Here are the basics of logging into the Bria app for Phone.com.

1. Create a Mobile Extension in your Phone.com control panel. Then go into the settings for the new extension and click the words View Server Details that’s on the right side.
2. Download the Bria app from the Apple iTunes store to your iPhone or iPod Touch (I’ll continue to just refer to both the iPhone and iPod Touch as just the iPhone).
3. Open the newly downloaded Bria app on your iPhone and scroll down to the Phone.com settings and tap on it.

   

4. Once you’re in the settings page
   • A. Fill in the Display with your phone number
   • B. Input your Username and Password found on the Phone.com Control Panel when you tap on View Server Details in the Settings. The password is case sensitive.

• Click Done and then Register at the top. You may have to hit the Accounts button at the top left of the app to go back 1 level but then click the little arrow to the right of Phone.com and click Register.

  

You should be logged in and ready to make calls. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter anytime.

Call transferring is a heavily used feature by many companies.  Done wrong it can irritate customers… So you need to make sure it’s done the right way.  Here are the instructions on initiating attended and blind transfers.  Share this with everyone in the company so they know what they’re and not upsetting customers or other employees.   

ATA-
*Our ATA’s both have the same transfer commands

To transfer with an ATA you need to use the attended transfer function (*2). This depends on the functionality of the analog phone you have connected. You will put the current call on hold, probably using a “Flash” button. Once you hear the dial tone, dial *2 and the 10 digit phone number or extension number you want to transfer to. Once you get an answer, just hang up the phone. The 2 calls should then connect.
The Linksys SPA301 will be the same as transferring with an ATA.

IP Phones:
*Our IP phones have very similar transfer commands.

Cisco SPA303
Performing an Attended Transfer
STEP 1 During an active call, press xfer. The call is placed on hold and a new line is
opened to dial the number.
STEP  2 Either:
• Enter the number to which you want to transfer the call, then press the dial
softkey or wait a few seconds.
• Press the dir softkey and either choose a number from the personal
directory or select the Corporate Directory, then press the dial softkey.
*If you hang up before the second call rings, the transfer fails and the first call is disconnected.
*If you misdial, use the delChar, clear, or cancel softkey to make your changes before the call is transferred.
STEP  3 Press the xfer softkey after the phone begins to ring, or at any time after the phone
is answered.

Performing an Unattended (Blind) Transfer
STEP 1 During an active call, press the bXfer softkey.
STEP  2 Enter the number to which you want to transfer the call and press the dial softkey.
The call is transferred with no further action required on your part.

Polycom IP 450 and 335-
Performing a Consultative Transfer
To transfer a call:
1. During a call, press the Trnsfer soft key.
The active call is placed on hold.
2. Do one of the following:
— Enter the number to which you want to transfer the call.
3. As soon as you hear the ring-back sound or after the party answers (and
you speak to the party), press the Trnsfer soft key.
*You can talk privately to the party to which you are transferring the call before the transfer is completed.
*If you are using a handset, the transfer can be completed by putting the  handset on the cradle.
*You can cancel the transfer before the call connects by pressing the Cancel soft key.

Performing a Blind Transfer
To perform a blind transfer:
1. During a call, press the Trnsfer soft key.
2. Press the Blind soft key.
3. Enter the number to which you want to transfer the call.

Panasonic KX-TGP500-
Outside calls can be transferred to an outside party
1. During an outside call, press MENU.
2. Scroll to “Transfer” press SELECT
3. Dial the phone number.
*You can dial the phone number from the phonebook
*To correct the number, press {CANCEL} to clear the number and enter again.
4. Wait for the paged party to answer.
*If the paged party does not answer, press CANCEL 2 times to return to the outside call.

Transferring a call without speaking to the outside party
1. During an outside call, press press MENU.
2. Scroll to “Blind transfer” press SELECT
3 Dial the phone number.
*You can dial the phone number from the phonebook
*To correct the number, press CANCEL to clear the number and enter again.
4. Press TRANS and the outside call rings at the other unit.

Communicator-

Blind Transfer (transfer this call now):
1. During a call, click the “Transfer” button; the active call will be placed on hold and a call entry field appears.
*If you change your mind and want to resume the call, press the “X” button on the right side of the panel.
2. Type a number or extension to which you want to transfer the call, or select a contact from your Contact List.
3. Click the “Transfer now” button. (If it says “Call First,” click the drop-down menu and select “Transfer Now.”) You will be disconnected immediately.

Attended Transfer (call, then transfer):
1. During a call, click the “Transfer” button; the active call will be placed on hold and a call entry field appears.
*If you change your mind and want to resume the call, press the “X” button on the right side of the panel.
2. Type a number or extension to which you want to transfer the call, or select a contact from your Contact List.
3. Click the “Call First” button. (If it says “Transfer Now,” click the drop-down menu and select “Call First.”)
4. You will have the opportunity to speak with the transfer recipient first; you can also hold, resume or cancel either of the calls.
5. After speaking with the new party, press the “Transfer Now” button; you will be disconnected immediately.

Windows users can change the default behavior of the “Transfer” button to either “Transfer Now” or “Call First.”
  *Windows users: In the “Softphone > Preferences” screen, click the “Application” tab and scroll down to the “Default Actions” section.

If you need any additional help don’t hesitate to contact us on Facebook, Twitter or the Phone.com Customer Service page.

In ancient times – I don’t mean B.C., I mean B.E. or ‘before e-Mail” – I used to have a fax machine sitting by my desk. In fact (or should I say in fax), I was using fax transmission way back in the early 1970s, via a clever contraption with what I think was a one pixel sensor on a rapidly twirling arm, scanning bit by bit as the document being faxed was very, very slowly pulled through a tube. Some 20 years later I of course had far more modern equipment, with higher data transmission rates and capable of scanning or spewing out several pages per minute.

But these days fax has become a rarity in the United States. I haven’t needed to send or receive a fax in well over a year. I got rid of my last dedicated fax machine something like a decade ago.

So I was somewhat shocked when I was suddenly required to fax a document this week. It seems that customer service at the Hospital Corp of America (HCA), which bought our local hospital some years back, can’t get e-Mail. They demand fax or snail mail.  Having put my life on the line at that hospital, I can say that their medical expertise is top notch, even if their customer service is in the telecommunications stone age. Indeed I bet they’re even still using traditional phone service, rather than far less expensive business VoIP.

But back to the fax.

Yes, I do have a business-class multifunction printer that can be used as a fax. All I have to do is plug it into my Phone.com VoIP line, and be sure to remember to set to machine not to answer incoming calls. Or alternately, if I really needed fax, I could buy another phone number and use that exclusively for fax. Indeed Phone.com’s basic Virtual Office business plan includes two phone numbers even for its entry price of $14.88 a month, and a small business could use one of those for voice and the other for fax. Alternately, for $4.88 a month a business could add another line, just for fax.

But even though I do have such a multifunction printer, I have a better solution: Phone.com’s Internet Fax, a feature I think many have forgotten about. But it is right there to use, both on the dashboard in the upper right hand corner once you log in to either your extension or to the main account, and on the list of functions on the left of the screen when you’re logged into your extension.

In this case I simply scanned the document into a PDF file, and sent it by logging onto my Phone.com account. And the fact is, had I been using my printer as a fax machine, it would have been the exact same electronic scan, so the refusal to accept a file via e-Mail is even more puzzling. After all, my scan scan was a PDF file, which would be identical whether e-mailed and printed, or whether printed locally via fax. An added bonus – the scan is now stored on my computer, just in case I ever need to send the document again.

And indeed I did need it again … thankfully Phone.com’s Internet Fax service sends you a confirmation e-mail that your fax was received, or if not why. In my case, it seems I had set the fax to high quality, thinking that I was being nice in making it easier to read. Bad choice – it seems HCA’s fax machines can’t receive high quality transmission, so I had to resend it at a lower quality, easily done when using Internet Fax.

And … there’s no outrageous fee involved in sending a Phone.com Internet Fax. Just check out what a hotel charges for a fax on your next business trip ($1 per page is not uncommon), or what the local supermarket or office store might similarly charge per page.