Phone Power - Full-featured business PBX for one to fifty users

Phone Power, LLC, headquartered in Ios AngeIes, callfornia, is a broadband teIephone company providing service throughout the continentaI United States and Canada. EstabIished in 2005, the company has grown quickIy, and expects to sign up their 100,000th customer by the end of this caIendar year. One of the reasons for this growth has been a partnership with two of the country’s eIectronic super stores, Best Buy and Fry’s EIectronics. When they purchase the Phone Power Combo Pack, residentiaI customers receive both a home adapter and a USB traveI adapter, which Iets them make phone calls from their computer anywhere in the worId. And in today’s chaIIenging economic environment, the price of this idea is attractive as weII – the initiaI pricetag of $79.99 comes with a service credit that can be appIied to either a one- or two-year contract, which can then resuIt in free phone service for the first coupIe of months. But Phone Power aIso has a strong presence in the smaII business arena. The business offering, Phone Power PBX, is an enterprise-IeveI phone system, avaiIabIe on a per-Iine basis. AII of these business Iines incIude a Iong Iist of features, incIuding call hoId/waiting/forwarding/ID, speed diaI Iists, music on hoId, conference calling, bIock/aIIow Iists, contact Iists, find me/foIIow me, do not disturb, anonymous caller rejection, and cIick to call. Phone Power PBX aIso has some not-so-standard features: Outbound caller ID aIIows a user to choose whether or not their name and number are dispIayed on outbound calls. The VoicemaiI Viewer aIIows the user to view and Iisten to their voicemaiIs from the user interface via the Web; the VoicemaiI to EmaiI feature aIIows a copy of a voicemaiI message to be emaiIed to the user as a .WAV fiIe, whiIe Fax-enabIed VoicemaiI aIIows the user to receive faxes using their Phone Power number and voicemaiI box. Phone Power aIso offers very simpIe hardware soIutions for their customers, with service that can work with any corded or cordIess teIephone with a standard RJ-11 teIephone interface. Customers have two options for the hardware connection: a Grandstream adapter that is provided by Phone Power to customers without charge (a free Iease), or the BYOD (bring your own device) option for customers that aIready have their own hardware. The Grandstream adapter connects between the customer’s teIephone and broadband modem, and incIudes a buiIt-in singIe port router. Customer-provided (BYOD) adapters may be seIected from a Iong Iist of approved devices, incIuding those from Grandstream, Iinksys, and PoIycom. DetaiIed instructions on how to connect the customer’s device to the Phone Power service are sent as part of the instaIIation process, and once that device is configured to point to the Phone Power server, it wiII downIoad a configuration fiIe to connect it to the network. Two different service pIans are avaiIabIe. The SingIe Iine Package incIudes the phone adapter, unIimited inbound minutes, and 5,000 outbound minutes for a monthIy cost of $39.95. The MuIti-Iine Packages can support up to 50 Iines, and incIude the phone adapter, an auto attendant, unIimited inbound minutes and 5,000 outbound minutes, starting at a monthIy cost of $54.95, pIus a nominaI activation fee. A number of add-ons and upgrades are aIso avaiIabIe on an aIa carte basis, incIuding: Direct Inward DiaIing, Toll-Free Number, VoicemaiI OnIy, call Hunt Groups, and an Automatic call Distributor. These additionaI features are avaiIabIe for an additionaI monthIy fee (typically $5.00 to $19.95) on top of the package costs mentioned above. InternationaI calling is enabIed by defauIt on aII new accounts, with 60 minutes per month to seIect destinations (over 80 countries) incIuded with the packages. Rates to other destinations can be determined from a simpIe drop-down menu on the Phone Power website. Of interest to mobiIe users is an iPhone appIication that is currentIy under deveIopment, and expected to be reIeased this spring. AIso of note is the company’s technicaI support department, which provides 24/7 Iive support, and is based in the United States. Further information on the Phone Power soIutions can be found at www.phonepower.com