phone provisioning is usually needed as well as calling in a technician to add or move equipment and lines around. With IP telephony you have the ability to move your equipment without such issues, whether it be the complete infrastructure to a new, or the existing office location.  On the phone system side this can be as simple as plugging in your system to the Ethernet cable and be back online, or moving an IP phone to another location and simply re-connecting the Ethernet cable. No analog re-wiring is necessary and if you use Virtual phone numbers (DIDs) your calls will continue to route to your new location.
In the case of a disaster, a hosted PBX or VoIP provider would be crucial to ensure down time is minimized and recovery time is maximized.

5) Conferencing

Either you’re paying way too much to conference, or you haven’t bothered because of the cost and complex nature. Many IP-PBX phone systems come out of the box with conferencing ready to go. You can support hundreds of users in a single conference with no shortage of features. Attendees can join either from an outside line or over the internet via IP phone to eliminate tying up your DID capacity. Self managing your conferences is an easy task and can save you thousands of dollars within a short period of time.

Many people are new to VoIP technology and wonder what type of savings and setup is involved. Below is a brief comparison that I hope may be of some help.  
There are some immediate cost saving advantages with more long term benefits that follow with Total Cost of Ownership. The key areas to focus on would be; equipment, talk time, and features.

Equipment Costs:

With traditional phone systems it's pretty straight forward. A PBX, some phones, and dozens of wires plugged into a patch panel. VoIP introduces a bit more flexibility into the fold by offering smaller and mid-sized solutions.

IP phones:  Stand alone VoIP phones that plug directly into an internet cable for single use.

Softphones: Computer based software when configured will make and receive calls from your computer.

IP-PBX: This is the equivalent of a traditional PBX phone system that instead, uses a network cable to send and receive calls over the internet without the use of POTS (Plain Old Telephone System).
Pricing can vary based on the company or type of IP-PBX you purchase. This ranges from licensing per seat to Open Source technologies without licensing models. VoIP uses an internet connection rather than pulling in a separate line for your analog phone service. If you’re interested in bandwidth per call information you can check out a bandwidth calculator here. Analog phone cards are quite expensive in comparison to a full VoIP solution but an IP-PBX has the flexibility of combining both technologies on the same system.

Talk time:

Legacy: With your traditional phone service provider you would typically pay per fixed line which includes local calling. Long distance is charged separately at high rates. Examples of this are .10 for Canada and .15 to the USA. International destinations would vary depending on your provider.

VoIP: The VoIP market being much more competitive allows providers to partner with various carriers to complete their VoIP to PSTN network. This creates a larger market and in turn creates a demand for higher quality and lower cost routes. The equipment needed is reduced as the voice traffic is travelling across relatively inexpensive internet connections, which in turn lowers calling costs. North American calling can be accomplished for as little as .01 and International calling at a fraction of your traditional phone service rates. Lines can be obtained on a per trunk basis or per minute billing.

Features:

Many of our phone features that we have come to rely on such as voicemail, caller ID, 3 way calling and faxing have been bundled as packages and charged for additional fees. VoIP systems include many features considered to be standard without hidden costs and over charges. This is due to the flexibility of having many features built into the phone system out of the box.

VoIP providers have broken out of the box to provide feature rich and flexible calling solutions for small, mid and larger based businesses. Traditional phone companies have long relied on their reputation and domination of the communications industry and will have to adopt the 2.0 mentality that is rapidly evolving.