Category: Learn

Disclaimer: We do not support robocalling through our platform. We verify the business details of each customer along with their use case. Robocalls are not allowed using our network.

Robocalling involves the use of an automated telephone message. The call is initiated by an autodialer and delivers a prerecorded message to one or a range of numbers. The robocalling technique is used for a wide variety of communications including:

Public service announcements: For example, if your water supply is about to be suspended for a period because of repairs to the water lines in your area.

• Appointment reminders: You may receive an automated message from your doctor or dentist reminding you that you have an appointment within the next 48 hours.
• Political campaigns: Sometimes political parties will send out automated messages giving information about their incumbent.
  Opinion polls: Robocalls may be used for opinion polls by political parties to help them with their campaigns.
• Marketing: Sometimes companies use robocalling for marketing within the public sector.

Depending on the type and purpose of the robocall, it may enable interaction with the recipient either through voice or keypad activation. Sometimes there may also be interaction with a human representative during part of the call.

The Laws Governing Robocalling

In October 2013, the United States Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) mandated some rules regarding robocalling. According to the FCC’s regulations, telemarketers are prohibited from making robocalls to a consumer without first obtaining his or her written consent. Robocalls are also restricted from dialing numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.

In spite of these changes, the FCC receives more complaints each month regarding robocalling than any other problem. However, it’s difficult for the agency to track down the culprits because most of them can hide their real phone numbers behind a virtual number created through a Google Voice or Skype account. Often the robocallers don’t even use real phone numbers but mimic unassigned or inactive numbers. So what recourse is there to prevent illegal robocalling? Most phone companies are currently resorting to automated blocking tools that simultaneously block robocallers as they whitelist known or emergency numbers. This type of blocking tool is perfectly legal and the FFC encourages phone companies and individuals to use them.

Clarifying the Laws on Robocalling

Although some states have their own local robocalling laws, which differ widely from state-to-state, federal law applies in every state. Here are some examples of the mandates for robocalling and telemarketers:

A telemarketer is prohibited from using a robodialer for the purpose of sending a prerecorded message to a consumer or business cell phone or to a consumer landline unless they have written consent to do so. Such consent may be obtained through audio recording, email, or web opt-in as well as other means. The procedures must follow the federal E-Sign Act.

When robodialers make calls, they are prohibited from abandoning any more than 3 percent of its automated calls within a 30-day period.

Every prerecorded message must contain an automated opt-out message, which allows the recipient to decline to receive any further robocalls. The opt-out message must be activated by keypress or voice.

The prerecorded message must include truthful information about who is responsible for the robocalls and the exact marketing-related purpose of the call.

The prerecorded message must also include a call-back number enabling the recipient to return the call during normal business hours and decline to receive any further robocalls from this particular telemarketer.

Autodialers that do not Deliver Prerecorded Messages

The regulations for this type of call are slightly different. If a robocall is made, but no prerecorded message is used, then it is still legal if the call is to a residential landline, where this type of call is generally still allowed without the owner’s consent. This type of call is prohibited to a cell phone without the owner’s consent.

When Robocalling is Illegal and Unethical

Being on the receiving end of regular robocalls is very annoying and can be considered spam, but at times it can also prove to be dangerous, thanks to a new wave of robocalling scammers. Since 2013, fraudsters impersonating IRS agents are estimated to have conned unsuspecting victims from handing over more than $54 million. This particular batch of con artists has proven to be completely unscrupulous and equally inventive. But the tax swindle is not the only robocalling scam. The FCC also has accounts of incidents where calls were connected to people posing as sweepstakes companies and employment agencies, as well as debt collectors.

Think Twice About Using Your Personal Phone for Business

Though using your personal mobile phone for business is affordable and very convenient, especially if you are just starting a new business, you may want to think twice about doing so. Not only can using the same phone for your personal and business aspects of your life cause conflicts, it may also make your phone more susceptible to robocallers. The easiest way around this is not to carry two phones with two separate numbers; it is to get a virtual phone number for your business.

If you don’t know much about virtual phone numbers, it’s very simple. You sign up for a local or toll-free number in the country and city of your choice, and you give that number to your business clients. They call that number to contact you, and your call forwarding service redirects their call to the number of your choice. So you don’t have to give your business colleagues and clients your personal number, but you’ll still be able to take the calls on whichever phone line works best for you.

A virtual number has several advantages:

• You can avoid robocalls: If you have an automated greeting and your calls are directed to another number, this is a great way to filter out robocalls. The automated call will get stuck with your automated attendant until it times out, eliminating the issue altogether.
• You are not a victim of threats: A virtual number protects your personal information from hackers and scammers. You can blacklist and whitelist your chosen numbers.
• You won’t have to keep changing your number. Your personal phone number is an important part of your life, and chances are you’ve had it for a while. By using a virtual number to handle your business calls, you will avoid any complications that may have you wanting to change your personal number.

You can find out more about handling robocalls along with blacklisting and whitelisting with a virtual phone number by contacting Global Call Forwarding.

Google Voice is a service that provides users with a phone number, which is known as a Google number. The number is designed to unify several communication channels enabling you to receive calls, text messages and voicemails. Google Voice is available for free for all Gmail users. When you sign up, you are given one virtual number which allows you to manage all of your phones and mobile devices. The service utilizes VoIP technology to route its calls and to allow free local calls and international calls at a cheap rate. The service also offers a number of other features such as giving you the option to have your call routed to up to six different devices, for example, your mobile phone, home phone or office phone. You can also specify which phones you want to ring at which time of day.

How Google Voice Works

Google Voice links with the PTSN (public switched telephone network) in combination with the mobile network to reroute the calls. When a call is made through Google Voice, it is initiated through the traditional landline phone system, but it is transferred to Google’s internet space, then directed to its final destination number. This method of unifying numerous channels of communication has the added benefit of reducing costs. It also means that you can change your mobile carrier service without having to change your current phone number. All you need to do is change the number to which your calls are routed.

Though you still have to pay your monthly subscription to your wireless or phone carrier, Google Voice has several benefits such as:

• You have a wide range of available phone numbers to choose from. You can select specific area codes from anywhere in the United States and even look for a specific US number or letter combination.
• Because you have a dedicated number to receive calls from all your other numbers, you’ll never miss a call. You can still make outgoing calls from all of these devices independently.
• You can make free local calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.
• You can make calls at low VoIP rates to international numbers.
• You can read and send free texts messages with your Google number, as well as access your virtual voicemail, check out your call history and make and receive video calls, all from an easy to use interface. You can do all of this on your laptop, tablet or smartphone.
• If you prefer not to listen to your voicemail, then Google Voice will send you written transcripts of your recorded messages. You will still have the option to listen to the messages as well.
• How to Port a Phone Number from Google Voice
  When you sign up for Google Voice, your number is initially locked so that it cannot be ported without your approval. However, you can, if you wish, port out your Google Voice number to another provider once you have unlocked it. Google will charge you a fee of $3 to port your number, unless you have already ported your mobile number to Google Voice.

How to Unlock Your Google Voice Number

1. Sign in to your Google Voice account.
2. Beneath your Google Voice number, you will see a link that says “Unlock my Number.” If you have more than one Google Voice number, click on the link beneath the number you would like to unlock.
3. Click “Continue.”
4. Log into Google Wallet to complete your transaction.
5. Your Google Voice number can now be ported out. This means you are ready to use the ported number with a new service provider. Should you at any stage change your mind about porting out your Google Voice number, you can choose to re-lock it. Simply follow these steps:
6. Sign in to your Google Voice Account.
7. Beneath your Google Voice number, you will see an option that says “Relock my number.” Click on the clink.
8. Click “Continue” to confirm.

Once your Google Voice number has been unlocked, you will see a screen message confirming this and telling you that you can now port your number. It is advisable to take a screenshot of this message so that you can use it to show your new porting agent that the number has been unlocked.

You may, if you wish, lock the number again at a later date. You will have to pay Google the $3 unlocking fee again. However, if you follow the port-out procedure with an external carrier, for example, SIPStation, you will not be able to re-lock the number.

Drawbacks to Google Voice

• It is currently only available throughout the United States.
• You are also not able to make emergency calls with your Google Voice number.
• Support is limited. If you are having difficulty using your Google Voice number, you can seek help from the online help pages and FAQs, but there is no one-on-one customer service where you can call, email or chat online with a representative.
• You will need to use Google Hangouts if you wish to message pictures or videos directly or send SMS to multiple recipients. Google voice alone does not have the technology to manage this because it does not utilize the more advanced Multimedia Messaging Service.

Porting Your Google Voice Number to a Different Provider

Once your Google Voice number has been successfully ported, you will then be ready to use your unlocked Google Voice number with a different telecommunications provider, such as Global Call Forwarding. This will allow you to take advantage of a number of advanced features such as call recording, time of day routing or advanced IVR. You may transfer one or all of your Google Voice numbers, or any other portable phone numbers.

It is quick and easy to complete the process. All you need to do is fill out the online form. You will receive a confirmation email from Global Call Forwarding shortly afterwards, and then you’re good to go. The complete VoIP number porting process might take 3-4 weeks.

Communication technology has reached new heights – or length, perhaps, depending upon the context. Microsoft, Facebook, and telecom infrastructure company Telxius have jointly laid a giant 4,000-mile-long transatlantic cable between North America and Spain, enhancing the world of communications forevermore.

It has the capacity of 160-terabits per second, equal to streaming 70 million HD videos at the same time. This is the highest capacity subsea cable to have ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Operational by early 2018, the cable is 16 million times faster than the average Internet connection, so claims Microsoft.

Named Marea (Spanish for “tide,”), the cable lies 17,000 feet below the ocean surface and stretches between Virginia Beach in the US and the city of Bilbao, Spain. Microsoft is hopeful that this cable will prevent the disruption of communication systems between the two countries in the event of natural disasters like hurricanes. This will benefit Microsoft and Facebook most of all because both of these companies have large data operation centers in Virginia.

Microsoft president, Brad Smith said that it was about time a system like Marea was developed because submarine cables in the Atlantic carry double the data carried by trans-Pacific cables, and with the demand increasing every year, the need for more transatlantic submarine cables also increases. Made of eight pairs of fiber optic cable, Marea mostly lies on the ocean floor, though some parts of it are buried for protection against shipping traffic.

Marea will help establish a faster and stronger telecommunications link not only between the US and Europe, but also between other countries like Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, where a billion of future Internet users are supposed to come from. The complex process took the engineers over five months to load and place the cable along the seabed.

Subsea cable technology is nothing new in the grand scheme of things. The very first transatlantic cable was laid by Cyrus Field in 1858, in order to connect the New World with the old. His grandiose attempt was deemed as ‘raising a ladder to the moon.’ Field was one of the few people in those days who understood the importance of a communications link between the major nations of the world.

So when a project to link Canada to New York was almost on the brink of bankruptcy, it gave Field an idea to connect the two nations via Newfoundland. In 1856, Field bought the failing cable company and turned it to the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Thus began his attempt to bring the idea to life.

Although the first transatlantic telegraph cable was a successful attempt, it only functioned for three weeks. Attempts were made again in 1865 and 1866 that were more successful, but they weren’t long-lasting either. Those were early days, and the engineers had yet to master the technology needed to not only run, but also sustain an undersea cable.

Despite the short lifespan of these first cables, they were hailed as the ‘eighth wonder of the world,’ as it enabled faster communication between nations. In a way, this was one of the earliest steps towards globalization. The first transatlantic telephone cable system was laid between Scotland and Newfoundland in 1956. The first transoceanic fiber-optic cable was laid in 1988, connecting the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. This was the first set of fiber optic cables to ever be used. They turned out to be much faster and more efficient than traditional copper lines.

All cables currently not only use fiber optic technology, but also fiber optic transmission, and a self-healing ring topology. So efficient are these cables that by the late 1900s, communications satellites lost most of their North Atlantic telephone traffic, thanks to these cables that are low cost, while providing high capacity and low latency.

With time, cables have only gotten more advanced. The tighter they are, the higher speed they provide. Transatlantic cables laid after 2012 take the latency to under 60 milliseconds. More than 99 percent of international communication is routed through fiber optic cables situated at the bottom of oceans.

As the need for faster and more efficient communication has risen over the years, technology has also kept pace and never stopped advancing. There are modern innovations like cloud computing and artificial intelligence that are not only changing the way we use the internet, but also proving beneficial to society on a multitude of levels. For instance, video content was thought to be only for entertainment purposes till a few years ago. Now, a lot of industries use video content to take their services to more people.

This includes the healthcare industry, where features like telemedicine and video connections are becoming more prevalent; the education industry where high-quality distance learning is shaping the future; and various other businesses where virtual offices are replacing the need to have land-based offices. The new MAREA cable will enable business in Spain to easily operate in the US with the help of virtual communication.

Marea was made possible by the strong collaboration between the US and Spain. The project received tremendous support from Spain, with multiple ministries of the Spanish government approving and facilitating the application for the installation permit for the cable landing in Bilbao.

On the other hand, the US landing was quickly approved by the federal government in Washington, D.C., supported by the authorities in Virginia. Although the process could have taken several years, the strong communication between the two nations, plus the immediate sense of urgency enabled the project to be completed in a little over two years.

Instead of depending on telecom companies to provide the infrastructure for new communication links, tech giants are funding new cables themselves. Like Microsoft and Facebook, tech giant Google has also invested in two subsea cables that run from the US to South America, Japan, and other Asian countries.

With the new Marea subsea cable, Facebook and Microsoft will have more control over the huge amounts of data that they need to transmit around the world in the shortest possible time. A lot of their services – from Office 365 to Instagram – will benefit from the technology without a doubt.