PBX & Phone FAQs

Absolutely! As a cloud-hosted service provider, we are not growth constrained or tied to a specific location. This helps you scale up with ease. You may add new phones, extensions, or office locations, including home offices, at any time.

All phones on your service are connected seamlessly on the same phone system to present the appearance of a single unified office to your callers.  Through our partnerships with instrument companies such as Poly, Yealink, and Grandstream, we can help outfit your conference rooms and breakout rooms as well.

Our service is billed in a truly unique fashion to help you keep your costs down and provide the most flexibility in meeting your business needs. Most business phone systems charge one high monthly rate per user, even for phones that are rarely (if ever) used. You end up paying for unused capacity, even for employees who are on vacation or leaves of absence.

Many providers offer “unlimited” minutes in their pricing plans. How can they do that? The answer is simple, by charging for minutes they know you’ll never use, they make you think it’s “unlimited.”

We don’t believe in charging you for service you’ll never use. We believe in value.

With Callicity℠, you are billed one low rate based on the simultaneous call capacity you need rather than the number of extensions, queues, or DIDs (phone numbers). Doing it this way affords you considerable flexibility in controlling your costs to fit your actual usage and business needs.

Our unique Contact Center solution allows you to have an unlimited number of extensions without paying for each agent. Run a 24 x 7 contact center? Why pay for the two-thirds of your agents who aren’t even at work?

Yes! We provide you with both MacOS and Windows programs that allow you to use your service to place, receive, and manage calls without the need for a physical desktop phone, though you may use a desktop phone as well. As a matter of fact, our softphones have full Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) enabling you to dial and answer your desk phone from your computer.

Our integration is so complete, you can use your computer browser to make and answer calls, send and receive text messages, and chat all without the need to install a traditional softphone application.

How’s that for flexibility?

Of course! Our mobile app, available for both iPhone or Android, transforms your cell phone or tablet into a very powerful business tool. With our mobile apps, you can make calls that present your business phone number as Caller ID instead of your personal number, access your voicemail, fax, send and receive text messages, attend video conferences, and more!

You can download our mobile app here: iPhone | Android

Yes! You can send and receive SMS messages with your main business number as the caller ID directly from your computer or mobile device. Business SMS texting is included with our Professional, Enterprise, and Contact Center plans.

Not only can you send and receive SMS messages to each individual extension, our SMS is fully integrated with our call queues! We can show you how to have your main number receive text messages for your sales department while your customers can send SMS messages directly to your support department.

Sure. Each extension can have its own list forwarding of phone numbers. You can also configure the times of day or days of the week you will be in the office and send forwarded calls straight to mobile phones or voicemail any other time.

Absolutely. While it’s certainly more cost-effective to have your customers reach everyone via an extension or queue, you can get a local number (DID) for each and every extension for as little as $2 per month. You will be able to choose from a selection of local phone numbers in or near your area that, when dialed, will directly ring to that phone instead of going through your main automated system.

Unlike other providers, we don’t believe in charging you for services you don’t need. Our model allows you to only pay for the DIDs you actually need rather than for each and every extension.

If you have multiple locations or teleworkers, each can have a number local to their area, perfect for sales or customer service people that have specific territories.

We also offer the flexibility to have each one of these DIDs with their own call tree / auto-attendant at no additional charge.

Of course. Enhanced 911 (E911) dialing services are available with any of our PBX solutions. Any connected device is able to dial 911 to reach emergency services.

Each of our business customers is assigned their own personal Technical Account Manager (TAM). Your TAM is your first line of support, able to quickly resolve issues or change your setup thanks to a deep understanding of your configuration and needs. If for any reason your TAM cannot be reached, our support team is available by phone at (240) 621-8530, by e-mail at support@callicity.com, or via real-time chat from our website.

No. We have taken every measure to ensure we are providing a service our customers can depend on. We won’t settle for less than the best when choosing a phone system, so why should you?

We only use top-tier carriers so we can offer the most reliable solutions on the market. Our Contact Center solution not only employs separate redundant carriers, we include a redundant standby PBX to ensure the utmost in reliability.

As for audio call quality, we use the latest in high-definition CODECs ensuring the audio quality remains crystal clear.

Yes! Our Professional, Enterprise, and Contact Center solutions include a dedicated fax number at no additional charge. Incoming faxes are forwarded to you by e-mail as a PDF, or they can be forwarded to a physical fax machine or MFD.

Our e-mail to fax service (also included with our Professional, Enterprise, and Contact Center solutions) allows you to send faxes directly from your existing e-mail accounts. You even have the flexibility to allow anyone from your e-mail domain to send faxes, or you can limit it to specific addresses. The choice is yours.

Your hold music is yours to change at any time. Many of our customers choose to upload properly-licensed professional music. Our music-on-hold is so flexible, you can use playlists and/or have the music automatically change once a day or per call.

Of course. Our music-on-hold (MOH) playlists allow you to intersperse your own messages along with the music. You can randomize each list so your callers aren’t fatigued by listening to the same blurb every 20 seconds. Your Technical Account Manager (TAM) can help you set this up. We can even provide you with voice talent resources if you need them.

You control who gets to call you. You can easily block calls from telemarketers or other harassing phone numbers by adding these phone numbers to your call blocking list. You can also screen your calls with options like having the caller speak their name and hear this before choosing whether to connect to the call, send it to voicemail, or hang up.

Most users prefer to check their messages directly from their phone by pressing the message key. Each extension can also be configured to send voicemail messages directly to e-mail, complete with the caller’s phone number, the date and time of the call, a transcription of the first sixty seconds of the message and, if you’d like, the entire voicemail as an audio file attachment. The decisions are yours.

You may customize your system recordings any way you’d like. This greeting is the first impression your callers get of your business and we want you to be able to welcome them in the manner best fitting your needs. Your Technical Account Manager is available to assist you in scripting this greeting, along with your after-hours and holiday messages. We can even engage our professional voice talent to make your recording(s) in the style and tone of your choice for a small, one-time, fee.

Certainly. Our After Hours feature allows you to set this up in two ways.

• Either schedule a second auto-attendant to replace your default greeting at certain times of day, or even certain days of week or,
• Use a simple greeting that states that your offices are closed and asks the caller to call back during your regular business hours.

It’s all up to you. Your Technical Account Manager is here to help you configure this feature appropriately for you and your business. If you need more information, please contact our team by phone at +1 240-621-8500 or by e-mail at hello@callicity.com.

Yes, you can. Our Call Details reports can be viewed on-demand from your cloud portal and/or scheduled to automatically come directly to your e-mail on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. We have an extensive list of reports. Your Technical Account Manager is here to help you get the reporting you need.

Sapere Aude – Dare to Know!

Absolutely! Both our Enterprise and Contact Center services include a toll-free number at no additional charge… including the calls! You won’t see that from any other service!

If you’d like, we can even set up additional toll-free numbers for you –  either to track specific marketing programs, to have separate numbers for separate purposes such as audio-conference lines, or to provide your customers with a direct number for your sales or support queues.

Your Technical Account Manager is here to guide you through the best solution for your business.

Each of our PBX plans includes unlimited extensions, a key feature that sets Callicity℠ apart.

Our solutions are based on the number of simultaneous calls you need rather than the number of extensions or people you have in your organization. Not everyone needs their own personal number (DID) so why pay for it? Our Contact Center solution allows you to only pay for the number of calls you’re actually handling, rather than the number of agents you have. This is particularly important for 24 x 7 centers. At least two-thirds of your agents are off at any time so why pay for capacity that will never be used.

That’s a great question! Typically, you will need one simultaneous call (SC) for every three employees. For example, if you’re a small business with 12 or fewer employees, our 4 SC solution is for you. If you’re a little larger, say, 50 employees, our 12 SC solution should be a good fit. 350 employees… our 128 SC solution is right for you.

As your business grows, our solutions scale with you. We have solutions for up to 1,024 simultaneous calls!

If you manage a service desk or call center, your needs are most likely in the “one SC for every two agents” range. Our Contact Center solution can not only scale to handle your needs, it includes toll-free calling, redundant carriers, and a redundant standby failover PBX to ensure that every call makes it to you.

Of course! We know it can be difficult to gauge how many calls you will receive when you are just getting started. Need additional numbers? No problem. Need to add extensions? We don’t charge for extensions. Flexibility is built-in to every one of our solutions.

Your Technical Account Manager is here to assist whenever you need. Your TAM is here to meet with you at least once a month to review not only your usage but also our service.

Absolutely not! What kind of service would that be!

Each of our plans includes additional minutes available to you in preset blocks with no billing surprises. You will never experience a call blocked due to exhausted plan minutes. We are also very flexible in helping you determine which calling plan best fits you and your business.

Remember, we don’t believe in over-paying for “unlimited” plans that require you to pay for more minutes than you’ll ever need. We don’t want to name names, but many providers state they offer “unlimited” plans and then bury the plan limit details in their contract. Don’t you just hate that?

Sapere Aude – Dare to Know!

Yes. You can transfer (port) your existing toll-free or local phone numbers to Callicity℠. That’s what number portability is all about. We’ll take care of all the paperwork and ensure that your new PBX is ready to begin taking calls before your number is moved so you won’t miss any important calls.

The porting process can take a little as one week or as long as four. We can’t control the timeline nor expedite the process, it’s entirely up to how quickly your current provider releases the numbers.

What we will do is set up your new PBX with a temporary number so you and your Technical Account Manager can ensure that all of the details of your new service – call queues, extensions, auto-attendants, music-on-hold, etc.  – are all fully configured and working properly before the port is complete.

Absolutely. Unlike other video conferencing platforms, ours does not require any additional software besides our browser plug-in. Any computer and modern browser will work! You can make or take video calls from your mobile phone too!

Each of our solutions includes unlimited users, just like our voice solutions.

• Our Standard solution allows for up to 25 simultaneous users.
• Our Professional edition allows up to 100 simultaneous users in each conference.
• Finally, our Enterprise and Contact Center solutions allow up to 250 simultaneous video conference participants.

All of this at no additional charge and none of the video conference time counts towards your usage!

Both audio conferencing and video conferencing are limited to 20 hours per conference. Need a longer conference call? Start another! There is no limit to the number of conference calls you can create.

Of course. In Webinar mode, you can have up to 300 participants. They can chat with each other, answer poll questions, and more! You have full control over whether your conference is open or closed. You can upload presentations to share with the participants, share your screen, use the whiteboard, and you even have a “pointer” available to you.

Yes. Any video conference can be recorded and downloaded for future playback. You have options for video resolution to help reduce the size of the video file or if you prefer, retain full HD video and audio resolution. You can even start and stop the recording right from the conference itself with the click of a button.