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Hosted PABX | Phone Systems Solutions in South Africa

Stay connected to your customers with the best phone systems SA has on offer.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

This glossary of terms is designed to help you understand some of the terms associated with Internet telephony as they apply to Hosted PBX platforms.

-A-

ACD Queue
ACD or Automatic Call Distribution allows callers to be put on hold and connected to the first available agent.

After-hours Greeting
A greeting designed to play outside of business hours. These often let customers know you are out of the office and what steps they should take to reach you.

Answering Rules
Answering rules give you the ability to choose how incoming calls are handled.

Auto-Attendant or Custom Main Greeting Auto-Attendant
Auto-attendant (also referred to as custom main greeting) automatically greets and directs callers to the appropriate extension using a pre-recorded message chosen by you.

-C-

Call Announce
Call announce lets you hear who is calling you before you pick up the call. Hear the number, send them to voicemail or pick up the call.

Call Forwarding
The ability to forward calls from one phone number or extension to another.

Call Logs
Call logs allow you to see statistics on your incoming calls. View missed calls, messages, hangups and more.

Call Reports
See Call Logs

Call Routing
Directing calls toward a particular extension or number based on set answering rules.

Call Screening
Call screening lets you see who is calling you before you pick up. See or Hear the number of the caller, send them to voicemail or pick up the call.

Caller ID
Caller ID provides you with the phone number of the person calling you.

Cloud Phone System
A cloud-based phone system is a newer term, similar to a virtual phone that identifies a phone system that is run through the internet, or cloud.

Completed Call
An incoming call that ended with a successful connection to a user or voicemail.

Conference Calling
A call in which multiple parties can join and participate in the call. Custom Greetings Custom greetings allow you to create the message your callers hear when dialling your company.

-D-

Department
A department is a dedicated extension used to direct your caller to a specific department rather than a specific person.

Dial-by-Name Directory
Dial-by-Name directory allows callers to find a person’s extension by searching for their first or last name.

Direct Connect
Direct Connect allows you to send the call directly to the destination phone number.

Distribution Lists
Distribution lists are lists you can create, giving you the ability to send one message to multiple voicemail extensions.

-E-

Extensions
Extensions are additional telephones wired to the same telephone line as another, often used in business offices.

-F-

Fax on Demand
The ability for both you and your customers to access faxes through your Hosted PBX number 24/7.

Follow Me Calling
A call that is forwarded to another telephone number or a list of pre-configured numbers to reach you wherever you are.

-H-

Hosted PBX
A Hosted PBX is essentially a telephone system which is located at and managed by a telephone service provider, with features and calls delivered via the Internet.

-I-

Informational Extensions
Extensions that allow a caller to access information through pre-recorded messages. The caller can not leave a message only listen.

Internet Fax
Fax sent or received over the internet versus a standard telephone line.

-M-

Main Greeting
Main greeting (or auto-attendant) is the first thing a caller hears when dialling your number. The main greeting can direct them to where they need to be.

Monthly Fee
A fee assessed to an account monthly. Typically associated with subscription-based services.

Music on Hold
Music or a message that is played while callers remain on hold.

-N-

Number Portability
The ability to port or transfer your telephone number from one service provider to another.

Read more about Geographic Number Portability here.

Number Transfer
The ability to transfer your telephone number from one service provider to another. Often referred to as number porting.

-O-

Online Call Reports
A report containing your call history, voicemails, minute usage and more that can be accessed through your online account.

-P-

PBX
PBX or private branch exchange is a telephone exchange that serves a particular business or office.

Porting
Porting allows you to transfer your number from one telephone service provider to another.

-Q-

Q & A Extensions
Question and answer extensions ask callers pre-recorded questions which they can then answer. The entire voicemail is then wrapped into one message.

-T-

Toll-Free Number
A phone number in which the called party is charged the cost of the call.

-U-

Unlimited Call Handling
A feature that allows you to take multiple incoming calls at the same time ensuring the callers never hear a busy signal.

User
Users are the various individuals set up under one account. The account admin can create extensions and set different permissions for each user.

-V-

Virtual Number
A virtual number is a telephone number without a directly-associated telephone line. The number can be programmed to forward incoming calls to one a pre-set telephone number.

Virtual Office
A virtual office is a combination of off-site live communication and address services that allow users to reduce traditional office costs while maintaining business professionalism.

Virtual PBX
A business phone system that has no physical connections such as wires and equipment and is hosted by the service provider.

Virtual Voicemail
A virtual answering machine for your phone. Messages are taken through your virtual PBX and stored in digital format. Voicemails can then be emailed directly to you or stored in your online account.

Voice Studio
A feature which allows professional voice actors to create custom greetings for your business based on a script written by you.

Voicemail
A means of electronically sending, receiving, and storing voice-based messages.

Voicemail to Email
Voicemails that can be delivered as digital audio files to your email inbox.

Voicemail Transcription
The ability to convert a voicemail into written text that can then be read via email or by logging into your account.

VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the routing of voice calls over the Internet or through any other IP-based network.

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