FAQ Overview

Huawei HG659 Router Configuration

The Huawei HG659 Routerhas a built-in VOIP port which can be configured to work with Hero.  The following guide explains how to configure a Hero phone number on Phone Port 1 on the router.

1. Configure your VOIP settings in the telephony tab

  • Select 'Telephony' from the tabs at the top of the page and click on the VoIP page
  • Set Provider name to 'Hero'
  • Set Primary registrar to 'phone.herotel.uk' and port to 5060
  • Set Primary proxy to 'phone.herotel.uk' and port to 5060
  • Set SIP Domain to 'phone.herotel.uk'
  • Set Local Port to 5060
  • Tick the 'use outbound' check box
  • Set Outbound server to 'phone.herotel.uk' and Port to 5060
  • Save Settings

2. Create a new VOIP provider

  • Set SIP number to your Hero phone number (e.g. 442034567891)
  • Set Username to your Hero phone number (e.g. 442034567891)
  • Set Password to your Hero password
  • Ensure that the 'Enabled' check box is ticked

3. Set up your codec preferences (if required)

  • We recommend setting your Codec 1 setting to G.711ALaw unless you wish to save bandwidth in which case you can select G.729 as your preferred codec.
  • Set DTMF Mode to RFC2833
  • Set the Fax codecs to T38 as Codec 1 if you are plugging in a Fax machine

4. Enable service 'Voice' under the Internet Settings

This final step is important as your phone will not work unless you tick the Voice check box under your Internet settings.

  • Click on the Internet tab and scroll down to your Active Internet connection type
  • Next to the 'Service Type' ensure that you have ticked the Voice check box
  • Below is a screenshot of an example Internet connection using PPP although your connection details may differ. 

If you are having any further issues getting your Huawei HG659 Router configure to work with Hero then contact our Support team and we will do our best to assist you.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-06-11 07:26


Microsoft Teams Integration Setup Instructions

Setup your Microsoft Teams environment

This guide does not explain how to setup Microsoft Teams.  The assumption is that you already have a Teams environment with Microsoft, your own domain(s) and users setup and this guide is focussed purely on how to connect Hero with that environment to provide incoming and outgoing calls to the PSTN along with providing phone numbers to your end users.

If you would like some guides on getting Microsoft Teams setup for your business then follow the useful links below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/teams-overview

https://support.office.com/en-us/teams

Microsoft Licenses Required for Phone System Integration

 To enable Phone services for Microsoft Teams you need to have a 'phone system license' for each of your users that wish to have this functionality.  Here is a useful guide to licensing:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing

In the Enterprise space you can add either an E1, E3 or E5 license for a user and this will give you the functionality you need to enable phone services for that user.  You can also look at adding a phone system license 'Add-on' to give you this functionality if this is available on your current Office 365 license.

Step by Step Example Guide

Every customer is different when it comes to Teams Integration so there is no 'one guide suits all' for getting setup with Teams.  However, we decided to put together a step by step guide for a 'vanilla' customer who is new to Teams and looking to signup to Teams with 3 users and then map 3 Hero phone lines to those users.  The guide below is a record of that process with detailed screenshots and could be useful for system integrators to see the steps involved in a 'new' install.

https://herotel.uk/teamssetupguide.html 

Domain Verification and Trunk Setup

Assuming you already have your own domain setup with Microsoft you now need to setup our Teams SBC domain and get this verified.  If you have not set up any domain yet with Microsoft for your organisation then please see our-by-step guide for this above.

First you need to login to  login to the Microsoft Admin Center using your Microsoft Login:

https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/Home#/Domains
Then click on 'Show All' and then 'Settings' and the Domains sub-menu option.



If you need still need to setup an account with Hero then visit herotel.uk and click Join




Login to your Hero account by clicking here




In the Hero customer portal click on the Voice tab and then select 'Profiles' from the left side menu.


If you want to setup all lines on your account to use Microsoft Teams use the default profile otherwise you can create a new profile at the bottom of the page. In the drop down menu for Connection type select 'Microsoft Teams'.



Copy the Microsoft Teams Domain into your clipboard (it will be something like ms81xxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk)




In the Domains page back in the Admin Center (under Settings/Domains) click 'Add domain'




Enter the Teams Domain you copied into your clipboard into the domain text box and click Next




Wait for the Verify Domain page to load (this can take some time and you may need to refresh the page)

The Verify domain page should now be displayed




Copy the TXT value by clicking the icon beside the TXT value information (e.g. MS=msxxxxxxxx)




Now switch back to the Hero customer portal page and paste this value into the Domain TXT record value field and then press 'Save Default Profile'




Now switch back to the Admin Center page and click on 'Verify'




You may need to wait 1 minute or retry if this fails. Be patient!  Once verified make sure all the options for online services are NOT ticked and click Next.




All being well this should complete and your Hero trunking domain will be added to your account.


Now switch to the 'Users' tab in the Admin Center and click 'Add a user'




We are going to create a 'temporary user' to associate with the Hero trunk domain

The user details should be something like 'Hero Trunk' and username of 'herotrunk'. Make sure you select our new Hero trunk domain from the drop down menu (e.g. msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk). Then Click Next.




Now you need to assign a product license that includes phone services such as an E5 or E3 license to this user.  If you only don't have any more licenses available then you may need to 'borrow' one from one of your other users temporarily. We can assign it back later on once the trunk is setup.




Leave the Role and Profile Info as default and click Next




Press 'Finish Adding'




You should receive confirmation the Trunk user has been created.




Go back to your Active users in the Users tab in Admin Center and the Trunk User should be listed.


User Management

Now switch back to your Hero customer portal tab and add any new numbers you want on teams. You can also port a number to Hero Teams or change an existing line type to be a Teams line in the Account/Numbers page.




For adding a new Teams number ensure you select the Line Type as 'Microsoft Teams' and select a Teams plan for the line.




Continue to add Teams enabled numbers to your Hero account as required.

Click on 'Voice' tab and your Teams users should be listed with a 'Teams icon' beside them.  If you do not see this icon check that you have set the Profile (in the Profiles Page) to be of the type 'Microsoft Teams' and if you have created a new profile for Teams then in the numbers page make sure you assign that profile to the Teams lines.




Now click on the 'Teams' page on the left menu

Fill in the fields against each teams number including the teams user IDs hosted in Office 365 (including the domain name e.g. Joe@herointernet.uk). You can also decide if you want to twin with a regular SIP phone or have the call failover to SIP or be hosted on Teams only. You can also decide if you want to use the Teams Voicemail system or the Hero voicemail and provide an 'offline forwarding number' for your users in case calls fail to Teams and you need to have a backup number for these users (e.g. their mobile phone number). Press 'Save Changes' when done.


The following steps are for Advanced users only who understand how to use the Microsoft Power Shell. Click on 'Power Shell' to display a list of commands you need to enter.


The final stages require a good technical knowledge of Microsoft's Admin Center and Power Shell command line to complete the integration.  You will likely need an authorised Microsoft Office 365 Reseller to complete the final steps.

Power Shell Setup and Commands

You will need the Skype for Business Powershell environment installed before you can run the Powershell commands later in the guide:

Follow the guides below for instructions on how to setup Skype for Business and Windows Powershell

Setup Guide:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-powershell-overview

Install Link for Skype for Business Online, Windows PowerShell Module

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

Useful Guide for Installation of the Teams Environment

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/52052.microsoft-teams-administration-powershell-admin-center.aspx

Once these packages are installed and your Power Shell environment is ready you will need to do the following:

  1. Start Power Shell as Administrator (or with Administrator Priveleges)
  2. Run the following commands in Power Shell:

    Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams

  3. NuGet Provider is required to continue. Confirm by pressing 'Y'
  4. Untrusted Repository. Confirm by pressing 'A'



  5. Download and install SkypeOnlinePowerShell.exe from the following link if you have not done this already

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

  6. Restart Power Shell and run as Administrator
  7. Change execution policy by typing the following command in Power Shell

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

  8. For the Execution Policy change confirm by pressing 'A'.  (Click here for additional information)



  9. Now run the following commands in Power Shell replacing <youradminemail> with your Administrator Email in Office 365:

    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector $acctName="<youradminemail>"
    $sfbSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName

    Import-Module MicrosoftTeams
    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector
    $userCredential = Get-Credential
    $sfbSession = New-CsOnlineSession -Credential $userCredential
    Import-PSSession $sfbSession
We now need to map your Hero phone number(s) to your Microsoft Teams users.
Open up the Microsoft Power shell and start a session under your domain/user.  The following example assumes that your username is Joe@herointernet.z by way of example:

1. Establishing Your Session


The format for this command is similar to the below commands (where User@yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com would be replaced with your own administrator login details you use to manage your Microsoft Office 365 account)

$acctName="User@yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com"
$sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName
Import-PSSession $sfboSession

Enter your Microsoft User Password




You should now be logged into a new session in the Power Shell and can start executing commands

2. For Each Domain (Tenant) in Teams

Run the following power shell commands for each of your tenants in Microsoft Teams.  The example below the example domain is "ms81012345.sbc.msteams.uk" (replace this with your own domain) and we have named the Voice Identity as 'HERO'.  These commands are given to you in the Power Shell page in the hero portal so you should be able to just paste them in.
 
New-CsOnlinePSTNGateway -Identity "msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk" -SipSignallingPort 5061 -FailoverTimeSeconds 10 -enabled $true -ForwardCallHistory $true -ForwardPai $true -MaxConcurrentSessions 100



Next paste the other tenant commands to setup the PSTN identity and Voice route details. This should look something like:


Set-CsOnlinePstnUsage -Identity Global -Usage @{Add="HERO"}
New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "HERO" -NumberPattern ".*" -OnlinePstnGatewayList "msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk" -Priority 1 -OnlinePstnUsages "HERO"
New-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "HERO" -OnlinePstnUsages "HERO"

3. For Each of your Users

You will need to now map a phone number to each of your Teams users using the following commands.  The example below assumes that our example user Joe@herointernet.uk is going to be assigned the phone number 442034567891 (added to Microsoft with the full country code format as +442034567890) and we are still using the Identity of "HERO".  Replace these as required for your own circumstances.

Set-CsUser -identity "Joe@herointernet.uk" -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true -HostedVoicemail $true -OnPremlineURI tel:+442034567890
Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "Joe@herointernet.uk" -PolicyName "HERO"

Moving From Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams

If your company is currently using Skype for Business, you have to upgrade to Teams and enable the Phone System feature. This process requires a bit of prior planning, so check out the Microsoft articles for more information.

If you are using Skype for Business, this will help you:

FAQ:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/faq-journey

Getting started:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-start-here

Deployment and implementation:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-to-teams-execute-skypeforbusinessonline

If you have any questions or technical problems, get in touch with our support team.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-12-16 02:44


Billing Questions

What is my Bill Anniversary Date?

Your Bill Anniversary Date is the date you first signed up for Hero. Your monthly bill cycle is based on this day. For example if you signed up on the 20 March then the 20th of each subsequent month will be your Bill Anniversary.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-03-23 04:31


Account Notification Settings

Account Notification Settings

 Our Account notification feature helps you keep on top of your accounts balances with a variety of low account credit notifications. Customise your individual thresholds such as minutes remaining, dollars remaining.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Click on the Account/Payments option
  3. Click Enable low credit warning emails, if you wish to enable this function.
  4. Add Notification threshold amount- when your account drops below this amount you will be sent an email notifying you. If you leave it at $0.00 your threshold has no limit.
  5. Click Update to save settings.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 09:57


Does Hero Invoice monthly?

Does Hero invoice monthly?

No. Hero does not invoice monthly as all services are prepaid. You will be emailed a receipt every time you add funds to your Hero account.  Our service operates in much the same way as a prepaid mobile account. 

To see a record of transactions for a bill period select the Account/Plan option in the Hero Portal.

To view Account Overview

1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.

2. Select Account > Plan.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 09:23


Is there an activation/setup fee to sign up for Hero?

Is there an activation fee to sign up for Hero?

No. For Hero calling plans and bundles you are not charged an activation or setup fee. You can sign-up, add calling credit and start using the service straight away.

Fees may apply however if you want to port an existing phone number from another provider over to Hero.  This depends on your plan type.  This is a fee that Hero incur so we need to pass this onto the customer.

We may also pass on setup fees if you add Broadband to your account.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 09:19


Is there a contract term or cancellation fee if I join Hero?

What is the contract term if I join Hero?

For all Hero calling plans and bundles, these are on a month-by-month prepaid basis, so there is no contract term or any termination or cancellation fees.

All plans are prepaid a month in advance.  If you do not use your plan or credit for the whole month there are no refunds of any prepaid balances. 

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 08:01


Billing Feed and CDR collection Processes

There are 2 ways of fetching billing records/call detail records (CDR) from the Hero platforms.  The first method is by utilising our Billing Feed Web Service which is available for all Hero accounts.  The second method is a more traditional FTP collection process which is available to customers on demand.

Billing Feed Web Service

The URL for our Billing Feed is:

https://portal.herotel.uk/billingfeed.php

The parameters can be passed as a POST or GET (Post is given priority) as follows:

  • login (required) - This is the username you connect with (e.g. 81234567) and may be the account number.
  • password (required) - This is the password for the connecting login
  • fromid (required) - This is the ID number you wish to download CDR from (greater than this ID).  You should store the last ID number you downloaded and pass this as the fromid on your next query.
  • format (optional) - The default format returned is CSV format.  However the following formats are supported:
    • csv - Comma Separated Values
    • txt - Tab Separated Values
    • pipe - Pipe '|' Separated Values
    • json - JSON formatted Array returned 
  • date (optional) - You can optionally set a date you wish to search for in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g. 2019-05-22)
  • hour (optional) - You can optionally set an hour you wish to search for from 0 to 23.  This must be used in conjuction with the date option.

So for example in GET format the following URL would be valid if your account number was 81234567 and your password was Monkey123

https://portal.herotel.uk/billingfeed.php?login=81234567&password=Monkey123&fromid=1&format=csv

If there is any billing records to return then the format of the rows will be as follows:

  • ID:  This is the identifier for the call and you should pass the maximum ID returned as the fromid on your next query
  • AccountCode:  The account number this billing record relates to
  • Direction:  The direction of the call (inbound, outbound or onnet if internal to Hero)
  • CallType:  The type of call made (e.g. Mobile, Local, International, SMS, Onnet etc.)
  • BillDate:  The billing date of the billing record (typically the bill cycle date)
  • Date: The date of the billing record in NZ Local time
  • Time:  The time of the billing record in NZ Local time
  • UTCDateTime: The date and time of the call in UTC time
  • UTCOffset: The current offset in hours between UTC and Local time
  • AParty: The calling number for this call
  • BParty: The called number for this call
  • BillNumber: The number which has been billed for this call (this could be different to the AParty for call diversions etc.)
  • Seconds: Number of seconds charged for this call. (NOTE: Calls may be rounded up to the next minute)
  • NetworkSeconds: The actual number of connected seconds this call was up for
  • ConnectSeconds: How many seconds it took to connect this call
  • Charge: The charge amount including VAT for this call
  • ChargeExcl: The charge amount excluding VAT for this call
  • FreeUnitsUsed: How many free units were used for this call (if the call was made as part of a calling bundle)
  • TextDesc1: Textual Description of the call
  • TextDesc2: More detailed description of the call
  • ReleaseCause: The ISDN (ISUP) release cause for the call. e.g. 0017 = Busy
  • Status: A simpler description of the release cause for the call (Ok, Busy, No Answer, Unallocated, Error etc.)
  • ServiceType: The service type identifier associated with this call (i.e. the calling plan identifier)
  • BillingGroup: The billing group associated with the line if specified (otherwise it will be Default)
  • CallingGroup: The calling group associated with the line if specified (otherwise it will be Default)
  • Profile: The profile associated with the line if specified (otherwise it will be Default)

NOTE: Please do not fetch ALL call records when using the web service. You should always pass the fromid as the ID to start searching from (unless it is the first query in which case you can use fromid=1). Please do not excessively query the Billing Feed process. A reasonable polling frequency would be 10 minutes or greater.

FTP Method for CDR Collection

Our Secure FTP method for CDR collection is only available to those customers that request this service.  Please contact support@herotel.uk if you need to fetch the CSV files using an FTP process and provide the following information:

  • Which IP address(es) do you wish to download the CDR from?
  • Can you support Secure FTP (SFTP)?
  • Do you wish to use username/password for authentication or a SSH key?  If the latter then can you send us your public key?
  • Which format do you want the CDR to be produced in (Options are CSV, Tab Separated, Pipe Separated or JSON format)
  • How frequently do you want CDR files produced?  Options are daily, hourly or every 20 minutes.

The format of the results will be the same as those specified above in the web services feed.

Please contact our team at support@herotel.uk if you have any further questions.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-07-09 00:44


Microsoft Teams - Wholesale Setup Instructions

Setup your Microsoft Teams environment

NOTE: This guide is intended for WHOLESALE white label customers and not Hero retail customers.  For Hero retail customer instructions for Teams please visit:

https://faq.herotel.uk/index.php?action=artikel&cat=20&id=108&artlang=en

This guide does not explain how to setup Microsoft Teams.  The assumption is that you already have a Teams environment with Microsoft, your own domain(s) and users setup and this guide is focussed purely on how to connect your Hero Wholesale Account  with that environment to provide incoming and outgoing calls to the PSTN along with providing phone numbers to your end users.

If you would like some guides on getting Microsoft Teams setup for your business then follow the useful links below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/teams-overview

https://support.office.com/en-us/teams

Microsoft Licenses Required for Phone System Integration

 To enable Phone services for Microsoft Teams you need to have a 'phone system license' for each of your users that wish to have this functionality.  Here is a useful guide to licensing:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing

In the Enterprise space you can add either an E1, E3 or E5 license for a user and this will give you the functionality you need to enable phone services for that user.  You can also look at adding a phone system license 'Add-on' to give you this functionality if this is available on your current Office 365 license.

Step by Step Example Guide

Every customer is different when it comes to Teams Integration so there is no 'one guide suits all' for getting setup with Teams.  However, we decided to put together a step by step guide for a 'vanilla' customer who is new to Teams and looking to signup to Teams with 3 users and then map 3 Hero phone lines to those users.  The guide below is a record of that process with detailed screenshots and could be useful for system integrators to see the steps involved in a 'new' install.

https://herotel.uk/teamssetupguide.html 

Domain Verification and Trunk Setup

Assuming you already have your own domain setup with Microsoft you now need to setup our Teams SBC domain and get this verified.  If you have not set up any domain yet with Microsoft for your organisation then please see our-by-step guide for this above.

First you need to login to  login to the Microsoft Admin Center using your Microsoft Login:

https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/Home#/Domains
Then click on 'Show All' and then 'Settings' and the Domains sub-menu option.



If you need still need to setup an account in your white label portal using the Add Customer page.

Log into your customer's portal click on the Voice tab and then select 'Profiles' from the left side menu.


If you want to setup all lines on your account to use Microsoft Teams use the default profile otherwise you can create a new profile at the bottom of the page. In the drop down menu for Connection type select 'Microsoft Teams'.



Copy the Microsoft Teams Domain into your clipboard (it will be something like ms81xxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk)




In the Domains page back in the Admin Center (under Settings/Domains) click 'Add domain'




Enter the Teams Domain you copied into your clipboard into the domain text box and click Next




Wait for the Verify Domain page to load (this can take some time and you may need to refresh the page)

The Verify domain page should now be displayed




Copy the TXT value by clicking the icon beside the TXT value information (e.g. MS=msxxxxxxxx)




Now switch back to the customer portal page and paste this value into the Domain TXT record value field and then press 'Save Default Profile'




Now switch back to the Admin Center page and click on 'Verify'




You may need to wait 1 minute or retry if this fails. Be patient!  Once verified make sure all the options for online services are NOT ticked and click Next.




All being well this should complete and your trunking domain will be added to your account.


Now switch to the 'Users' tab in the Admin Center and click 'Add a user'




We are going to create a 'temporary user' to associate with the trunk domain

The user details should be something like 'VOIP Trunk' and username of 'voiptrunk'. Make sure you select our new trunk domain from the drop down menu (e.g. msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk). Then Click Next.




Now you need to assign a product license that includes phone services such as an E5 or E3 license to this user.  If you only don't have any more licenses available then you may need to 'borrow' one from one of your other users temporarily. We can assign it back later on once the trunk is setup.




Leave the Role and Profile Info as default and click Next




Press 'Finish Adding'




You should receive confirmation the Trunk user has been created.




Go back to your Active users in the Users tab in Admin Center and the Trunk User should be listed.


User Management

Now switch back to your customer portal tab and add any new numbers you want on teams. You can also port a number to Teams or change an existing line type to be a Teams line in the Account/Numbers page.




For adding a new Teams number ensure you select the Line Type as 'Microsoft Teams' and select a Teams plan for the line.




Continue to add Teams enabled numbers to your account as required.

Click on 'Voice' tab and your Teams users should be listed with a 'Teams icon' beside them.  If you do not see this icon check that you have set the Profile (in the Profiles Page) to be of the type 'Microsoft Teams' and if you have created a new profile for Teams then in the numbers page make sure you assign that profile to the Teams lines.




Now click on the 'Teams' page on the left menu

Fill in the fields against each teams number including the teams user IDs hosted in Office 365 (including the domain name e.g. Joe@herointernet.uk). You can also decide if you want to twin with a regular SIP phone or have the call failover to SIP or be hosted on Teams only. You can also decide if you want to use the Teams Voicemail system or the Hero voicemail and provide an 'offline forwarding number' for your users in case calls fail to Teams and you need to have a backup number for these users (e.g. their mobile phone number). Press 'Save Changes' when done.


The following steps are for Advanced users only who understand how to use the Microsoft Power Shell. Click on 'Power Shell' to display a list of commands you need to enter.


The final stages require a good technical knowledge of Microsoft's Admin Center and Power Shell command line to complete the integration.  You will likely need an authorised Microsoft Office 365 Reseller to complete the final steps.

Power Shell Setup and Commands

You will need the Skype for Business Powershell environment installed before you can run the Powershell commands later in the guide:

Follow the guides below for instructions on how to setup Skype for Business and Windows Powershell

Setup Guide:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-powershell-overview

Install Link for Skype for Business Online, Windows PowerShell Module

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

Useful Guide for Installation of the Teams Environment

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/52052.microsoft-teams-administration-powershell-admin-center.aspx

Once these packages are installed and your Power Shell environment is ready you will need to do the following:

  1. Start Power Shell as Administrator (or with Administrator Priveleges)
  2. Run the following commands in Power Shell:

    Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams

  3. NuGet Provider is required to continue. Confirm by pressing 'Y'
  4. Untrusted Repository. Confirm by pressing 'A'



  5. Download and install SkypeOnlinePowerShell.exe from the following link if you have not done this already

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

  6. Restart Power Shell and run as Administrator
  7. Change execution policy by typing the following command in Power Shell

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

  8. For the Execution Policy change confirm by pressing 'A'.  (Click here for additional information)



  9. Now run the following commands in Power Shell replacing <youradminemail> with your Administrator Email in Office 365:

    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector

    $userCredential = Get-Credential
    $sfbSession = New-CsOnlineSession -Credential $userCredential
    Import-PSSession $sfbSession
We now need to map your phone number(s) to your Microsoft Teams users.
Open up the Microsoft Power shell and start a session under your domain/user.  The following example assumes that your username is Joe@herointernet.uk by way of example:

1. Establishing Your Session


The format for this command is similar to the below commands (where User@yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com would be replaced with your own administrator login details you use to manage your Microsoft Office 365 account)

$acctName="User@yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com"
$sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName
Import-PSSession $sfboSession

Enter your Microsoft User Password




You should now be logged into a new session in the Power Shell and can start executing commands

2. For Each Domain (Tenant) in Teams

Run the following power shell commands for each of your tenants in Microsoft Teams.  The example below the example domain is "ms81012345.sbc.msteams.uk" (replace this with your own domain) and we have named the Voice Identity as 'VOIP'.  These commands are given to you in the Power Shell page in the customer portal so you should be able to just paste them in.
 
New-CsOnlinePSTNGateway -Identity "msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk" -SipSignalingPort 5061 -FailoverTimeSeconds 10 -enabled $true -ForwardCallHistory $true -ForwardPai $true -MaxConcurrentSessions 100



Next paste the other tenant commands to setup the PSTN identity and Voice route details. This should look something like:


Set-CsOnlinePstnUsage -Identity Global -Usage @{Add="VOIP"}
New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "VOIP" -NumberPattern ".*" -OnlinePstnGatewayList "msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk" -Priority 1 -OnlinePstnUsages "VOIP"
New-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "VOIP" -OnlinePstnUsages "VOIP"

3. For Each of your Users

You will need to now map a phone number to each of your Teams users using the following commands.  The example below assumes that our example user Joe@herointernet.uk is going to be assigned the phone number 442034567891 (added to Microsoft with the full country code format as +442034567890) and we are still using the Identity of "VOIP".  Replace these as required for your own circumstances.

Set-CsUser -identity "Joe@herointernet.uk" -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true -HostedVoicemail $true -OnPremlineURI tel:+442034567890
Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "Joe@herointernet.uk" -PolicyName "VOIP"

Moving From Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams

If your company is currently using Skype for Business, you have to upgrade to Teams and enable the Phone System feature. This process requires a bit of prior planning, so check out the Microsoft articles for more information.

If you are using Skype for Business, this will help you:

FAQ:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/faq-journey

Getting started:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-start-here

Deployment and implementation:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-to-teams-execute-skypeforbusinessonline

If you have any questions or technical problems, get in touch with our support team.

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-02-05 02:52


Billing Questions » Credit Card Payments

Adding Credit using a Credit Card

Adding Credit

Adding credit to your account is easy. You can save your credit card information with in the Portal, to make making a payment even easier.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > Payments
  3. Click Add Credit Now
  4. Click Add Account Credit to make payment.

We recommend you store your card and enable automatic top ups to your account you can be rest assured will always be in credit.

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:15


Storing a Credit Card for Automatic Payments

Store Credit Card

 Store your credit card information within our portal to make topping up your account easier. By doing this you can also set up the auto topup settings.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > Payments.
  3. Enter your Credit Card details.
  4. Click Store Card details to update and store securely your credit card details.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:11


Automatic Top Up using a Credit Card

Automatic Top Up

Setting up auto top up functions gives you the ability to have control over your billing account. Using Hero you have four functions that you can enable to make sure you are always on top of your account.

Top Up settings: You can have your account automatically toped up when your balance drops below your nominated  top-up level (e.g. $50). At the end of your billing month we’ll top-up your account to the nominated top-up level, so you start each billing month with the nominated balance.

Notification Settings: You can have an email sent to you when your account falls below the threshold.

Auto debit: You can have you card charged for the recurring monthly charges.

Stored credit card information: Securely register your credit card details and nominate a top-up level (e.g. $50). Whenever your call credit drops below $2.00 we’ll top-up your account to the nominated top-up level, so you never run out of credit.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Auto Top Up Settings.

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > Payments
  3. Add a stored credit card
  4. Tick Enabled automatic topup
  5. Add; Top up amount - this is the amount that your account will get top up at each time an automatic top up occurs.
  6. Set; Maximum weekly spend amount - this is the maxium amount that we will charge to your card every week.
  7. Set; Balance threshold - this is the amount at which the auto topup will trigger when your balance drops below this value.
  8. Click Update to save settings.

Step 2: Notification settings

  1. Click Enable low credit warning emails, if you wish to enable this function.
  2. Add Notification threshold amount- when your account drops below this amount you will be sent an email notifying you. If you leave it at $0.00 your threshold has no limit.
  3. Click Update to save settings.

Step 3: Automatic Payments

  1. Click Enable automatic payments, if you wish to enable this setting.  This means we will automatically charge your card each month your plan amount.
  2. Click Update to save settings.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:07


Technical Questions

Ports and Hostnames

Ports and Hostnames

DNS Settings

Proxy  phone.herotel.uk
TCP/TLS Proxy  phone.herotel.uk (port 5061)
SIP Peering IP Address  103.212.52.50

Other

Our RTP Port Range 20000-50000
Our T.38 (faxing) UDPTL Port Range 20000-50000
Fax fax.herotel.uk
Primary NTP uk.pool.ntp.org
SIP (UDP/TCP) 5060
SIP TLS proxy 5061 (phone.herotel.uk)
 

If using TLS verify whether your PBX or IP phone requires a TLS flag to be set as transport.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 11:08


What Codecs do Hero Support?

Codec Support

  • Voice: G.722 (wideband), G.711 A Law, G.711 U Law, GSM, iLBC, G.729 and G.726 with automatic transcoding between codecs.
  • Video: H.264 and H.263.
  • Fax:  T.38 pass-through and termination (Redundancy Mode)
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 11:07


NAT and SIP ALG

NAT

NAT Traversal

NAT can interfere with SIP and RTP by changing the ports on the way through. To counter we enable NAT traversal by default therefore communicating directly to the port that sent us the original RTP traffic (instead of sending back to the RTP port in the SIP message). For SIP registrations therefore you should normally disregard any IP address and ports shown in the SIP message as in reality they are rarely the ones used.

Firewall Behind NAT

You can generally disable firewall rules if behind NAT as they they shouldn’t be required. However, if port forwarding [SIP and RTP] selecting an appropriate RTP range can be complicated. In this scenario you may need to disable NAT.

SIP ALG

For incoming calls, if you’re users are reporting ringing with no voice on answer you’ve probably encountered a SIP ALG issue on your router.  See our guide on Disabling SIP ALG on various brands of router.

If you are unable to access the router and therefore disable SIP ALG, consider switching your phone or PBX to TLS encryption (preventing SIP ALG) by changing the following two settings on your handset or IP-PBX.

  • proxy: phone.herotel.uk
  • port: 5061
  • Transport: TLS

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 00:46


Problems with DTMF (Pressing digits during a call)

Problems with DTMF (Pressing digits during a call)

If you are reporting that your IVR is intermittently failing when pressing the menu selections of your Auto Attendant, it highly likely that the in-house PBX has a DTMF issue.

In summary, you’ll need to ensure you are supporting RFC2833 or SIP INFO and not the older analog Inband DTMF.

  • Inband: With Inband digits are passed along just like the rest of your voice as normal audio tones with no special coding or markers using the same codec as your voice. On a VoIP or SIP network Inband is highly unreliable and is usually the cause of failure.
  • RFC2833: (Preferred setting in most cases) Is a standards definition for signaling for various events including DTMF tones, fax-related tones and country-specific subscriber line tones.
  • SIP INFO: This method is also very reliable as it transmits each digit in a SIP message rather than in the audio/media portion of the call.  Not all devices can support this method, but if you are having issues with RFC2833 then SIP INFO is a good alternative and should work well.

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 00:48


Can I use my existing phone with Hero?

As a SIP or VoIP service provider you will require an IP telephone handset to make calls on the Hero network or you can use our Mobiex Apps on your Smartphone.  Commonly used SIP handsets are those by Yealink, Polycom and Cisco/Linksys.

You can connect a traditional analogue handset to our service but you will need something called an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) first to convert the voice traffic to digital and the SIP protocol.  There are various options for ATA's too such as Cisco SPA112 and SPA122 and many others.  Contact support@herotel.uk if you need more assistance in choosing a handset or gateway device.

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:42


Can I run my alarm systems across Hero VOIP?

No.

While you may be able to get your alarm system working over our VOIP platforms we do not recommend this and recommend an IP based alarm system or one using a traditional analogue phone line.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:41


Can I use the Hero Cloud PBX if my on-premise PBX fails?

Can I use the Hero Cloud PBX  if my on-premise PBX fails?

Yes, absolutely.

  • Location: CloudPBX > select number > Inbound Calls
  • Summary: Setting up a second layer of redundancy on your PBX.
  • Detail: Leverage our hosted cloud PBX voice service to provide your PBX with a second layer of redundancy, regardless of whether you are connecting via Peering or Registration.

 

Registration: Enable Call Forwarding to redirect to your specified alternate number(s) if the call isn’t answered within a designated time.

SIP Peering: If you don’t have a secondary IP/PBX, you can also enable Call Forwarding to redirect calls to alternate numbers. When our Active Polling service detects that your circuit has been off-line for more than 10 seconds, inbound calls will failover through to the alternates specified in your Call Forward.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Call forwarding

This service is only available to direct Inbound calls to alternate numbers in the event of a loss of data service.

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Click Voice > Line Manager
  3. Click on a number and then select Incoming Calls > Call Forwarding
  4. Set your Call Forwarding preferences including numbers and time schedules
  5. Click Save to update your settings.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:41


Will my Hero service work if there is a power cut?

Will my Hero service work if there is a power cut?

Your Hero service requires power to work as your broadband modem will not function without it.

 

To ensure that you never lose inbound calls in the case of a power failure, we recommend that you set up call forward unreachable or simultaneous ring on at least one inbound number and have calls sent to a mobile. There are a number of alternative features that you can use also to ensure you always receive calls.

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 05:04


SIP Registration, Peering and IAX2 explained

SIP Registration, Peering and IAX2 explained

Hero supports SIP registration, SIP peering and IAX2 registration to connect your VoIP service.

SIP Registration

The simplest of the three connection types “Registration” is used to connect IP phones and some IP-PBX machines to our hosted cloud PBX. By configuring your IP-phone credentials (found in your CloudPBX portal) and the SIP Server /  proxy host details (phone.herotel.uk) you’ll be ready to start making calls.

SIP Peering

Enables a direct trusted network-to-network connection between your IP-PBX and our voice public IP. The main advantage of Peering is greater flexibility of number routing within your onsite-PBX. To use Peering you will require a static WAN IP address.

IAX2 Registration

Hero also support the IAX2 Protocol aimed at customers with an Asterisk based IP-PBX system including Asterisk, Trixbox, FreePBX and others.

If your IP-PBX, gateway or phone supports the IAX2 protocol then it should be compatible with our IAX2 service. IAX2 has a number of advantages over the SIP protocol including:

  • IAX2 trunking is more efficient with your Internet bandwidth when making multiple calls - often using less than half the bandwidth of the equivalent SIP calls using the same voice codec. For example eight G.729 calls using SIP will use around 250kbps with SIP but less than 100kbps using IAX2 trunking.
  • With IAX2 it is easier to connect to us when behind a router or firewall as a single port number is used for both signalling (call setup information) and media (voice traffic). This removes the complexity of traversing some problematic firewalls etc. and removes problems with no audio or one way audio etc.
  • DTMF traffic is always out of band removing any confusion about which DTMF method to use

For more benefits of IAX2 over SIP visit:
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/IAX+versus+SIP

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:38


Why can’t I register my VoIP device?

Why can’t I register my VoIP device?

Firewalls and Interfering routers are the most common cause of SIP registration failure with your VoIP device where the firewall/router blocks incoming traffic required by our SIP registration process. Remember that the process of any SIP registration comprises a sequential number of requests and challenges between your PBX or handset and CloudPBX as the registration server.

The underlying logic is our CloudPBX authenticates your credentials, and secondly stores your IP address and port number at the moment of registration. When a call hits our CloudPBX we in turn redirect that call to the last successfully registered IP address and port on your router. If your router blocks our incoming traffic, the call will fail.

The easiest way to get around these SIP ALGs is to set your SIP Transport to 'TLS' (instead of UDP) - this encrypts the SIP so your routers/firewalls cannot interfere with the SIP traffic. Our own Hero Apps for Android etc. all use TLS to avoid these issues.  This might be why your own SIP device is not working while our Hero Apps work just fine.

If TLS is not available, the next trick you can try is to set the 'Proxy' or Host settings to use a non-standard SIP port to connect to our service. We support port 50600 for this purpose so you can set your Proxy to phone.herotel.uk:50600 (instead of just phone.herotel.uk) - this should tell your device to use port 50600 instead of the usual 5060. Some devices have the port in a separate box but most you just put it after the host name with :50600 at the end.

Next, you can look at your router and/or firewall device and look to turn off the SIP ALG functionality. If you can't see this setting in your router then send us the make/model of your router and we will do some research for you to see how this functionality is turned off.

Lastly, the issue can sometimes be related to NAT (Network Address Translations) timeout being too low on your device. Sometimes this is configurable, sometimes it isn't. If you can configure the NAT timeout (for UDP traffic) then set this to 1 minute (60 seconds). One other trick to combat a low NAT timeout value is to register with our service more frequently. So you can set the Registration Timeout to 60 seconds for example. This means your device registers with us every minute but it also has the effect of keeping the NAT connections alive for your phone to avoid the NAT timing out and our service having issues connecting to your device which is on your LAN.

Registration – Inbound only

We don’t require you to register to make an outbound call as we check your credentials on each call. Registration is merely the mechanism we use to direct incoming calls through to your router /firewall and ultimately phone or PBX (if using registration).

SIP Keep Alive

For security routers are oblivious to the requirements of SIP and by design regularly close the ports preventing CloudPBX from redirecting to your PBX or handset. To avoid, set your phones “Keep Alive” values to 60 seconds an interval generally well inside the period most routers close their incoming ports. This means every minute your phone updates our CloudPBX registration server with its latest IP address and port setting. When an incoming call is received to our network, we can be confident of your IP and port numbers.

Recommendations

  • SIP ALG: We recommend disabling SIP ALG as most implementations incorrectly modify SIP and ultimately corrupt SIP packets rendering them unreadable causing unexpected behaviors such as registration and incoming calls failing.
  • TLS: Is a reliable work around which alleviates interference caused by SIP ALG as TLS packets are encrypted ultimately preventing corruption. To use TLS set your phones or endpoints to port 5061.
  • Port Forwards: For SIP peering installations we recommend port forwarding all traffic on UDP port 5060 to your device. Additionally we strongly recommend you set your firewall access control lists (ACL) to limit to traffic on 5060 to our trunking IP address. Note: we have also configured port 50600 on our end to receive SIP traffic.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:37


Bogus or Spam incoming calls

Bogus or Spam incoming calls

If you’re experiencing  spam or phantom incoming calls that appear as “blocked” or CLIs such as 100 you are probably the victim of a form of malicious attack. In summary they come in two forms:

  1. An overseas call centre has your number and while unwanted is making genuine calls which often display the CLI as ‘blocked’. As your carrier, we will quickly block these calls once advised by you after we confirm the originating source.
  2. A port scan into port 5060 is actually a form of attack to your router for those customers connecting over the public internet using ‘Peering’ or alternately ‘Registration’ with port forwarding to port 5060 but importantly missing the appropriate firewall rules. As attacks like this do not come via our network they don’t show in your CDR record.
    These calls can be dangerous, as they are attempts to enter your PBX, then route calls back out through your CloudPBX account to selected and expensive destinations across Asia, Africa and parts of eastern Europe. Our strong advise is to quickly “lock down” your device with the appropriate firewall rule on SIP port 5060.

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 05:27


How do access Hero features directly from my phone/handset without using the web portal?

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 09:40


Do Hero support SIP Trunking?

Hero SIP Trunking is available on all of our plans and we offer DDIs for just $2+VAT per month and these come with their own channel.  DDI numbers do not come with any Cloud Features but simply route to your existing PBX or switch.


Here are some great reasons why Hero SIP Trunking is the best option for your IP PBX PSTN connectivity. Customers have two options when connecting their IP capable PBX to Hero - SIP Peering and Registered Trunks. Both services are available on ALL Hero accounts and can be configured in our portal.  Simply make the choice that best suits your business requirements.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 10:31


How to setup a SIP trunk

SIP trunks are typically used to connect a PBX to Hero such as an Asterisk or 3CX PBX to our platform.  Hero make connecting a PBX simple by allowing a different type of connection profile which we call a 'Registered SIP Trunk'.  Below are the simple steps to connecting a SIP trunk to Hero:

First Login to the Hero Customer Portal click on the Voice tab and then select the 'Profiles' option in the left side menu.  Then select the Connection Type as 'Registered SIP Trunk'. Choose the phone number you want to use as your 'pilot number'.  This is typically the 'main' number on your account and will be the number you use to register with to Hero:

Press Save 'Default' Profile and then back on your PBX setup a SIP registration to login using the phone number you selected as your pilot number and the associated password for that line and check the online status in our portal and that your PBX has successfully logged in.

Now ALL other numbers on your account will behave like DDI numbers and will be automatically routed to your SIP trunk via the pilot number registration you have setup.  You do not need to do anything else.  Any new numbers added to the account will automatically route to your PBX and the SIP URI in the SIP INVITE will be the DDI which has been dialed.  You can also present any number outbound from your PBX as Caller ID and we will automatically accept this as Caller ID from your PBX.

Using a separate profile

If for some reason you want to have both a PBX connected to your account and at the same time allow lines to register to our Cloud PBX as well then you can create a new Profile in the Profiles page by clicking on 'New Profile' at the bottom of the page.  You can create as many profiles as you want and give them all different connection types and then back in the Line Manage page on the far right of the screen beside each number you can select which profile to use for each of your numbers.

If you have any questions about SIP trunking or connecting a PBX to our platforms then let our support team know.

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-09-24 01:46


Technical Questions » General SIP Questions

What are the generic SIP settings for connecting a SIP compliant device to your service?

Customers with their own SIP enabled phone, gateway or PBX are free to use this to connect to Hero's service. The device must be SIP v2 compatible. Refer to the settings below for a guide to how you should configure your device to connect to the Hero service.

 

Username/Login/User ID: Your Hero Phone Number inc. area code (e.g. 442034567890)
Authorisation Name/Display Name: Your Hero Phone Number inc. area code (e.g. 442034567890)
Password: Your Hero Password (assigned at signup)
Host/Proxy/Domain: phone.herotel.uk  (or phone.herotel.uk:50600)
Outbound Proxy: phone.herotel.uk  (or phone.herotel.uk:50600)
DTMF Mode: rfc2833 (or AVT/out of band)
Default voice codecs: G.711 alaw, G.711 ulaw, G.722, G.729a
Default video codecs: H.264, H.263
SIP Transport: UDP, TCP or TLS (TLS preferred)
SIP port: 5060 or 50600 (udp, tcp) or 5061 (tls)
STUN Server: stun.herotel.uk (port 3478)
Firewall Rules: Allow all traffic from 103.212.52.50 (UDP portrange 1024-50000, TCP port 5060 and 5061)

 

Troubleshooting

If you are having problems registering your phone or PBX with our service then this may be due to a SIP ALG (Application Layer Gateway) on your router or firewall interfering with the SIP traffic or blocking it in some way.  It may also be a firewall issue.  We recommend in this case to try and use 'TLS' as your SIP transport (rather than the usual default of UDP).  This will switch the traffic to an encrypted port which will effectively hide the SIP traffic from your network equipment.

If you do not have TLS transport as an option on your device then another work around is to switch the port number you use to register to us to be 50600 (instead of 5060) - this again can avoid ALG related problems since the port is unknown to the router as a SIP port.  Usually the port is set on the end of the Outbound Proxy/Proxy address (e.g. phone.herotel.uk:50600) but can sometimes be in a separate 'port' field.  Do not confuse your own SIP port with the one you are connecting to on our side.  If in doubt contact support@herotel.uk for assistance.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-06-12 06:22


DIsabling SIP Application Layer Gateway (ALG) functionality

Disabling SIP ALG

If you are experiencing one way voice particularly on incoming calls the most probable cause is SIP ALG. While originally designed to resolve a NAT related problems, with no standard implementation many routers and software based firewalls corrupt the SIP message by attempting to rewrite part of the SIP message. Frustratingly the one-way voice issues will often only occur on a single number and will clear once the router has been reset.

As a general rule all VoIP service providers recommend disabling SIP ALG (see VoIP Org).

Content

1. Cisco IOS Router
2. DrayTek Router
3. Juniper JunOS Router
4. Netgear Modem Router
5. SonicWall
6. TP-LINK Modem Router
7. Zyxel
8. Netcomm

 

If you are unable to access the router consider switching your phone or PBX to use TLS which to encrypt the SIP packet ultimately preventing SIP ALG corruption.

1. Disabling SIP ALG – Cisco IOS Router

  • From the CLI: Enable configure terminal, No IP nat service SIP UDP port 5060
  • For TCP run: No ip nat service sip tcp port 5060

2. Disabling ALG – DrayTek Routers

This guide specifically applies to the Vigor 2760 but is also applicable to most other DrayTeks in the series.

  • 2800, 2820, 2830, 2860, 2920, 2925, 2960

Windows

  1. Start | Cmd
  2. Type: telnet 192.168.1.1 (Enter) NB – Ensure Telnet is enabled ( Start | Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features | Turn Windows Features on or off | TELNET CLIENT >> OK)
  3. Default user name: admin | admin
  4. Type: sys sip_alg 0 (Enter) Enter

3. Disabling ALG – Juniper JunOS Router

  • From the CLI: To verify if SIP ALG is enabled or disabled run show security ALG status | match sip
  • To disable run:
  1. Configure
  2. Set security alg sip disable
  3. Commit

4. Disabling ALG – Netgear Modem Router

This guide applies to most Netgear routers

  1. In browser browse to 192.168.0.1 (this is the default IP address)The default username is admin and the default password is password
  2. Under Advanced select WAN Setup
  3. Check Disable SIP ALG option
  4. Select Apply

5. Disabling ALG – SonicWALL

This KB applies to all SonicWALL SonicOS firewalls.

SonicWall has a feature called SIP Transformations that consistently cause total or partial loss of voice.

  1. Log into the web interface on the SonicWall.
  2. On the left, find the VOIP tab. Depending on the version of SonicOS your screen may appear slightly different.
  • Disable SIP Transformations: Browse to the SIP Settings page and ensure Enable SIP Transformations is NOT enabled.
  • Enable Consistent NAT: The Consistent NAT setting will ensure the same NAT port is used. If this is disabled, you may experience undesired call behaviour.
  • Ensure Consistent NAT is Enabled

This KB applies to most TP-LINK routers.

On Windows 7/8

  1. Start | cmd >>Enter
  2. Type:telnet 192.168.1.1EnterNB – Ensure Telnet is enabled ( Start | Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features | Turn Windows Features on or off | TELNET CLIENT >> OK)
  3. Default user name: admin | adminNote that no symbols may appear when typing in the password, but continue anyway.
  4. Type inip nat service sip sw offEnterIf successful, it should say Nat SIP v2 switch off!

7. Disabling ALG – Zyxel Equipment

Web UI: Using the Web Interface Navigate to the NAT tab and uncheck the box for SIP ALG.

Using Telnet

  1. Telnet into the router Select menu items 24 then 8
  2. To display current SIP ALG status run the following command:

8. Disabling ALG – Netcomm

While the following KB guide specifies the NB604N all Netcomm routers are similarly configured. Netcomm also provide a useful router emulator for all their routers.

  1. Logon to the router
  2. Advanced Setup | NAT | ALG >> uncheck “Enable SIP”
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 11:10


Cloud PBX Features

Media – Audio and Greetings

Media – Audio and Greetings

We allow you to upload your own customised media for Voicemail, Auto Attendant, Music on hold, Ring back tone and Caller Tunes using the Media upload feature.

Quick Guide

Step One: Record Voicemail

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Click on the Voice tab and select the phone line you want
  3. Select Media and then either the 'Unavailable Message' (for voicemail unavailable recording) or 'Busy Message' (for voicemail busy recording)
 

Media formats

  • MP3 Only: We only support MP3 media so if your media is in a WAV format you will need to convert into an MP3.
  • File size: If you find your Voicemail message is immediately hanging you may need to check the file size of the media. If your MP3 file is larger than 750k try reducing the file size by converting the media to 41,000 Hz 96k.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 11:16


Feature Short Codes

Feature Short Codes

Use the following short codes on your CloudPBX phone to setup various features from your handset instead of logging into the CloudPBX.

NOTE: Wherever you see ‘xxx’ below, this refers to a number you enter:

Popular codes  
*55 Access Voicemail Portal
*88 Group Pickup
## Perform a ‘blind’ transfer to another number (if not disabled)
#0 Perform an ‘attended’ transfer to another number (if not disabled)
Mail  
*55 Access Voicemail Portal
*99 Voice Portal Menus
Forwarding and Locate me
*72xxx Call Forward Always Activation
*73 Call Forward Always Deactivation
*92xxx Call Forward No Answer Activation
*93 all Forward No Answer Deactivation
*90xxx Call Forward on Busy Activation
*91 Call Forward on Busy Deactivation
*561xxx Enable and Set ‘Locate Me’ Number 1
*571 Deactivate ‘Locate Me’ Number 1
*562xxx Enable and Set ‘Locate Me’ Number 2
*572 Deactivate ‘Locate Me’ Number 2
*563xxx Enable and Set ‘Locate Me’ Number 3
*573 Deactivate ‘Locate Me’ Number 3
Do not disturb and Privacy options
*78 Do Not Disturb Activation
*79 Do Not Disturb Deactivation
*30 Caller ID Blocking Activation
*31 Caller ID Blocking Deactivation
*77 Anonymous Call Rejection Activation
*87 Anonymous Call Rejection Deactivation
*60xxx Selective Call Rejection (Blacklist) Addition
*80xxx Selective Call Rejection (Blacklist) Removal
*65xxx Make a call with Caller ID visible
*67xxx Make a call with Caller ID blocked
*32 Anonymous caller screening Activation
*33 All callers screening Activation
*34 Call screening Deactivation
Remote callback/dial-tone options
*94xxx Remote Dialtone Service Number Addition
*95xxx Remote Dialtone Service Number Removal
*96xxx Remote Call-back Service Number Addition
*97xxx Remote Call-back Service Number Removal
*98xxx Remote Access Authorisation Pin Setup
*98 Removal of Remote Access Authorisation Pin (Trusted ANI only)
Auto Attendant options
*22 Record your auto attendant message/menu for callers
*23 Playback your auto attendant message/menu
*24 Activate the auto attendant service on your line
*25 Deactivate the auto attendant service on your line
Conferencing options
*40 Activate conferencing for my number (turn into conference room)
*41 Deactivate conferencing for my number
*42 Access your own conference room
Group Pickup options
*88 Group Pickup
*89 Directed Group Pickup
*89x Directed Group Pickup (with specified pickup number)
Other options  
*61 Call Waiting Activation
*81 Call Waiting Deactivation
*69 Call Return (Call back your last caller)
*66 Last Number Redial
*51 Who last called me?
*37xxx  SetAuthorisation Pin Code
*37  Remove Authorisation Pin Code (no digits after *37)
*74x Program Speed Dial 8 (x can be 2-9)
*52 Toggle to activate/deactivate CloudPBX voicemail system
*54n Set Call Diversion Timer where ‘n’ is number of seconds
Feature codes during a call
## Perform a ‘blind’ transfer to another number (if not disabled)
#0 Perform an ‘attended’ transfer to another number (if not disabled)
*1 Start/Stop a manual recording of a call (if not disabled)
*0 Disconnect from a call

 

NOTE:  Some devices may use * to access internal functions. Usually if this is the case, there should be a bypass code available.

For example, the Fritz!Box family of devices require *# to be dialed first, so to dial the voicemail code it is *#*55.

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-01-23 23:01


Call Flow Priority

Call Flow Priority

Occasionally you’ll configure a feature only to discover that another feature on the account has over-ridden your preferred feature. For example you can’t set Call Rejection and Call Forward on the same line, as the Call Rejection has a higher priority than the lower call forwarding.

Here is a complete list of call flow priorities from the dial plan:

  1. Call Rejection (block anonymous callers and blacklisting)
  2. Remote Dialtone
  3. Remote Call back
  4. Conference Room
  5. Auto-Attendant
  6. Agent Queuing
  7. Do Not Disturb
  8. Call Screening
  9. Call forward Always
  10. Simultaneous Ring
  11. Hunt Groups

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 01:00


List of Cloud PBX Features

List of Cloud PBX Features

All Cloud PBX customers are licensed to use ALL these features (and more) regardless of which plan or bundle you select.   We don't charge extra fees for extra functionality!

Inbound Calls

Simultaneous Ring: Receive call to up to five phones all ring simultaneously, or by a variety of business rules.

Call Forwarding: Setup calls to forward when you are on the phone or if you do not answer.

Do Not Disturb: Automatically forward calls to voicemail or play busy tone if you do not wish to be disturbed

Call Waiting: Choose whether to answer another call if you are already on the phone.

Call Rejection Options: Choose whether to accept calls from Anonymous callers and specify your own list of blacklisted numbers.

Call Screening Options: Choose whether to screen all or just anonymous incoming calls.

Voicemail Service: Set your Voicemail PIN number and select whether to disable the service.

Auto Attendant: Create your own auto attendant prompts for callers.

Directed or Group Call Pickup: Pickup an incoming call to another phone on your account.

Agent and Queuing: Up to 10 agents or front office personnel with the ability to queue calls applying a variety of common Call Center rules

Hunt Groups: Select up to 10 numbers to hunt through for incoming calls and specify different timeouts for each hunt attempt.

Call Forward Unreachable or Network Call Forward: Allows users to set a call forward number for when their device is unreachable or unregistered – for example in the event of a power or internet outage. This is in addition to our Call forward always, busy and no answer services.

Intercom: If your phones can support this feature then you can set them up to receive Intercom messages from other users in your team. Connect to a phone in your team and speak directly out of the speaker without needing to pick up the call first.

Outbound VoIP Calls

Authorisation PIN Code: Setup an authorisation Pin Code to protect any calls made on your account.

Speed Dial: Program 8 speed dial numbers so you can quickly make calls by entering a single digit.

Call Privacy and Caller ID: Choose whether to make anonymous calls by blocking or replacing your own Caller ID.

Last Number Redial: Dial *66 to redial the last number you called. Select your confirmation options here.

Call Return: Dial *69 to dial the last number that called you. Select your confirmation options here.

Advanced Features

Call Recording: Setup your call recording options for all your inbound and outbound calls are automatically recorded or not

Call Parking: Park incoming calls to a 'parking lot' number and then retrieve those calls from another extension without the same account and group

Conferencing: Use your Cloud PBX number and create a room to talk with others at the same time

Remote Call Back: Call your Cloud PBX number from any phone. When you hear ringing, hang up and you will be called back – so you can make a call from Cloud PBX!

Remote Dial Tone: Make calls from your Cloud PBX account from another phone by remotely dialling in to initiate the call

Call Transfers: During a call you can transfer the other person to a new number by dialing #0 for an attended transfer or ## for a blind transfer

Caller Tunes & Hold Music: Upload your own MP3’s to replace ringing when people call you and setup your own music on hold

Preferences

Auto Top up & Notifications: Automatically top up your account and change account balance and call duration notification thresholds when making calls

Personal Information: Change your personal details including the name and caller ID displayed when making calls.

Extension Dialing: Setup a short extension number for each line on your account to dial your numbers more quickly

Time and Login Options: Set your preferred language, timezone and date options.

Time Schedules: Change the default settings for time schedules such as your hours of work and available hours

Voice Quality & Networking: Choose your voice and video call quality preferences and network preferences

SIP Peering: If you have an IP PBX directly connected to the Internet you configure your account as a SIP peer (Advanced users)

TCP SIP: Users can now choose between UDP or TCP SIP. TCP SIP offers reliable communication of SIP traffic and support for longer NAT (Network Address Translation) timeouts and will also enable support of ‘TCP only’ platforms such as Microsoft Lync/OCS to connect to Cloud PBX and take advantage of our great VoIP packages.

TLS Support: provides a secure encrypted transmission of SIP for deployments that require increased security. You should connect to au.tlssip.com as your proxy/host using TCP port 5061.

Secure RTP/SRTP: Our Cloud PBX  supports Secure RTP connections from devices that support the protocol. SRTP allows for secure transmission of the media/audio stream for deployments that require increased security.

G.722 Wideband 16KHZ: which provides high quality superior audio on calls. G.722 is supported by a number of devices including Polycom.

Network Redundancy: Using our own Internet address space enables us to multi-home all services allowing automatic failover from one hosting provider to another in the event of an upstream outage or network issue. We’ve also increased automation for failover in the unlikely event of system issues or hardware failures, allowing us to switch to backup/standby systems in seconds.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-02-03 21:51


Cloud PBX Features » Inbound Calls

Voicemail Service

Voicemail Service

Hero Voicemail puts you in control of setting up and accessing your messages from anywhere. Our standard voicemail features include personal recordings for BUSY and UNAVAILABLE, save, delete, forward and the ability to deliver via email and use SMS for notifications (charges apply).

You can check your voicemail from any Hero phone line by simply dialing *55 on your handset. If you wish to check your voicemail externally from a non-Hero phone then you can dial:

  +64-9-242-0000 (or 09-242-0000 inside NZ)

You will be prompted for your phone number (which should be in 0x xxx xxxx format) and then your PIN code. Before you can do this however you will need to assign yourself a PIN number your voicemail settings

Simply login with your Hero phone line and then assign a PIN code in the 'Voicemail PIN number:' field. You can also forward voicemails to an email address and setup other options in this page.

Other Voicemail Features:

  1. Recording your VM
  2. VM Access and Delivery
  3. Feature Keys
  4. Disable Voicemail
  5. YouTube – Managing Voicemail
  6. Managing After hours Voicemail
 

Quick Guide

Step 1: Login to Portal

  1. Log into Hero Now at https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Voice tab > Select number (eg 442034567890)
  3. Incoming Calls > Voicemail Service
  4. NB – We recommend writing a script and rehearsing before recording any CloudPBX messenging.

Step 2: Recording your VM

  1. Dial *55: Dial from the phone you wish to record your prompts on and select '0' for mailbox options from the menu and then follow the prompts.
  2. Media Upload: For higher quality recordings for Voicemail UNAVAILABLE or BUSY (as well as Auto Attendant, Music on Hold, and Caller Tunes) you can upload your MP3 recordings using the Media Section.

Step 3: VM Access and Delivery

  1. Accessing your Voicemail box: You can access your own inbox by dialling *55.
  2. Voicemail PIN number: To access to your voicemail from phone not directly linked to your message box requires a PIN code (see Voicemail PIN number). To access that box enter *55 at anytime during the message. You will be greeted by the message……”please enter your password followed by the # key”
  3. Call Diversion Timer: Sets the seconds to wait before diverting to voicemail or forwarding.
  4. Email: Enter the email address where you want your voicemail messages delivered.
  5. SMS: Send and SMS alerts to let you know you have a new voicemail. Note each SMS will cost 20 cents.
  6. From a Hero Phone: Dial *55 from your Hero phone to access your personal mailbox.

Feature Keys

  • 4 – previous message
  • 5 – Repeat
  • 6 – Play next message
  • 7 – Delete
  • 8 – Forward
  • 9 – SAVE
  • Voicemail Star Access: Dial your own Hero number from any phone and wait for it to go to voicemail then press  *55  and you will be prompted for your PIN code (this must already be setup) followed by # to access your mailbox messages as normal. You can also setup calling numbers as trusted callers to avoid having to enter a PIN number.
  • From Hero: You can check your new voicemails by simply logging into Hero and clicking on the messages tab. (You cannot setup prompts etc. using the web interface however).
  • From email: You can login to Hero and under voicemail settings setup an email address to forward all voicemail messages onto. For the technically minded Subscribers you can also connect to our IMAP server (mail.cloud2tel.co.uk) using TLS/Secure connection and check your voicemail directly from your email client such as Outlook.

Step 4: Disable Voicemail

Disable Voicemail

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Select Voice tab > select a number
  3. Select Incoming Calls Voice Mail
  4. Click the checkbox Turn off your Voice-mail call diversions
 

6. Managing After hours Voicemail

To setup an after hours Voicemail you will need to configure Do not Disturb and set your Time Schedules (under Other Settings/ Time Schedules Preferences) to define your office work hours.

 

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 23:05


Simultaneous Ring

Simultaneous Ring

Use Simultaneous Ring to call up to five other phones simultaneously (SimRing) or specify a delay and stagger using Hunt mode.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Select Voice tab > Phone number you require SimRing on
  3. Select Incoming Calls > Simultaneous Ring
  4. Set your target numbers
  5. Only untick hunt mode if you want to follow the features for that line, otherwise you should leave hunt mode enabled
  6. Specify your time schedule
  7. Set delay before ringing (0=immediately)
  8. Click Save settings to update. 

Note: If you need to configure forwarding rules on the individual DID, use the Forwarding or trunking feature to access that individual DID.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:43


Shared Line Call Appearance

SHARED LINE FEATURE

The Hero Shared Line service enables you to have up to 6 devices or phones registered against a single Hero number at the same time. When someone rings the Hero number all phones/devices will ring at the same time. A great example of this is if you have Hero App (Softphone) and a VoIP handset or dual mode cellphone.


Instead of having a Hero number for your handset/cellphone and another Hero number for your softphone - simply use the same number on both and no matter where you are people will be able to reach you. Hero Shared Line is also useful in a small office situation where you have Shared Line and want it to ring all the office phones at once. Of course if you're away from an area with internet access you can still use the Simultaneous Ring service to have your cellphone or landline ring as well.

Enabling the Shared Line Call Appearance Feature:

By default the shared line call appearance feature is DISABLED on all lines.  Before you can enable the shared line call appearance feature you will need to turn the feature on against the phone number that you wish to enable this for.  Simply login to the customer portal, go to the 'Voice' tab and then click on the phone number you wish to enable shared line call appearance on.  In the line (call flow) page, click on the 'Incoming Calls' dropdown menu and select 'Simultaneous Ring'.  The simultaneous ring settings page will appear and at the bottom of this settings page you will see a checkbox:

[ ]   Enable shared line call appearance feature on this line

Click this checkbox and press 'Save' and now the shared line call appearance feature will be enabled on your line.

Here's how to setup the feature on your phones:

You should choose one device as your primary device. In the SIP settings for your primary device enter your Hero number and password as usual. For each additional device you will need to add a suffix to your Hero number/login. The suffix will need to take the format of a dash followed by the number 1-5. Each device will need a different number/suffix or else the service won't work. The password is the same for each device.


The maximum number of devices you can register against one Hero number is 6 including your primary device


Here's a sample/example configuration: 

  • Primary Device - Cisco VoIP handset - Login as '442034567890'
  • 2nd Device - Hero Desktop App (Softphone) - Login as '442034567890-1'
  • 3rd Device - Hero Smartphone App - Login as '442034567890-2'
  • etc.

     

If you have any feedback on the service please email support@herotel.uk

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-06-30 09:00


Call Forwarding

 

Content

  1. Terms
  2. Setup Call forwarding
  3. Inbound Trunking

Control your incoming call flow when you’re away or busy with a permanent call forward. Use time schedules to give you more flexibility, for example, have your calls forwarded straight to your mobile during the day with an after hours forward to your after hours voicemail box.

Terms:

  • Call Forward Busy: Enables Subscribers to redirect calls to another number when an incoming call receives a busy response.
  • Call Forward No Answer: Enables Subscribers to redirect calls to another number when an incoming call is not answered within a specified time frame. Configurable via feature code, voice IVR and within the CloudPBX.
  • Call Forward Always: Enables a user to redirect all incoming calls to another phone number. Configurable via feature code, voice IVR and within the CloudPBX.
  • Auto scheduling: Automatic such as recurring meeting or for after hours support.
  • Emergency Diverts: If for what ever reason your VoIP data link is taken offline, use Call Forwarding to quickly divert all incoming phone calls to alternate land-line or mobile contacts.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Call Forwarding

  1.  Log into https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Voice tab >> Select number.
  3. Select Incoming Calls > Call Forwarding
  4. Set your Call Forwarding preferences including numbers and time schedules
  5. Click Save to update your setting 

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-03-27 23:08


Hunt Groups

Use Hunt Groups for Managing Inbound Calls

 Our Cloud PBX provides all users with a free and simple linear hunt group service. The service allows you to distribute phone calls from a single telephone number to a group of up to 10 phone lines. You can decide if you want the hunt group to be enabled at all times or on specific days and times (such as outside of work hours). The service also allows you to set how long to wait before moving to the next number in the hunt group and whether to follow normal call logic or send calls to voicemail on no answer from the Hunt Group lines.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice and select the number you want to use Hunt Groups with.
  2. Select Incoming Calls  > Hunt Group.
  3. Use the check box to enable a hunt group for this number.
  4. Select an option and time (seconds) for when hunt group calls will trigger.
  5. Set up your Hunt Group. You can have up to 10 numbers (1st to 10th) in a Hunt Group. Use the drop down box to select your time of day rules so the hunt group is only enabled during work hours etc.
  6. Click Save settings to update.
hunt group numbers

Note: These will always be tried in order 1-10 so ensure you enter your Hunt Group numbers in the order of priority for answering calls. Each number can have its own timeout before moving on to the next number. The default is 10 seconds timeout for each number. Hunt Group numbers can either be CloudPBX or PSTN numbers are also allowed. If it is a CloudPBX number then the number is dialed directly without following any ‘features’ on that line.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:34


Call Queuing

Call Queuing

Long wait times means abandoned calls, lowered customer satisfaction and ultimately lost business. Call Queuing is perfect for busy front office or receptionist functions where incoming calls are directed to a pilot number. Using the Cloud PBX you can set the position in the queue announcement frequencies, maximum number of callers in queue and a variety of time out values.

Go one step further and link Cloud PBX Auto Attendant to the your advertised number to easily direct calls to sales, support or the finance group for example; providing a feature to your callers normally only available to large call centers.

If for what ever reason your agents are unable to answer the calls, you can redirect to a call forwarding, simultaneous ring or even just prompt to leave a voicemail message.

NOTE: Call Queues can only ring the main registered number as an agent and you cannot have shared line appearance lines (i.e.. 442034567890-1, -2, -3, -4 or -5) attached to queues.  These shared lines will simply not ring on a queue - only the main number.  Note: also any other features such as forwarding, simultaneous ring etc. will not work for an agent when on a queue either - it simply tries to dial the agent's registered phone.

 

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice and select the number you want to use Call Queuing with.
  2. Select Incoming Calls > Call Queuing
  3. Click Call Queuing to Enabled.
  4. Select agents to be connected to call.
  5. Click Save settings to update.
 

Settings

  • Maximum Queue Length: Maximum number of callers allowed in the queue at any time (0 means unlimited).
  • Agent Timeout: How many seconds to let the agent phone ring before it is considered a timeout.
  • Retry timer: How many seconds to wait before retrying an agent again.
  • Wrap-up Time: How many seconds after a successful call to wait before allowing an incoming call to that agent.
  • Queue Position Announcement: How often in seconds to announce queue position and/or estimated hold-time to caller (Specify 0 to turn these announcements off).
  • Periodic Announcement Frequency: How often to play the ‘Thank you for holding’ message (Specify 0 to turn these announcements off).
  • Queue Timeout: How many seconds can a caller be left in the queue (0 for no time limit). After the queue times out the call will fail over in the following order – Call Forward, Simultaneous Ring and finally VoiceMail ensuring the Queue is always responded to if not by an Agent directly.
  • Queue Identifier: Text displayed in front of the Caller ID information when the call is delivered to an agent via this queue.
  • Estimated hold time: YES/NO advise caller the estimated hold time in queue.
  • Hold-time agent advice: YES/NO advise agent the hold-time of the caller to the agent before connecting the call.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:33


Do Not Disturb

Setting Your Phone To Do Not Disturb

You can easily avoid interruption by setting your phone to do not disturb. This will send your calls directly to your voice-mail or play a busy tone without your phone ringing.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice and select the number you want to use Do Not Disturb with.
  2. Select Incoming Calls > Do Not Disturb.
  3. Click bos to Enable Do Not Disturb Service.
  4. Click box to Play Busy Tone, if not selected the caller will be diverted to voicemail.
  5. Click Save settings to update.
Do Not Disturb

Note: You are able to select an option for when you want this function to be active.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:31


Caller ID and Rejection Options

Caller ID and Call Rejection Options

This feature helps you identify your Inbound caller’s CLI and set any call rejection options.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > select the number you want to use Caller ID & Rejections.
  2. Select CloudPBX > Inbound Calls > Caller ID & Rejections.
  3. Select the option
  4. Click Save settings to update.
Cloud PBX Call Rejection Options
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-28 03:34


Call Screening

Call Screening Options

We all like a little control over who we take calls from right? We’re used to this on our mobile phones, and call screening is available for you to set up just the way you want in our Cloud PBX.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice and select number you wish to set up Screening options.
  2. Select Incoming Calls > Call Screening.
  3. Select your time schedule.
  4. Click Save settings to update.
screening options
screening option times

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:29


Auto Attendant (IVR)

Auto Attendant IVR

Auto Attendant is your virtual receptionist or IVR, that can greet all inbound calls and direct the caller to the department they requirer. Example: “Welcome to Our Company if you would like to speak to our customer service team press one, accounts press two….”

With Auto Attendant you can:

  • Use time schedules to set when your auto attendant in be active.
  • Set a time for response time, before the Auto Attend message replays.
  • Choose how many times to replay Auto Attend message, before the calls get directed to the number Auto Attend is set up on.
  • Create a greeting only. Limit the Auto Attendant to a greeting message then use the call forward to route the call once the greeting message completes (see simple Quick Guide – Greeting Only).

Quick Guide

Setting up Auto Attendant with Call Fowarding

  1. Log in to your https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice and select number you wish to set up Auto Attendant.
  2. Select Incoming Calls > Auto Attendant.
  3. Either record your Auto Attendant message by dialing *22 or upload your recording in Media.
  4. Set your time you want your Auto Attendant play.
  5. Select the numbers you want to use for in your Auto Attendant. Note: If you are planning on using extension think about creating cohesion with your extension dialing numbers.
  6. Click Save settings to update your settings (see Quick Guide – Simple Queue below).

 

Quick Guide

Setting up Auto Attendant – Greeting Only

  1. Log in to your https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice and select number you wish to set up Auto Attendant.
  2. Select  Incoming Calls > Auto Attendant.
  3. Set your Target numbers and time schedules.
  4. Set Seconds to Wait: 2 Times to play: 1 (see screen shot below)
  5. DO NOT set forwarding numbers within the AutoAttendant (see screen shot below)
  6. Set Call Forward: Use Forwarding and trunking to route the call to the required function (eg Queue or SimRing)
  7. Click Save settings to update your settings.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:27


Call Pickup

Call Pickup

The call pickup service allows you to remotely pick up an incoming call to another phone in your group or on your account.

Call pickup functions

  • *88 – Group pickup. This will pickup the latest incoming call to any of the phones in your group.
  • *89 – Directed call pickup. This will prompt you for a phone number or extension number in your group and then pickup the incoming call only to that phone.
  • *89X – You may also dial *89 followed by the phone number or extension without going through the prompt (e.g. *89800 will try to pickup an incoming call to extension 800 in your group).

By default the call pickup service is enabled on all lines, but you may check the box below to disable call pickups both to and from this number so no-one else in your account/group can take your incoming calls.

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-15 22:25


Cloud PBX Features » Outbound Calls

Caller ID (CLI) and Call Privacy

Caller ID (CLI) and Call Privacy

By using our Cloud PBX you have the option to show, block or showcase your business main number when making outbound calls.

Content

Caller Privacy
Set your Caller ID
Solution: CLI and Shared office

Caller ID Privacy Options

By using our Cloud PBX you have the option to show or block your caller ID (also called Calling Line Identification CLI) with your outbound calls.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Set your Caller ID privacy

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to set up Caller ID privacy on.
  2. Select Outgoing Calls > Caller ID and Privacy.
  3. Click to select your preferred options.
  4. Select Save settings to update.
 

Caller ID Settings Options

Use any of your account numbers as the outgoing Caller ID. For example, if your main number is 442034567890 but your users numbers 442034567891, use Select the type of Caller ID to present as 442034567890 as the CLI. 

NOTE: If you set a Caller ID to be presented on Outbound Calls then this will force all outgoing calls to use that Caller ID including any diverted/forwarded calls.

NB – In order to present a number that is not on our Cloud PBX we need to verify that you are the legal entity and owner of the number you wish to present.

Step 2: Caller ID Settings

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to set up Caller ID on.
  2. Select Outgoing Calls > Caller ID and Privacy
  3. Choose, type of caller ID, number from account or non-account
  4. Click Save settings  to update.
 
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:46


PIN Code for Restricting Calls

PIN Code for Restricting Calls

Most organisations have some rules about who can made calls to where. It may be that your warehouse team can only make local and national calls and your accounts team can call local, national and international calls.

Quick Guide:

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to Restrict Outbound Calls.
  2. Select Outgoing Calls -> Authorisation PIN Code.
  3. Set your preferences.
  4. Click to Save

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:43


Speed Dial

Speed Dial

When you have staff, customers and family that you call often, use the Cloud PBX speed dial. By using this function you can program in up to 8 of your most called numbers, so you can quickly make a call by dialing a single digit.

 

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select number you wish to set up Speed Dial.
  2. Select Outgoing Calls > Speed Dial.
  3. Add in your chosen numbers.
  4. Click Save Settings to update.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:42


Last Number Redial

Last Number Redial

Use last number redial when you are on a call with a customer and the line drops, or you have finished the call and want to quickly call them back *66 will redial the number you last called. You also have the option of having the number read back to you first for confirmation.

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:41


Outbound Trunking

Outbound Trunking

Outbound trunking is a feature that allows you to present other direct dial-in (DDI) numbers as Caller ID on your registered trunk relieving phone administrators the onerous task of individually registering large blocks of numbers to preserve CLI.

The Problem Outbound Trunking Resolves

Using Registration (i.e. not Peering) – system administrators can only present the registered number as the Caller ID which quickly becomes unmanageable for phone administrators managing large number blocks.

Setup outbound trunking

With SIP a Caller ID is made up of 2 parts, the name and number, for example for phone number 442034567890:

“Mike” <sip:442034567890>

After you’ve enabled outbound trunking you can present another number on the account as your Caller ID using the name part of the Caller ID field. In the example below we are presenting the CLI 442034567890 on the registered line 442034567891:

“442034567890” <sip:442034567890> 

SIP Peering: One advantage of SIP Peering over Registration is that we honour any account phone numbers (presented via the primary trunk DID) as the outgoing PSTN CLI.

Quick Guide:

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Select Voice and the number you want to enable for outbound trunking
  3. Select Outgoing Calls >> Outbound Trunking
  4. Click Enable outbound trunking on the line you wish to configure as the accounts Outbound Trunk DID.
  5. Click Save settings to update.

Other Notes

  • Display name: Most devices such as soft phones and IP Phones refer to the name part as the Display name.
  • Asterisk based PBX systems the name part can be set in the SIP or IAX2 configuration with the callerid= field – or if you wish to present it in the dial plan then you use the CALLERID (name) variable. By changing this name part to the number you wish to present on the call you can achieve multiple caller ID presentations for each DDI over a single registration or login.
  • P-Asserted-Identity: see also a P-Asserted-Identity header (RFC 3325) to define the Caller ID as an alternate to manipulating the name field (subject to your system support for RFC 3325).

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:40


Presenting Non-Hero Numbers for Outbound Calls

Presenting Non-Hero Numbers for Outbound Calls

Non-account numbers can be presented on outbound calls, though by default the caller ID is your number supplied by CloudPBX provider. Subject to verification that you are the number(s) owner. To verify a number that was not provided by CloudPBX provider contact your provider, they will link the required numbers to your account.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Apply for a Verified Non-Account CLI

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to set up
  2. Select Outgoing Calls > Caller ID & Privacy
  3. Click on the link   
  4. Enter your phone number you wish to present as CLI on your account.
  5. Answer the call and enter the PIN number you are presented with to enter followed by the '#' key.  If succesful you will need to configure the number per Step 2 below
  6. If you are unable to call the CLI back for some reason then you will need to send us proof of ownership of the number by emailing our support team.

Step 2: Associate the non-Hero number

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to associate a non-account number with.
  2. Select Outgoing Calls> Caller ID and Privacy
  3. Choose from the dropdown Verified non-account selection your non-account number
  4. Select Save
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:37


Cloud PBX Features » Advanced Features

Call Recording

Call Recording

On our Cloud PBX you can store recorded calls for up to six months. This is great for training purposes or to recorded agreements made over the phone. You can also email each recording to your nominated call recording address. For privacy reasons we disable Call Recording by default.

 

All persons using this device for recording telephone conversations shall comply with the law. This requires that at least one party to the conversation is to be aware that it is being recorded. If the other party on the call has explicitly instructed that recording be disabled then no recording will be made for either party. In addition, the Principles enumerated in the Privacy Act shall be complied within respect to the nature of the personal information collected, the purpose for the call only.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Enabling Recording

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select number you wish to set up call recording on.
  2. Select Other Settings > Call Recording
  3. Unselect Disable ALL call recording features on your number?

Step 2: Recording Options

  1. Select recording option – Record all of my calls / Only record call for selected numbers. If  you have chosen selected number, you will need to list the selected numbers you wish to record.
  2. Click Do NOT allow manual recording options during a call if you don’t want this option (it is set as a default once call recoding is unable)
  3. Select which direction to record calls – Record in both directions Record only Outbound Calls /Record only Inbound Calls

Step 3: Recording Records

  1. Click Send a copy of all recordings to my email. 
  2. Nominate an email address to send calls to – if different to the email on the line/account.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:00


Audio Conferencing

Making Conference Calls

When keeping your team connected is important use the CloudPBX Conference Calls function. You can use your Cloud PBX number to create your own personalised conference calls. This makes it easy be connected with staff and customers.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk  > Voice tab and select the number you wish to set up Conference Calling on.
  2. Select Other Settings > Conferencing
  3. Select Conference type as voice conference.
  4. Choose a pin (if required)
  5. Select conference service option. If you only want to allow chosen numbers to join the conference call, add the numbers in the box.
  6. Select Disable conference recordings if you don’t wish to record the conference call.
  7. Click Save settings to update.

Conference Recordings

Each conference can be automatically recorded and sent to the subscribers default email address as an email with a MP3 file attachment.

In-call functions

  • Mute/Unmute self
  • Lock/Unlock room
  • Eject last user
  • Increase/Decrease conference volume
  • Increase/Decrease personal volume
  • Conference Music on Hold.

 

The number of participants into your conference bridge is only limited by the number of channels allocated to your account.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:59


Presence and Busy Lamp Field (BLF)

Presence and Busy Lamp Field (BLF)

This guide applies to the Polycom and Yealink IP handsets.

Enable subscriptions on your line so that others can monitor your line status for Presence and Busy Lamp Field (BLF). This is a two step process by adjusting setting on CloudPBX and your handset.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Setting up Presence and BLF on CloudPBX

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to use Presence & BLF.
  2. Select Other Settings >Presence and BLF.
  3. Click Enable Presence/BLF on this line only.
  4. Click Save settings to update.
 

Setting up Presence and BLF on your Polycom

  1. Settings > Directories > Contacts Directory > 1.
  2. Add (+) : Name, Last Name (optional), Contact (requires full number including country / area code)
  3. Protocol –> SIP (only for VVX500, 600)
  4. Watch Buddy –> Enable
  5. SAVE
  6. Select contact –> Add to favorites (if you want the contact to appear on the home screen of your keypad).

Setting up BLF on your Yealink

  1. Select DSSKey tab
  2. Select the line key you wish to monitor
  3. Set Type to BLF
  4. Set Value to the phone number you wish to monitor
    NB requires country / area code (e.g. 442034567890)
  5. Click Confirm to save and apply

When configured, the LEDs should light up accordingly on your Yealink.

  • Green: extension is available. Press BLF key to dial extension.
  • Red: extension is on a call
  • Blinking red: extension is receiving a phone call. Press BLF key to perform pick-up.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:58


Remote Call Back

Remote Call Back

When you are out of the office and want to make a call to someone who’s number is within your account, simply call the Cloud PBX number from any phone. When you hear ringing, hang up and you will be called back – so you can make a call from your Cloud PBX account. Call Back is free on all CloudPBX accounts. Calls made to non CloudPBX account numbers are charged as outbound calls.

 

Quick Guide

Step 1: Setting up Remote Call Back

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select number you wish to set up remote call back on.
  2. Select Other Settings > Remote Call Back
  3. Click enable remote call back
  4. Choose remote call back service option
  5. Select a PIN number if needed. NOTE: PIN numbers are needed if you choose to call back all numbers
 

Step 2: Using Remote Call Back

  1. Call your CloudPBX number from a phone number chosen.
  2. Hang up when you hear ringing.
  3. CloudPBX will call you back.
  4. Answer the call and then make calls as usual.

NOTE: Off-net calls to call back remote numbers are charged as outbound calls.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:57


Remote Dial Tone

Remote Dial Tone

When you are out of the office and don’t want to make calls from the phone’s account you have with you, make the call through the Cloud PBX account. Meaning the phone’s account you have with you doesn’t pay for the call but the Cloud PBX account does. This is great if your overseas so that you don’t need to accrue the international calling rates on your phone.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Setting up Remote Dial Tone

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select number you wish to set up remote dial tone on.
  2. Select Other Settings > Remote Dial tone.
  3. Click enable remote dial tone service.
  4. Choose remote dial tone service option.
  5. Select a PIN number.
  6. Click Save settings to update.

Step 2: Using Remote Dial Tone

  1. Call your CloudPBX number with a phone listed for Remote Dial Tone.
  2. Enter your PIN and wait for dial tone
  3. Make calls as usual.
 

NOTE: Calls made out to remote dial tone numbers are charged as outbound calls. You will need to ensure you have enough calling credit in your account to make the call.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:56


Call Transfers

Call Transfers

By using call transfer you can easily transfer your current caller to another person.Dial #0 for an attended transfer – this is where you can announce the caller and retrieve the call if it is unanswered. Dial ## for a blind transfer – where the call is directly passed through to another person without announcement

 

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to set up Caller Transfer on.
  2. Select Other Settings > Call Transfers.
  3. Click disable call transfers if you wish to disable this feature on your line.
  4. Click Save settings to update.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:55


Caller Tunes and Hold Music

Caller Tunes and Hold Music

Long wait times means abandoned calls, lowered customer satisfaction and ultimately lost business. Setting up caller tunes and hold music creates a personable approach to your customers call. Upload your own MP3 files to replace ringing when people call you and setup your own music on hold. There is no additional charge for this service, it is included as part of Cloud PBX’s hosted cloud PBX.

 

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to add caller tunes and hold music to.
  2. Select Other Settings > Caller Tunes & Hold Music.
  3. Select options for caller tune sound and volume.
  4. Click Save settings to update.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:54


Call Parking

Call Parking

Call parking is a feature that allows a person to put a call on hold at one phone and continue the conversation from another phone.

Whilst on a call a person can decide to put that call on hold by transfering the call to *07. The user will then hear a parking extension read back to them (e.g. 700). If your phone does not have an attended transfer button, then you can do this using our inband transfer feature which means dialing #0 during the call followed by *07#. The caller will then be put on hold and hear music on hold until somebody retrieves the call by dialing *1 followed by the parking extension number (e.g. *1 700). Then the parked caller and the new phone will be connected. If the parking times out because nobody has retrieved the call then the parked call will be returned to the person who originally parked the call - or it can also be forwarded to another number if preferred.

Call parking and retrieval can only be done by phones that are on the same account AND in the same group. If you enable call parking on an extension then call parking will become automatically available to all other phones in that group without having to enable the feature on every line.

To park a call transfer the call to: *07 
 
 (To park a call to a specific parking extension you can also dial *07xx (e.g. *0705 will park the call on slot 705)

To retrieve a parked call from an extension dial: *1xxx - where xxx is the extension you wish to retrieve
  
(For example to retrieve a call from extensions 705 you would dial *1705. You may also dial *17 and enter the extension after the prompt)

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select the number you want to set up Caller Parking on.
  2. Select Other Settings > Call Parking.
  3. Click Enable Call Parking and select your settings for parking which will apply to all lines in the same account and group.
  4. Click Save settings to update.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 01:52


SMS Gateway Instructions

Hero offer an SMS gateway for customers who wish to send SMS messages either by using our email to SMS gateway or web service API.  Below are instructions on how to use this service.

Email to SMS gateway

1. First you need to setup which email addresses are allowed to send SMS on your account or phone number.  To do this login to the Hero portal.  Click on the  Voice tab and select the phone number you wish to bill your SMS messages against.  Next click on Other Settings  and then select the 'SMS Features' sub-menu option

2. You can list one or many email addresses that are permitted to send SMS through the email gateway, putting each email address on a new line.  You can also optionally enter a passphrase to increase security.  This passphrase needs to be included in the subject line when sending your SMS emails and will automatically be removed from the SMS when it is sent out.

3. Once you have defined the email addresses allowed to send SMS messages and optionally set a passphrase you can simply send an email from one of those allowed email addresses to a mobile phone number of your choice.  The Subject line and Body of the email will be added together to make up the complete SMS message.  If you do not want the subject line to be included in the SMS message then leave this blank.  You need to send your email message as follows:

To: phonenumber@sms.herotel.uk

The Phone number needs to be in full country code + number format for overseas.  By default if you exclude the country code and send as 0211234567 for example then we will assume that the NZ is the destination for your SMS message.  Outside NZ however you will always need to include the country code.  To avoid confusion it is best to always include the country code anyway.

For example if you wanted to send and SMS saying "Hello there how are you today?" to a NZ mobile number 0211234567 then you would send your email as follows:

From: youremailaddress@yourdomain.com

To: 0211234567@sms.herotel.uk

Subject: Hello there

Body: how are you today?

SMS messages are restricted in length to 160 characters so you need to ensure the length is less than this limit or it will be trimmed.  To send more characters you will need to split up your message into multiple email messages (just like Twitter!)

SMS messages will be automatically billed against your account at the appropriate rates.  See our rates page for details on the cost of SMS messages.

SMS API Instructions

Alternatively if you do not wish to use our email gateway to send SMS messages then you can use our SMS API.  This is more useful for web developers who wish to build this logic in their own code.

URL: https://herotel.uk/sms.php

POST Variables (GET is also supported):

username:  <Hero Phone Number>  (e.g. 442034567890)

password:  <Hero Phone Password>  (e.g. Test1234)

destination:  <Destination Phone Number>  (e.g. 442034567890)

message:  <Text you wish to trasmit as SMS body>

 

Success RETURN Values:

0:1 SMS successfully queued


Failure RETURN Values:

2:0 Authentication error
3:0 Destination number(s) error
4:0 Message error

If you have any questions about our SMS API then please contact our support team.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-03-11 21:26


Cloud PBX Features » Preferences

Caller Name Display

Caller Name Display

Using caller name display you can present your user name when you dial another person. This is particular handy when dialing other extensions in your organisation.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. From the top menu options select Voice.
  3. The column name specifies the name associated with each number.
  4. Set your Caller Names.
  5. Navigate to bottom of the page Update to update
 
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:09


Extension Dialing

Extension Dialing

Extension dialing works so that you can internally transfer calls to numbers within your account.

They also can work if you set up Auto Attendant for when a customer calls your main number, and then know the extension number of the person they are wanting to reach. Example: “Welcome to Our Company if you know the extension of the person you wish to talk to… ”

 

Setting up Extension dialling

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select the Voice tab and you will see a list of your numbers
  3. There is a column labelled 'Exten'.  This is the extension number for each line.
  4. Set your extension numbers. Note: The required extension field length is 2-5 digits.
  5. Navigate to bottom of the page Update to update.
 

If you are also planning on setting up Auto Attendant think about creating cohesion your extension numbers.

You can also define and limit extension dialling to groups, such as Sales. This will allow the people that are assigned to that group to be able to define their group, if they have access to the PBX.

Setting up Groups

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. From the top menu select Voice.
  3. There are 2 types of groups.  Billing groups and Calling Groups.
  4. Adjust the group type, eg: Sales, Marketing, Administration by clicking 'Edit' at the top column so you can change the group names manually
  5. Navigate to bottom of the page Update to update.
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:08


Time Schedules

Set Up Your Time Schedules

Most organisations shape the way they handle incoming calls to match their hours of operations. In CloudPBX you can define time schedules for; Simultaneous Ring, Call Forwarding and Queuing by customising one the following time schedule types:

  • Work hours
  • Available Hours
  • User Defined Hours

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Voice tab and the number you want > Other Settings > Time Schedules.
  3. Select days and fill in hours for; Work hours, Available hours and User Defined Hours.
  4. Click Save settings to update.

Note: Chosen times need to be in 24 hour format.

time schedules

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:04


Voice Quality & Networking

Voice Quality

Voice quality allows you to set perimeters for your calling quality.

Quick Guide

  1. Log onto https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Select Voice tab > Phone number > Other Settings > Voice and Quality.
  3. Set preferences
  4. Set Codecs (recommended SysAdmins only)
  5. Set DTMF (recommended SysAdmins only)
  6. Click Save settings to update.
 

There is also the ability to specify the codecs you wish to support. Hero offers :

  • G.711 a-law codec supported (Excellent quality)
  • G.711 u-law codec supported (Excellent quality)
  • G.722 wideband codec supported (The best quality)
  • GSM codec supported (Good quality)
  • iLBC codec supported- MUST be 30ms/13.33kbps variant (Good quality)
  • G.729 codec supported (Good quality)
  • H.263 video codec supported
  • H.264 video codec supported

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:04


TCP, TLS and Secure RTP Options

TCP, TLS and Secure RTP Options

We support both TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) communication protocols. While UDP is by far the most common of the two protocols TCP is stated to have advantages.

TCP advantages

  • Keep Alives: SIP must periodically send out keep-alives to maintain the NAT table entry. The required frequency of keep-alives is much higher for UDP (maybe every 30 seconds) vs TCP (maybe every 15 minutes). While not relevant for small installations TCP has significant advantages within enterprise installations.
  • TLS: In a security conscious world TCP enables your end points with Transport Layer Security (TLS) which over the separate port 5061 instead of the normal 5060 for UDP.
  • SRTP (Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol or Secure RTP): SRTP encrypts or “codes” the voice data itself so that no one can understand what is being said except the person who has the decoding “key”, or the person to whom the call is being made. SRTP and SIP TLS encrypt different parts of the VoIP service but together security conscious organisations such as financial or military to use this service.
 

If you choose to use Secure Encrypted RTP this may cause calls to fail if you have not configured SRTP on your client.

Quick Guide

Step One: TCP, TLS & Secure RTP Options

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk > Voice tab and select number you wish to set up remote call back on.
  2. Select Other Settings > TLS & Secure RTP Options.
  3. Select one of the SIP Transport options.
  4. Enable Secure Encrypted RTP
  5. Click Save settings to updateSip Transport
Secure Encrypted RTP

Step Two: Change PBX/handset transport

  1. Log into IP PBX / Handset 
  2. Select Account
  3. Find option to change Transport > TLS
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:02


Technical Questions » Faxing Questions

How to Setup Faxmail

How to Setup Faxmail

Quick Guide – Sending a fax

Our fax-mail service allows “approved” email addresses to send faxes via our service. Before you can send or receive faxes follow the Quick Guide below to configure approved senders & receivers.

  • Fax type: We support PDF, JPEG, Postscript and Tiff attachment formats (sorry no MS Word docs)
  • Email address: [number]@fax.herotel.uk
  • Confirmation: We will send the approved sender a confirmation. NB – please allow 5-10 minutes for the confirmation.
 

If you rely on faxes as part of an emergency service or alternately have a business process dependent on a physical fax machine (for sending or receipt) we recommend retaining your legacy PSTN fax service.

Quick Guide – Configuring your vFax

Step 1: Fax Delivery Options

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Select Account > Voice.
  3. Click on the Fax line number > Faxmail Delivery Options
  4. Select 
  5. Specify the email address of approved vfax recipients. Note: Each additional email address must go on a new line.
  6. Click Save settings.

Step 2: Fax Sending Options

  1. Click Faxmail Sending Options
  2. Add and Optional fax verification phase. Approved Faxmail sender (eg reception@mycompany.co.uk) can only be associated with a single fax number. This works by specify the alternate fax number/phase in the email Subject field. The Faxmail server will in turn present the specified Subject field fax number as your outgoing fax number. Call it CLI masking for faxing.
  3. Click Save settings to update. 

Click here for a guide on our mail web site on how to use our Faxmail service.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-03-11 21:28


Does Hero Support Traditional Faxing?

Does Hero Support Traditional Faxing?

A Hero vFax number replaces a physical fax machine by using email to send and receive faxes using our fax gateway as a go-between your office and the sending or receiving fax machine.

T.38 Fax protocol explained

Our fax service uses the T.38 protocol to transmit faxes via the public internet. While not quite as reliable as your old PSTN fax service, if you are happy to ditch your old fax machine you’ll find our service successfully communicates 95 of 100 fax transmissions. However, before deciding to go with our fax-mail service you should consider the following scenarios which are known to hinder transmission reliability.

  • Receipt and Delivery: Ideally we recommend substituting your fax machine with your email client to both send and receive faxes.
  • High Speed fax: One of the ways t.38 attempts to reduce the jitter or packet loss normally fatal to IP faxing is to reduce the communications speeds down to a 14.4kbps rate. The problem arises with some lower cost fax machines unable to negotiate from 56.6kbps to down to 14.4kbps causing a transmission failure.
  • Colour fax: At CloudPBX IP faxing is black and white only. While most colour machines will negotiate down to our black and white, some machines can’t negotiate to B&W which will cause transmission failures.
  • Auto Answer fax machines: We cannot communicate with fax answer machines in answer machine mode. The recipient will need to disable the answer machine to receive the incoming CloudPBX transmission.
 

If you rely on faxes as part of an emergency service or have a business process dependent on a physical fax machine for both sending and receipt we recommend retaining your legacy PSTN fax service.

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-28 08:17


vFax and T.38

vFax and T.38

 

Our vFax service replaces your legacy fax machine by using our fax gateway and your email client for both the sending and receipt of faxes. If your business operates an emergency medical facility or relies on a 100% transmission or receipt accuracy of faxes we advise against using this vFax service.

When a traditional fax is sent (or received) over the PSTN, the recipient machine expects to receive nothing less than100% of the data of the originating fax. The problem for VoIP faxing is contending  with data (or packet loss) typically caused by network congestion on the public internet. While email, web browsing or even VoIP phone calls by design can handle some packet loss, faxing isn’t anywhere near as resilient which is why internet engineers invented the T.38 protocol.

The T.38 protocol attempts to remove packet loss by using our fax gateway as an intermediary to keep retransmitting until all data is sent or received. For this reason we say our vFax service is a replacement to your old fax machine as we rely on email to send and receive faxes on your behalf.

Fax numbers

Our dedicated fax lines use the T.38 fax protocol which you can access from our number portal. If you’re porting a fax number from another service you will need to ask us to convert that number into a T.38 fax line by raising a support ticket (support@herotel.uk). There’s no cost and it only takes a few minutes for us to convert the number.

Known issues

The following scenarios are known to cause issues:

  1. Machine to machine: Our service is designed to replace your fax machine using your email to send to our fax gateway which in turn sends to our fax gateway for delivery. Where customers send directly between two fax machines they effectively side step our fax mail gateway as the intermediary. In this scenario we lose the resilience of our fax gateway’s send / receive retry buffering.
  2. Dual answer / fax mode: Where the fax machines auto answer the call our fax gateways interprets this as a traditional voice call and will hangup.
  3. High speed fax machines: One technique a t.38 fax gateway deploys to increase reliability is to instruct the recipient machine to adjust its speed (or baud rate) down to the slowest speed of 9600. Machines without the ability to auto adjust have a much higher probability of packet loss and ultimately fax failures.
  4. Color fax machines: Similar to the problem with high speed machines, we cannot receive color faxes.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-03-11 21:28


Account Management

Account Overview

Account Overview

The account summary dashboard provides a broad overview of your account. In this dashboard you can view account balance, plan details and customer account summary.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Make a Payment

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > Payments.
  3. Click Add credit now.
  4. Add credit card details or select a saved card in the pop up.
  5. Click Add Account Credit to make payment.
 

Step 2: Account Summary

  1. Log into CloudPBX.
  2. Select Account >Summary for a brief summary of your account
  3. Select Account > Charges for a breakdown of charges on your account
  4. Select Account > Plan for a detailed breakdown of your monthly plan and fees
  5. Select Account > Records to search for specific billing fees and calls made on your account.
 
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:19


Managing your Phone Numbers

Manage Phone Numbers

You can view, add and mange your VoIP numbers and Cloud PBX settings. First you will need some number on your account, or port your existing numbers over.

Add a number

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > Numbers
  3. Either port your number or Select Country > Region > line type > Plan
  4. Click Add number
 

Managing your numbers

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Voice tab to manage your numbers.

Functions:

Screen Shot 2015-09-01 at 9.25.52 amClick on one of your numbers and you can access that number’s Cloud PBX settings.

bGo to the Account/Numbers screen to Remove numbers and you can delete your number by clicking on the dustbin icon on the right.

 

Note: Think carefully about deleting a number. Once you delete a number it gets removed and quarantined for 3 months.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-03-11 21:26


Fraud Control and Management

How does Hero deal with Fraud?

Toll fraud is a potential threat not just for Telcos but all businesses subscribing to a VoIP phone service. While we will quickly disable any suspected toll fraud attempt, like any online service, subscribers are responsible for securing their own systems.

  • SIP Registration: uses a phone number and password to authenticate (or “register”) your phone onto our service. Always ensure strong passwords, never use passwords like ‘123’, ‘abc’ or ‘password’  as your passwords and finally always ensure your passwords safe storage.
  • SIP Peering: This method of connection links your public WAN address and our proxy address (phone.herotel.uk). Administrators must always confine access to their customers public SIP port to trusted service providers via IP Tables or firewall rules.
 

Occasionally staff will in error misdial the leading prefix, which our systems identify as potential threat (e.g. Somalia is +252). We are generally quick to identify misdialled prefixes and after speaking directly with account holders will quickly unblock the account. Most customers are happy to put up with this minor inconvenience for the comfort of knowing we are actively monitoring call fraud attempts.

How Fraud works

Overseas calling

Most fraud attempts we see originate from hackers in locations like Russia, Israel and Estonia with the ultimate objective being to find a vulnerable Telco or customer account. Once a vulnerability is identified the end goal is to route calls via the compromised account to regions like Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria etc with the fraudsters magic triangle combining unstable countries with astronomical phone costs and of course a hacked phone number. This is serious business and there is no shortage of disputes between tier one carriers in particular and stunned customers out the door thousands of dollars with the carrier (tier one usually) stubbornly clinging to their strict terms and conditions.

Calling Card operators

On the other side of this fraud are the Calling cards operators offering cheap calling into those very same high cost destinations. Of course somewhere in the middle are our fraudulent hackers selling those very same stolen routes to the calling card middle men always willing to turn a “blind eye” to the truth.

How we block fraud attempts

We monitor every call to all the worlds global hotspots. If for example a call attempt is made to Somalia during the middle of the night, where you’ve never previously called that destination, we will immediately end the call and block all further calls attempts. Behind the scenes we also implement a range of measures to isolate the hacker and their associated proxies.

What should you do to prevent?

Registration: The resolution from your side is usually as simple as changing or providing strong passwords. If your account has been blocked by us for a suspected fraud attempt, we ask you to change your password.

SIP Peering: Administrators must limit all access to their WAN ip including most importantly SIP ports 5060 and port 80 to known service providers (such as us) and system admins.

What happens after we have blocked your account?

  • We will notify you by email of the international toll block on your account
  • Immediately the account will have been prevented from making overseas calls. As soon as you have reset the password, or hardened your firewall, we will reenable the account to allow overseas calling.
  • See also Ghost Calling.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:13


Account History

Account History

You are able to view all invoices online in your account history, making it easy to keep track of your account.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > History.
  3. Find your invoice. Note: Click on download pdf to download or view in browser to view in a new browser window

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:12


Updating your Personal and Address Details

Updating Your Personal and Address Details

 Keeping your accounts personal account details current will make sure that you keep on top of all aspects of your Hero account.

Quick Guide

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk.
  2. Select Account > Details
  3.  Fill in or update your details. Within this section your have the option to; fill in contact details, billing details, select billing email options and reset account password.
  4. Click Update details to update
 

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:12


Number Porting

How do I move my existing phone number to Hero?

Number porting – How to move my existing numbers to Hero

Hero supports number porting which means that you can bring your current number with you to use on our network. We allow porting of Fixed, Mobile and Tollfree numbers within NZ.  We can also organise porting in some overseas countries such as Australia, UK, USA etc. but these must be requested via a Ticket.  Porting charges apply to each port request that is submitted.

 

To port an NZ number simply login to the portal

  1. Log into https://portal.herotel.uk
  2. Click on Account > Numbers
  3. Press on the Number port requests button at the top of the page
  4. Fill in the porting form details.  You need to select the existing carrier and enter the exact account number and name as on your current bill or the port request will fail.
  5. You can track the status of any porting requests in this page and the status.
  6. If a port fails then you will receive an email and can contact our support team to assist
  7. On the day of the port we will provision your number at around 6am in the morning giving you time to setup the number on your equipment/devices.

In the NZ we have two number port request types:

Simple Port: This refers to a single number and can generally be completed within a couple of days so long as the number isn’t part of a larger block of numbers. For example, a port submitted on a Monday afternoon would be completed Wednesday morning.

Complex Port: More than one number. Complex ports typically take a week or more to process.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-05-20 04:00


Hero Applications

Hero Softphone Applications

Hero Free Apps for iPhone and Android

Hero's Mobiex phone apps for iPhone and Android are free to install. Whether you are working from home, or traveling overseas, the Hero mobiex smart phone family is an invaluable tool for mobile workers.

Configuring any new device can be a hassle, even if you know what you’re doing. And while softphones like C-lite and Bria are great tools, they still need to be configured – the correct proxy, port numbers and codecs to use. Our Hero softphone family is free to use, and have been pre-configured with all the pieces needed to start making calls. All you do is add your number and password.

Installing Hero softphone – iPhone

  1. From iPhone go to iTunes App Store
  2. Search for Mobiex and Download
  3. Once installed enter your UserName and Password

Installing Hero softphone – Android

  1. From Android go to Google Play Store
  2. Search for Mobiex and Download
  3. Once installed enter your UserName and Password

Voice Quality

There are a couple of known caveats to replacing your deskphone with a softphone, regardless of whether you’ve chosen to use ours or a paid service such as the Bria.

  1. All Softphone share resources with your computer, whereas a deskphone has been optimised just to make calls and therefore do not have to content with any tasks your PC or MAC maybe doing.
  2. Bandwidth: As a rule, your office wireless connection will be more reliable than your phones 3G or 4G service. With 4G in particular, while it has the ability to handle high download speeds, those speeds are accompanied by very high latency often in excess of 200ms and can often have a lot of jitter (latency variation) resulting in poor voice quality.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:28


Hero Connect Desktop Application for Microsoft Windows

 Similar to our popular mobile app, Hero connect softphone is also available on Microsoft Windows. It is a great option for anyone who needs to stay connected to the office from wherever they go. Our Hero softphone family is free to use and have been pre-configured with all the pieces needed to start making calls. All you need to do is enter your number and password. 

Older Versions of Windows

If you are running a recent version of Microsoft Windows such as Windows 10 then you should be good to go, otherwise if you are running an older version of Windows such as Windows 7 or Windows 8 then you may need to first download the Visual C++ update from Microsoft.  Please click the link below to download and install this update before proceeding with the installation of the Hero Softphone.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52685

Install Hero Connect softphone.  

  • You may then see another warning about the app being from an unknown publisher.  Again, click on 'Yes' to install the application

  • If your firewall application such as Windows Defender asks for permission to communicate on your PC and network then please 'Allow' this.

How to use the Application

- Enter your phone number and password once the application starts up.  Do NOT use your account number or email address to login.

- You need to use a phone or extension number (e.g. 442034567890) as your Extension number.

- The password will be the same as that you entered when you signed up unless you changed this against the phone number you are logging in with.

- To Make/Receive calls, Use the dial pad like your normal phone.  

- Add people to your audio conference.
- Enable/Disable recording of your call. (Recordings from application will save on your local device)

- Change Audio/Video settings as per your requirements.

 

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-03-28 00:13


Device Provisioning

Yealink VoIP Phones - Manual Configuration

Yealink – Manually configuring your phone

Quick Guide

Step 1: Browse to Phones Web UI

  1. Phones web UI: to access the phones web UI press the OK button (on right of the keypad) to retrieve the phones IP address.
  2. Enter the IP address in your browser (eg 192.168.1.xx).
  3. UserName and Password: Admin- admin, Password- admin.
  4. Click Confirm.

Step 2: Account Tab

  1. Select Account tab. (or another unused account if Account 1 is in use).
  2. Account Active: On
  3. Label: Name Your Name
  4. Display Name: Displays on your telephone phone screen when idle.
  5. Register Name: Full DID eg 442034567890
  6. User Name: Full DID eg 442034567890
  7. Password: is the password associated with the phone number.
  8. SIP Server: phone.herotel.uk
  9. Port: 5060
  10. Transport: TLS.
  11. Voice Mail: *55
  12. NAT Traversal: Disabled
  13. Confirm: to Save

 

Step 3: Phone Tab

  1. Select Phone Tab
  2. Select Country: United Kingdom
  3. Set Time Zone: +12 NZ Primary NTP >> uk.pool.ntp.org (CONFIRM)
  4. DSS Keys: Phone Tab | DSS Key >> use this to assign a variety of standard functions to the T28 10 function keys on the right side of the phone.
  5. At bottom: Select Confirm

 

Step 4: Date and Time Settings

  1. Time Zone: eg +0 United Kingdom | Location (United Kingdom(Wellington)
  2. Daylight Saving: Automatic
  3. Primary Server: uk.pool.ntp.org

 

Step 5: Address Books

You can add and manage addresses either via the DSS tab or alternately by importing a variety of format types using the Directory function.

  • DSS: Using the DSS you can depending on model type configure up to 27 Speed Dials
  • Directory: The Directory enables you to add via the Web UI directly, import your own XML or CSV lists or finally connect to your LDAP directory source.

 

 

Step 6: Bluetooth headsets – T48G

The T48G can be purchased with an optional USB Bluetooth Dongle.

  1. Insert the USB dongle with “TOP” facing upwards into the USB port of the back of the phone
  2. Turn on the Bluetooth headset
  3. Long press the pairing button on your bluetooth headset
  4. Activate the Bluetooth feature on the phone.
  5. Select Scan on the phone
  6. If required enter the PIN 0000 or 1234 to connect the phone and headset

 

Step 7: Troubleshooting

If the phone icon by your DisplayName is not solid, review User account, password and SIP server settings instructions above.

Ensure SIP ALG is disabled on your router.

Ensure STUN is Off or any NAT traversal settings

Step 7: Busy Lamp Field (BLF)

If required you can see our BLF User Guide.

Yealink – Diagnostics/Troubleshooting

To assist us troubleshoot configuration issues with Yealink phones we require Syslog, SIP trace and configuration data from your Yealink handset.

Quick Guide

Step 1: Browse to Phones Web UI

  1. Phones web UI: to access the phones web UI press the OK button (on right of the keypad) to retrieve the phones IP address.
  2. Enter the IP address in your browser (eg 192.168.1.xx).
  3. UserName and Password: Admin- admin, Password- admin.
  4. Click Confirm.

Step 2: Settings Tab

  1. Select Settings tab >> Configuration
  2. Export System Log: Set the Syslog level to 6 -> reboot the phone
  3. Pcap Feature: Start to capture the Trace -> reproduce your issue -> stop capturing the Trace -> Export PCAP Trace
  4. Export or Import Configuration: Export config.bin
  5. Email Download files to our support site.

 

 

diagnosis 2
diagnosis 3

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 08:25


Polycom VVX IP Phones – Manual Configuration

Polycom VVX IP Phones – Manual Configuration

1. Manual configuration

This knowledge base applies for subscribers not using our automated device provisioning.

  1. Retrieve the handset IP address: Home (Button) > Settings >  4. Status > 2. Network > 1. TPC/IP
  2. Web UI: Enter IP address (eg 192.168.1.11) into browser
  3. Settings > Lines (select Line)

Follow instructions in Fig below

  • SIP Protocol: Enable
  • Identification:
    • Display Name: Your Name
    • Address: Your Phone Number (e.g. 442034567890)
    • Label: Your Name
  • Authentication:
    • Login Credentials: Disabled
    • User ID: Your Phone Number (e.g. 442034567890)
    • Password: Your Password
  • SIP Server 1
    • Address: phone.herotel.uk
    • Transport: TLS (Preferred)
    • Expires: 300
    • Register: Yes
provisioning_tab (2)

2. Changing the Handset label

By default the our provisioning system sets the Display Name, Address and phone Label with the default phone number. You can change the phone label to an Alpha name e.g. Mike, which is handy particularly for phones configured with multiple lines.

  1. Retrieve the handset IP address: Home (Button) > Settings >  4. Status > 2. Network > 1. TCP/IP
  2. Web UI: Enter IP address (eg 192.168.1.11) into browser
  3. Settings > Lines (select Line)
  4. Identification: change Label (see Fig 1 below)
Polycom_label

3. Extension dialling

Set your preferred a line extension (eg reduce 442034567890 to 890) allowing coworkers to call you using your preferred three or four digit number.

4. Handset Volume

You may have noticed that the Polycom handset volume is a little low. But secondly, while you can increase volume using the handset volume button, each time you pick up the phone for another call it annoyingly resets to the factory default. The problem is US telecommunications regs require all US vendors to reset handset volumes to the defaults at the end of each call.

If using you are using our Polycom provisioning we have disabled the reset function to persist your handset volume.

Polycom_handset_Vol

5. Upgrading Firmware

While all Polycom VVX phones supplied by SIPcity ship with the latest firmware, new phones purchased through other channels will probably require a firmware upgrade.

If you wish to leverage our Polycom provisioning system with legacy IP phones (firmware 3.3.xx or older) you will first need to upgrade the phones firmware as the older Polycoms don’t support web based auto-provisioning. Secondly, depending on model, you may have to complete a two step firmware upgrade to achieve the minimum 4.1.1 software supporting our web based auto-provisioning.

  1. Log into the phones web browser
  2. Standard Password: 456
  3. Utilities | Software Upgrade
  4. Check for Updates
  5. Select latest update from selection list
  6. Install
Polycom_label

6. Presence and BLF (Busy Lamp field)

  • Log into Customer CloudPBX
  • Select Cloud PBX > Advanced > Presence BLF –> Enable
  • Click Save to update your settings

6.1 Enable BLF on the handset (phone)

  1. Get phones IP address: Settings > 4. Status > 2. Network > 1. TCP / IP…
  2. Enter IP address into Browser
  3. Log onto phone (UserName and Password)
  4. Preferences > Presence >> Enable

6.2 Enable Buddy on handset

  1. Settings > Directories > Contacts Directory > 1. Add (+)
  2. First Name, Last Name (optional), Contact (requires full number including country / area code)
  3. Protocol –> SIP (only for VVX500, 600)
  4. Watch Buddy –> Enable
  5. SAVE
  6. Select contact —> Add to favorites (if you want the contact to appear on the home screen of your keypad).

7. VVX Bluetooth headsets

Within the Polycom VVX family only the VVX 600 natively supports Bluetooth.

  1. Enable Bluetooth: Menu > Settings > 2. Advanced (PW 456) > 1. Administrative Settings > 7. Handsfree Settings > 1. Handsfree Mode >> select Enable
  2. Enable Radio: Menu > Settings > 1. Basic Settings > 11. Bluetooth Settings >> Enable Radio ON
  3. Headset: Place your headset in in pairing.
  4. To Pair: Press the Bluetooth symbol (see screenshot below) to take you back to Bluetooth Settings.
  5. Select Manage BT Headset – Select Scan then select the required headset.

8. Accessing Voicemail from a Polycom handset

If you have a CloudPBX provisioned Polycom handset Voicemails can be retrieved by selecting the “Messages” button on your handset.

  • Select Messages key
  • Select 1 “New Messages” THEN
  • 4 – previous message
  • 5 – Repeat
  • 6 – Play next message
  • 7 – Delete
  • 8 – Forward
  • 9 – SAVE

On the VVX300 Messages is a physical button adjacent the 7 key.

Polycom VVX300 messages

On the VVX500/600 you will find messages as a soft key in the top left of your screen.

Polycom VVX500 voicemail

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-04-09 06:49


Yealink W52P DECT VoIP Phones - Manual Configuration

Yealink W52P DECT VoIP Phones – Manual Configuration

 

Quick Guide

Step 1: Base Station

  1. The W52P base station can be powered by the supplied 120/240v adaptor or alternately from a POE switch.
  2. Install the 2 x AAA rechargeable batteries into the handset (and recharge if required).
  3. Enter the IP address in your browser (eg 192.168.1.xx).
  4. To find the base station web UI IP address press the front button on the base station to communicate its IP address to the handset.
  5. UserName and Password: Admin- admin, Password- admin
  6. Click Confirm
 

Step 2: Account Tab

  1. Select Account tab. (or another unused account if Account 1 is in use).
  2. Account Active: On
  3. Label: Name Your Name
  4. Display Name: Displays on your telephone phone screen when idle.
  5. Register Name: Full DID eg 442034567890
  6. User Name: Full DID eg 442034567890
  7. Password: is the password associated with the phone number.
  8. Enable Outbound Proxy: Disabled
  9. Transport: TLS preferred (or UDP)
  10. SIP Server 1: phone.herotel.uk
  11. Port: 5060
  12. Server Expires: 180
  13. Voice Mail: *55
  14. NAT Traversal: Disabled
  15. Confirm: to Save

Step 3: Phone Tab

  1. Select Phone Tab
  2. Select Country: Australia
  3. Set Time Zone: +12 United Kingdom Primary NTP >> uk.pool.ntp.org (CONFIRM)
  4. DSS Keys: Phone Tab | DSS Key >> use this to assign a variety of standard functions to the T28 10 function keys on the right side of the phone.
  5. At bottom: Select Confirm

Step 4: Date and Time Settings

  • Time Zone: eg +12 United Kingdom | Location: United Kingdom(Wellington)
  • Daylight Saving: Automatic
  • Location: eg United Kingdom (Wellington)
  • Fixed Type: By Week
  • Primary Server: uk.pool.ntp.org

Step 5: Contacts

Contacts can be imported into the W52P from either as XML or CSV imports.

  • File Template: To access either XML or CSV download the file template
  • Import Contacts: Edit the file and import.
  • Handset: To access your imported contacts list select the DOWN arrow on the phones OK menu

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-30 09:46


Cisco SPA Phones – Manual Configuration

This entry is in revision and can not be displayed.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-04-09 06:40


Gigaset Cordless IP Phones - Manual Configuration

Gigaset Cordless IP Phones - Manual Configuration

This KB is limited to the Gigaset family of cordless (DECT) handsets.

Configuring the phone via the Web configurator

We recommend using the base stations web user interface to configure each handset.

  • Establish the telephone’s current IP address on the handset
  • Control button on right side of handset
  • Settings (spanner icon)
  • Registration
1 control
2. settings
3. registrations
  • Enter http:// and the telephone’s current IP address (for example: http://192.168.2.2) into the address field of the Web browser.
  • Press the return key.
  • A connection is established to the phone’s Web configurator.

On the Web UI follow the steps below

  • Login default password: 0000
  • Select: Settings |Telephony | Connections
  • Select Edit the required extension
  • Personal Provider Data
    • Authentication Name:  <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567890)
    • Authentication Password: <your password>
    • User name:  <your phone number>  (e.g. 442034567890)
  • General Provider Data
    • Domain: phone.herotel.uk
    • Proxy server Port: 5060
    • Register server: phone.herotel.uk
    • Refresh Registration: 180 seconds
    • Save settings: SET
4. Gigagset settings
5. Gigaser connections

NB – the Gigaset are typically slow to acknowledge the handsets registration and can take 30 seconds to change status to Registered.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-04-09 06:39


Asterisk Based PBX Systems (including FreePBX, Trixbox, Elastix and other variants)

Hero are passionate about Asterisk, Freeswitch and other open source initiatives. So much so that we use open source products throughout our own network. By embracing open source initiatives we believe this gives us a unique opportunity to give something back to the community, keep our costs low and stay one step ahead of our competitors through contant innovation and the development of smart intuitive features.

Please see our Asterisk page at: https://herotel.uk/asterisk.html

We also have a detailed configuration guide for customers at: https://herotel.uk/asteriskguide.html

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 09:52


How do I configure Zoiper to connect to Hero?

Zoiper is a popular softphone which can be used on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone.  To download the software visit:

http://www.zoiper.com/

Zoiper is compatible with Hero and is used today by many of our customers.  Configuration is straight-forward.  For generic SIP settings required to connect to our platform please see http://faq.herotel.uk/index.php?action=artikel&cat=5&id=1&artlang=en-us

At a basic level to get Zoiper to register to our platform open the Preferences and click on Accounts.  Then the settings you will need to enter will be:

  • Domain = phone.herotel.uk
  • Username = <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567890)
  • Password = <your password> (by default the password you signed up with)
  • Caller ID Name = <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567890)
  • Auth. username = <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567890)
  • Use Outbound Proxy = ticked
  • Outbound Proxy = phone.herotel.uk

The above settings should be enough to get you registered and making calls with Hero.  There are of course many other settings you may wish to edit such as codec settings etc. but these are beyond the scope of this article.  If you have any further queries then contact our support team.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-04-09 06:36


Configuring the Zoiper Smartphone App to work with Hero

If you are having issues using our Hero Smartphone Apps on your Apple iPhone or Android based phone then there is an alternative Phone Application that you can use to connect to our service called 'Zoiper'. In your App Store or Play Store search for 'Zoiper' and you can download the free version of the App or click on the links below:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zoiper-sip-softphone-voip-video-calls/id438949960?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zoiper.android.app&hl=en_GB

Here are the steps to configure Zoiper to connect to Hero:

1. Open the App and when the main dialpad screen appears click on 'Config' in the top right corner, then Accounts.

2. Press 'Add account' and click 'Yes' to the 'Do you already have an account' question and then click 'Manual configuration' for the Account Setup question.

3. Select 'SIP' as the account type

4. Click on Account name and set this to 'Hero'

5. Click on Host and set this to 'phone.herotel.uk'

6. Click on Username and enter your Hero phone number (e.g. 442034567890)

7. Click on Password and enter your Hero password entered when you signed up

8. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select 'Network Settings' and then on the next page select 'Transport Type' and select 'TLS'

9. Now go back to the main screen and your phone should show a green tick for the Hero account and state the Account is ready. You can now go back to the Dialpad and start making calls.

If you have any further issues with the setup or App then please contact our Support team

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-04-09 06:36


Cisco SPA Device Provisioning

NOTE: If you have a Cisco SPA112/122 Analogue Telephone Adapter then you can now auto-provision these in the Hero Customer Portal.  For details see the following user guide:

https://herotel.uk/ciscospa112guide.pdf

Cisco have a whole range of VoIP handsets and Analogue Telephone Adapters such as the SPA 112 and SPA 122 which work well with the Hero VoIP service.  The following guide is a generic user guide which is useful for most SPA devices and also some of the older Linksys branded phones and devices such as the SPA2102 and PAP2T.  Whilst some of the setting may not be relevant for your specific device - you should be able to get the key settings from the guide below to get your Cisco SPA device up and running with Hero.  NOTE: If we have not mentioned a particular setting below then it is assumed that you leave that setting unchanged at the current default setting.

Logging into the Cisco SPA Web Interface

If you have a Cisco VoIP handset then you can get the IP address of the phone by doing the following:

  • Retrieve the phones IP address > select the Settings button (page icon)
  • For SPA 504 select Option 9 | Network >> Current IP.
  • For SPA 525 select Settings | Status | Network Status >>IP Address.
  • Advanced settings: type admin/advanced to jump directly into the phone full admin access

If you have an Analogue Telephone Adapter then you can get the IP address of the adapter by plugging in a handset and then dialing **** 110#.  The IP address will be read back to you and then you can enter this IP address into your web browser to login to the device.  The default login and password is usually 'admin'

SIP Page

Change the following SIP Timer Values:

  • Reg Max Expires = 600
  • Reg Retry Intvl = 10
  • Reg Retry Long Intvl = 20

Line 1 Page (or Line 2 Page for a 2nd Line)

Line Enable = yes

NAT Settings:

  • NAT Mapping Enable: yes
  • NAT Keep Alive Enable: yes

SIP Settings:

  • Sip Tranport: TLS (recommended if available)

Network Settings:

  • Network Jitter Level: very high (suitable for most Internet connections, increase this if you have voice quality problems to extremely high)
  • Jitter buffer adjustment: up and down

Proxy and Registration:

  • Proxy: phone.herotel.uk
  • Outbound Proxy: phone.herotel.uk
  • Use Outbound Proxy: yes
  • Use OB Proxy in Dialog: yes
  • Register: yes
  • Make call with Reg:yes
  • Register Expires: 600
  • Make call without Reg:yes
  • Proxy Fallback Intvl: 600

Subscriber Information:

  • Display Name: (Your Phone Number e.g. 442034567890
  • User ID: (Your Phone Number e.g. 442034567890
  • Password: ******* (Your password)
  • Use Auth ID: yes
  • Auth ID: (Your Phone Number e.g. 442034567891)

Supplementary Service Subscription:

  • Block CID Serv: no
  • Block ANC Serv: no
  • Cfwd All Serv: no
  • Cfwd Busy Serv: no
  • Cfwd No Ans Serv: no
  • Cfwd Sel Serv: no
  • Cfwd Last Serv: no
  • Block Last Serv: no
  • Accept Last Serv: no
  • DND Serv: no
  • Call Return Serv: no
  • Speed Dial Serv: no
  • Preferred Codec: G711a
  • Second Preferred Codec: G729a
  • Third Preferred Codec: G711u
  • Use Pref Codec only: no
  • Silence Supp Enable: no
  • Echo Canc Enable: yes
  • Echo Canc Adapt Enable: yes
  • Echo Supp Enable: yes
  • FAX CED Detect Enable: yes
  • FAX CNG Detect Enable: yes
  • FAX Passthru Codec: G711a
  • FAX Codec Symmetric: yes
  • DTMF Process INFO: no
  • DTMF Process AVT: yes
  • DTMF Tx Method: AVT
  • DTMF Tx Mode: Strict
  • DTMF Strict Hold off Time: 90
  • FAX Passthru Method: NSE
  • FAX Process NSE: yes
  • FAX Disable ECAN: yes
  • Hook Flash Tx Method: none
  • Release Unused Codec: yes
  • FAX Enable T38: yes
  • FAX T38 Redundancy: 1
  • FAX Tone Detect Mode: caller or callee

Dial Plan

NOTE: When pasting in the Dial Plan string below make sure that you don't miss any characters including the brackets at the start and the end of the string.  If you miss a single character such as the last bracket then this will mean that you will be unable to dial any number!

  • Dial Plan: ([2-9]xxxxxx|0[34679][2-9]xxxxxx|0210xxxxxxx|021[12]xxxxxx|021[3-9]xxxxx|02[0279]xxxxxxx|0204xxxxxxx|0240xxxxxx|024[1-9]xxxxxxx|0282[4-5]xxxxxx|050xxxxxxx|070xxxxxxx|080xxxxxxx|00xxxxxxx.|01[08]|017xx|12[356]|[19]11|*55|023xxxxxxxx|01[1234569]x.|02[56]x.|028[013456789]x.|0282[0123467890]|0282[01236789]|05[1-9]x.|08[1-9]x.|0[34679][0-1]x.|1[03456789]x.|11[023456789]x.|12[0124789]x.|*[012346789]x.|*5[012346789]x.)
  • Enable IP Dialing: no
  • Emergency Number: 111
  • FXS Port Polarity Configuration
  • Idle Polarity: Forward
  • Caller Conn Polarity: Forward
  • Callee Conn Polarity: Forward

User 1 Page (or User 2 Page for a 2nd Line)

 Block CID Setting: no
CW Setting: yes
DND Setting: no

Regional Page (optional)

 The regional page settings are quite different between VoIP handsets and Analogue Telephone Adapters.  The settings below are for a Cisco SPA 112 ATA device and should provide United Kingdom dialtones and ringing.

  • Call Progress Tones
    • Dial Tone: 400@-9;30(*/0/1)
    • Second Dial Tone: 420@-19,520@-19;10(*/0/1+2)
    • Outside Dial Tone: 420@-16;10(*/0/1)
    • Prompt Tone: 520@-19,620@-19;10(*/0/1+2)
    • Busy Tone: 400@-9;*(.5/.5/1)
    • Reorder Tone: 400@-9;15(.25/.25/1+2)
    • Off Hook Warning Tone: 400@-10,680@0;*(.125/.125/1+2)
    • Ring Back Tone: 400@-19,450@-19;*(.4/.2/1+2,.4/.2/1+2,2/0/0)
    • Confirm Tone: 600@-16;1(.25/.25/1)
    • SIT1 Tone: 985@-16,1428@-16,1777@-16;20(.380/0/1,.380/0/2,.380/0/3,0/4/0)
    • SIT2 Tone: 914@-16,1371@-16,1777@-16;20(.274/0/1,.274/0/2,.380/0/3,0/4/0)
    • SIT3 Tone: 914@-16,1371@-16,1777@-16;20(.380/0/1,.380/0/2,.380/0/3,0/4/0)
    • SIT4 Tone: 985@-16,1371@-16,1777@-16;20(.380/0/1,.274/0/2,.380/0/3,0/4/0)
    • MWI Dial Tone: 400@-19;2(.1/.1/1);28(*/0/1)
    • Cfwd Dial Tone: 350@-19,440@-19;2(.2/.2/1+2);10(*/0/1+2)
    • DND Dial Tone: 350@-19,440@-19;2(.2/.2/2);10(*/0/1+2)
    • Holding Tone: 600@-19;*(.1/.1/1,.1/.1/1,.1/9.5/1)
    • Conference Tone: 350@-19;20(.1/.1/1,.1/9.7/1)
    • Secure Call Indication Tone: 397@-19,507@-19;15(0/2/0,.2/.1/1,.1/2.1/2)
    • Feature Invocation Tone: 350@-16;*(.1/.1/1)
  • Distinctive Ring Patterns
    • Ring1 Cadence: 60(.4/.2,.4/2)
    • Ring2 Cadence: 60(.3/.2,1/.2,.3/4)
    • Ring3 Cadence: 60(.8/.4,.8/4)
    • Ring4 Cadence: 60(.4/.2,.3/.2,.8/4)
    • Ring5 Cadence: 60(.2/.2,.2/.2,.2/.2,1/4)
    • Ring6 Cadence: 60(.2/.4,.2/.4,.2/4)
    • Ring7 Cadence: 60(.4/.2,.4/.2,.4/4)
    • Ring8 Cadence: 60(0.25/9.75)
  • Distinctive Call Waiting Tone Patterns
    • CWT1 Cadence: 30(.3/9.7)
    • CWT2 Cadence: 30(.1/.1, .1/9.7)
    • CWT3 Cadence: 30(.1/.1, .3/.1, .1/9.3)
    • CWT4 Cadence: 30(.1/.1,.1/.1,.1/9.5)
    • CWT5 Cadence: 30(.3/.1,.1/.1,.3/9.1)
    • CWT6 Cadence: 30(.1/.1,.3/.2,.3/9.1)
    • CWT7 Cadence: 30(.3/.1,.3/.1,.1/9.1)
    • CWT8 Cadence: 2.3(.3/2)
  • Ring and Call Waiting Tone Spec
    • Ring Waveform: Sinusoid
    • Ring Frequency: 25
    • Ring Voltage: 70
    • CWT Frequency: 400@-10
    • Synchronized Ring: no
  • Miscellaneouset Local Date (mm/dd): (Set current month and day)
  • Set Local Time (HH/mm): (Set current hour and minute)
  • Time Zone: GMT+12
  • FXS Port Impedance: 220+8200 – – 120nF
  • Daylight Saving Time Rule: start=9/24/7/2:00;end=4/1/7/2:00;save=1
  • FXS Port Input Gain: -3
  • FXS Port Output Gain: -3
  • DTMF Playback Level: 0
  • DTMF Playback Length: .1
  • Detect ABCD: no
  • Playback ABCD: yes
  • Caller ID Method: Bellcore(N.Amer,China)
  • FXS Port Power Limit: 4

If you are still having problems with your device settings after following this guide then please give us feedback and contact our support team at support@herotel.uk

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-06-06 07:01


Yealink Device Provisioning

Hero have a fully automated Yealink Device Provisioning Process to take the hard work out of configuring these phones.  Please click on the Link below to download our Yealink Device Provisioning Guide

https://herotel.uk/yealinkguide.pdf

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-04-09 06:26


FRITZ!Box 7490 Provisioning

NOTE: We have been informed that some Fritz! products have issues with the Google Chrome browser so if you experience issues with the interface and updating settings for your Fritz!Box device then try another web browser such as Firefox.

The FRITZ!Box Routers have a built-in VOIP port which can be configured to work with Hero.  The following guide explains how to configure a Hero phone number on Phone Port 1 on the router.

Step 1 - Connecting to your FRITZ!Box router

First ensure you are connected to the network/Wifi that the Fritz!Box is providing.  By default the IP address of your router should be http://192.168.178.1.  Try clicking on the link and see if you can see a Fritz!Box login screen.  If you can then you can move to Step 2 below.

If you cannot connect to the Fritz!Box on the 192.168.178.1 address in your browser then you will need to find the IP address of your Fritz!Box.  When you are connected to the Fritz!Box via Ethernet or Wifi connection you need to find the IP address of the Fritz!Box to login to it.  On Windows PC's this means bringing up a 'command line' window by pressing on the Search icon and typing 'cmd'

When the black command window appears type the command 'ipconfig' and it should display your IP address details for your connect.  You will see a line 'Default Gateway' which will display the IP address for the gateway/router.  Type this IP address into your web browser. This is typically something like 192.168.178.1.   (NOTE: On a Mac you should search for 'terminal' to bring up a command line window and then type 'netstat -rn' and look for the IP address listed next to the line listed as 'default')

Step 2 - Login to the Fritz!Box router

If you see the Fritz!Box login screen then you can login to the router.  It is recommended that you set a password for your router for security reasons or if you do not wish to set a password at this time then untick the Set password button and click on OK. Some recent router models also require one of the buttons on top of the router to be pressed, so do this if prompted to by the on screen message.

If the router already has a password, but you don't know what it is, then you may need to follow the reset instructions per the documentation at Fritz!Box 7490 User Manual , but be aware you will need to re-enter all settings, including for the broadband connection, so make sure you have the relevant details available.

Step 3 - Select Telephone Numbers in the Menu

Once logged in you can click on the Telephony Menu and then select the 'Telephone Numbers' sub-menu option.  On this page you can now setup your Hero Telephone Number.  If you see a Telephone number already listed then you should delete this if you are not using it.  You should see 'No telephone numbers are configured' if the router is newly setup.

Step 4 - Configure your Hero phone number

Click on the 'New Telephone number' button and then select 'IP-based Line' in the next 'Outgoing Caller ID screen'.  Then press 'Next'.

The next screen should ask for your telephony details. These should be entered as follows:

  • Telephony Provider = Other Provider
  • Telephone Number for Registration = <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567891)
  • Internal Telephone number in  the Fritz!Box = <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567891)
  • Account Information:
    • User Name = <your phone number> (e.g. 442034567891)
    • Password = <your hero password>
    • Registrar = phone.herotel.uk
    • Proxy Server = phone.herotel.uk
  • DTMF transmission = Automatically
  • Use telephone number for registration = Ticked (yes)
  • Always register via an internet connection = Ticked (yes)
  • Connect Internet telephony provider via = only via IPv4
  • Insert area code for outgoing calls = Unticked (no)
  • Area Code = <empty> (Leave blank)

Then click on Next and the next screen should show a summary of your settings.  Click Next again and the Fritz!Box should attempt to test your connection.  If everything was entered correctly then it should succeed and take you back to the Telephone Numbers screen where you should see a green status light next to your Phone number

Step 5 - Test your phone number

 Finally ensure that you have plugged in your analogue handset into Phone port 1 on the Fritz!Box router.  If you have an old Telecom BT Plug that was plugged into the wall then you will likely need to use an adapter to convert that to an RJ11 plug of the Fritz!Box (these are typically supplied).  Please note that the internal wiring in your house will no longer work for your phones and if you need additional handsets around the house you may want to purchase additional handsets and have a wireless DECT base station plugged into the Fritz!Box.

You should hear a dial tone when picking up your Analogue handset and you should dial some numbers to ensure the phone is working.  Try a local number and a mobile number.  Then try an inbound call to ensure inbound calls are working as well.  Please ensure however that your porting has completed first before testing inbound calls.  You will receive an email from Hero when your porting has completed.

Dialing Hero feature short codes

FRITZ!Box routers use numbers starting with * for some internal features. So to dial Hero Short Codes, the code needs to be prefixed with *# . For example, to access Hero voicemail,  dial *#*55 .

If you have any further issues with getting setup then contact our support team.

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-01-23 23:07


Huawei HG659 Router VOIP Port Provisioning

The Huawei HG659 Router has a built-in VOIP port which can be configured to work with Hero.  The following guide explains how to configure a Hero phone number on Phone Port on the router.

1. Configure your VOIP settings in the telephony tab

  • Select 'Telephony' from the tabs at the top of the page and click on the VoIP page
  • Set Provider name to 'Hero'
  • Set Primary registrar to 'phone.herotel.uk' and port to 5060
  • Set Primary proxy to 'phone.herotel.uk' and port to 5060
  • Set SIP Domain to 'phone.herotel.uk'
  • Set Local Port to 5060
  • Tick the 'use outbound' check box
  • Set Outbound server to 'phone.herotel.uk' and Port to 5060
  • Save Settings

2. Create a new VOIP provider

  • Set SIP number to your Hero phone number (e.g. 442034567891)
  • Set Username to your Hero phone number (e.g. 442034567891)
  • Set Password to your Hero password
  • Ensure that the 'Enabled' check box is ticked

3. Set up your codec preferences (if required)

  • We recommend setting your Codec 1 setting to G.711ALaw unless you wish to save bandwidth in which case you can select G.729 as your preferred codec.
  • Set DTMF Mode to RFC2833
  • Set the Fax codecs to T38 as Codec 1 if you are plugging in a Fax machine

4. Enable service 'Voice' under the Internet Settings

This final step is important as your phone will not work unless you tick the Voice check box under your Internet settings.

  • Click on the Internet tab and scroll down to your Active Internet connection type
  • Next to the 'Service Type' ensure that you have ticked the Voice check box
  • Below is a screenshot of an example Internet connection using PPP although your connection details may differ. 

If you are having any further issues getting your Huawei HG659 Router configure to work with Hero then contact our Support team and we will do our best to assist you.

Author: Support
Last update: 2019-06-11 07:28


Support

How do I get an answer to a support query with Hero?

Step 1:  Search our Knowledge Base/FAQ Site

 Before you log a ticket or call us we advise you search our FAQ site at http://faq.herotel.uk to see if you can find an answer to your question first in our knowledge base.  Click on the 'Search...' field and type some keywords (e.g. Asterisk, Porting etc.) and see what results (if any) are returned and review these pages

Step 2: Log a ticket with our support team

If you were unable to find an answer to your question in our FAQ pages then you can log a support ticket with our team.  To do this login to https://portal.herotel.uk with your account number and password and then click on the 'Tickets' tab along the top menu.  This should bring up the ticketing system.  Fill in the form, selecting the To: queue and information that will help us resolve your problem.

If you are logging a ticket relating to a phone call please send us details relating to that call as way of an example including the calling number, called number, date and time and what (if any) error messages or responses were heard or seen on your phone screen.

If you are logging a ticket relating to being unable to login or setup your phone to connect to Hero then please send us full details of your phone device make/model and firmware version along with screenshots of your configuration screens.  Also tell us the make and model of any routers or firewalls connecting your phone to the Internet.

The more information you can supply in the initial ticket you log with us - the faster we can resolve your problem!

Step 3: Contact our support team by email or phone

If you have not received a timely response to your support ticket (usually we respond within 1 business day) - or your query is of a critical or urgent nature then you can contact us directly in one of the following ways:

Fill out our web contact form at: https://herotel.uk/contactform.php

Email: support@herotel.uk

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:33


How do I connect to Hero and make phone calls?

Hero is an Internet delivered phone service.  We do not supply traditional phone lines to your home like Spark.  You will need a broadband internet connection, 4G or Wifi to use our services.  We recommend customers use the Hero Applications to connect to our service if they do not already have their own SIP (VOIP) enabled phone, device or PBX.  These applications run on iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets as well. 

Customers are also free to use another SIP softphone application such as X-Lite. Click here for instructions on how to setup X-Lite

If customers do not want to use software on their Smartphone or PC to make calls then you can also buy a hardware phone that is SIP Compliant.  We recommend Yealink, Cisco and Polycom handsets for this.  Please contact sales@herotel.uk if you require assistance selecting a physical handset/solution.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:32


How do I connect a PBX to Hero?

PBX Systems

Customers can also connect to Hero using their own IP-PBX which is SIP capable and compatible. Asterisk (and it's variants such as FreePBX, Trixbox and others) is the most popular PBX in the market and instructions can be found here on how to connect Asterisk based systems to our service.

Contact us if you have another PBX phone system and want to see if this is compatible with our services.

Author: Support
Last update: 2016-05-29 09:37


How do I become a Hero Agent or Reseller?

Become an authorised reseller of the Hero retail solutions including our Broadband, Mobiex, SIP and Cloud PBX services and receive generous ongoing commissions.

Please visit our Partners page at https://herotel.uk/partners.html for more details

You can contact us using the online contact form at https://herotel.uk/contactform.php and a member of our sales team will be back in contact with you very shortly.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:31


How do I become a Wholesale customer of Hero?

Designed to help you grow your business and increase efficiency our wholesale and carrier services are extremely competitive and rich in features. Choose between traditional wholesale or a white label solution that offers branding with credit card merchant services if required.

Please visit our Partners page at https://herotel.uk/partners.html for more details

You can contact us using the online contact form at https://herotel.uk/contactform.php and a member of our sales team will be back in contact with you very shortly.

Author: Support
Last update: 2018-11-17 02:30


Microsoft Teams

Requirements and costs associated with Microsoft Teams

Hero's Teams Integration Pricing

Our Microsoft Teams pricing should be laid out in our Wholesale Pricing Spreadsheet we sent through.  Hero retail pricing for teams capable phone lines start at $10 for a single line with no bundled minutes.  We also have a range of call bundle options as well.  Please visit https://herotel.uk/teams.html for more details.  If you are a wholesale partner then please contact us for wholesale pricing which is offered on a tiered/volume basis depending on volumes.  This includes the phone number, channel into Microsoft Teams and includes SIP twinning capability and all Hero Cloud features which can be run in parallel with Teams (e.g. Auto Attendants, Call Recording etc.).

Microsoft License Fees for the Teams Phone System

 To enable Phone services for Microsoft Teams you need to have a 'phone system license' for each of your users that wish to have this functionality.  Here is a useful guide to licensing:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing

You can add either an E1, E3 or E5 license for a user and this will give you the functionality you need to enable phone services for that user.  The E5 license comes with phone services included whilst the E1 and E3 licenses come with the ability to purchase a 'Phone System License' add-on.  If you are on a basic Office 365 license then it is likely that the Phone System Add-on is not available and you will need to upgrade to an E3 license for example first.

In terms of what Microsoft charge you for the phone system license this can depend on what pricing plan you are on with Microsoft.  The Phone System license add-on comes in at $12.10 per month per user (excluding Tax).  This is obviously in addition to whatever other licenses you are using from Microsoft.  The cheapest way you can deploy a Microsoft Teams phone service is under the E1 license which comes in at another $12.10 per month on top of the phone system license.  So $24.20 is about the minimum you can expect to pay on the Microsoft license side of things to get a user running with phone system services in Teams.  Obviously the pricing is higher if you add an E3 license or an E5 license as these come with many more applications such as the whole Office suite of products and Outlook/Email/DNS etc.

What do Hero Supply?

So, to come to what we supply - we are not a Microsoft Reseller - so we are not going to sell you Microsoft licenses or anything like that.  We are simply going to provide you phone numbers that automatically route to Teams and the capability to make phone calls out of Teams to the PSTN.  We obviously also provide any Hero Cloud features you might want to setup as well such as call recording, auto attendants, queues, fax to email and so on.  We are also able to supply you 'Teams Capable' handsets such as the Yealink T55A, 56A and 58A handsets and these can be auto-provisioned from our systems and portals (see https://herotel.uk/handsets.html)

As to the equipment you need to run Teams - this really depends on how you want to use Teams.  Most people just use the Free Teams clients which run on Windows, MacOS and also Android and iPhone Smartphones.  For example  you might have the Windows client installed and the Android client and when receiving an incoming call both of these clients start ringing and you can pick-up the call.  Likewise you can dial out through the Teams clients.  So the cost of equipment is basically zero if you are just using the software clients.  If you wanted physical handsets that are Teams capable to connect into Teams then the entry level Teams phone from Yealink costs $399+VAT.  However, with our unique 'twinning' feature you can actually run any SIP/VoIP phone alongside a Teams client if this was something you wanted to do.  There are many Teams compliant phones and devices out there you can source yourselves.  See the following link for details on these:

https://products.office.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/across-devices/devices/category?devicetype=34

What are the key benefits to using Teams rather than a traiditional PBX?

The key benefit of moving your phone system to Teams is of course that your phone system would be fully integrated with Office 365 and the whole Microsoft ecosystem of products - so for example your clients would be able to access all of their contacts etc. when making and receiving calls.  Rather than having some internal comms happening in Office 365 and then a separate system for phone calls - the Teams integration product brings it all together so there is a single platform for all communications.  This greatly simplifies everything for a business I think.  Also, from my experience today a lot of customers are not using their fixed lines as much because they are not integrated well and they end up using their mobile phones instead for much of their calling.  By integrating their calling with Office 365 we think users are more likely to use their fixed lines for calling which drives up fixed calling revenues and with the Smartphone Apps they can do this on their mobile handset as well.

How long does installation take?

Installation takes a matter of minutes usually.   There are usually a few delays on Microsoft's side for domain verification etc. but typically you could have Teams integration setup and running the same day.  We have a detailed FAQ that will assist you through the setup and installation at the following link:

https://faq.herotel.uk/index.php?action=artikel&cat=20&id=108&artlang=en

There is a bit of a learning curve with the first couple of customers but once you get the hang of the process and your Powershell environment is setup and ready to run the commands it is mostly just a case of copy and paste from our web portals which give you all the commands you need to run to integrate the Hero voice lines with Microsoft's systems.

The best way to get a feeling for how long things will take is to get some test lines setup yourself under your own accounts and start to play with the product yourselves and then you can judge for yourselves how much time and effort is required to deliver the solution for clients.

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-04-03 00:44


Microsoft Teams Integration Setup Instructions

Setup your Microsoft Teams environment

This guide does not explain how to setup Microsoft Teams.  The assumption is that you already have a Teams environment with Microsoft, your own domain(s) and users setup and this guide is focussed purely on how to connect Hero with that environment to provide incoming and outgoing calls to the PSTN along with providing phone numbers to your end users.

If you would like some guides on getting Microsoft Teams setup for your business then follow the useful links below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/teams-overview

https://support.office.com/en-us/teams

Microsoft Licenses Required for Phone System Integration

 To enable Phone services for Microsoft Teams you need to have a 'phone system license' for each of your users that wish to have this functionality.  Here is a useful guide to licensing:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing

In the Enterprise space you can add either an E1, E3 or E5 license for a user and this will give you the functionality you need to enable phone services for that user.  You can also look at adding a phone system license 'Add-on' to give you this functionality if this is available on your current Office 365 license.

Step by Step Example Guide

Every customer is different when it comes to Teams Integration so there is no 'one guide suits all' for getting setup with Teams.  However, we decided to put together a step by step guide for a 'vanilla' customer who is new to Teams and looking to signup to Teams with 3 users and then map 3 Hero phone lines to those users.  The guide below is a record of that process with detailed screenshots and could be useful for system integrators to see the steps involved in a 'new' install.

https://herotel.uk/teamssetupguide.html 

Domain Verification and Trunk Setup

Assuming you already have your own domain setup with Microsoft you now need to setup our Teams SBC domain and get this verified.  If you have not set up any domain yet with Microsoft for your organisation then please see our-by-step guide for this above.

First you need to login to  login to the Microsoft Admin Center using your Microsoft Login:

https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/Home#/Domains
Then click on 'Show All' and then 'Settings' and the Domains sub-menu option.



If you need still need to setup an account with Hero then visit herotel.uk and click Join




Login to your Hero account by clicking here




In the Hero customer portal click on the Voice tab and then select 'Profiles' from the left side menu.


If you want to setup all lines on your account to use Microsoft Teams use the default profile otherwise you can create a new profile at the bottom of the page. In the drop down menu for Connection type select 'Microsoft Teams'.



Copy the Microsoft Teams Domain into your clipboard (it will be something like ms81xxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk)




In the Domains page back in the Admin Center (under Settings/Domains) click 'Add domain'




Enter the Teams Domain you copied into your clipboard into the domain text box and click Next




Wait for the Verify Domain page to load (this can take some time and you may need to refresh the page)

The Verify domain page should now be displayed




Copy the TXT value by clicking the icon beside the TXT value information (e.g. MS=msxxxxxxxx)




Now switch back to the Hero customer portal page and paste this value into the Domain TXT record value field and then press 'Save Default Profile'




Now switch back to the Admin Center page and click on 'Verify'




You may need to wait 1 minute or retry if this fails. Be patient!  Once verified make sure all the options for online services are NOT ticked and click Next.




All being well this should complete and your Hero trunking domain will be added to your account.


Now switch to the 'Users' tab in the Admin Center and click 'Add a user'




We are going to create a 'temporary user' to associate with the Hero trunk domain

The user details should be something like 'Hero Trunk' and username of 'herotrunk'. Make sure you select our new Hero trunk domain from the drop down menu (e.g. msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk). Then Click Next.




Now you need to assign a product license that includes phone services such as an E5 or E3 license to this user.  If you only don't have any more licenses available then you may need to 'borrow' one from one of your other users temporarily. We can assign it back later on once the trunk is setup.




Leave the Role and Profile Info as default and click Next




Press 'Finish Adding'




You should receive confirmation the Trunk user has been created.




Go back to your Active users in the Users tab in Admin Center and the Trunk User should be listed.


User Management

Now switch back to your Hero customer portal tab and add any new numbers you want on teams. You can also port a number to Hero Teams or change an existing line type to be a Teams line in the Account/Numbers page.




For adding a new Teams number ensure you select the Line Type as 'Microsoft Teams' and select a Teams plan for the line.




Continue to add Teams enabled numbers to your Hero account as required.

Click on 'Voice' tab and your Teams users should be listed with a 'Teams icon' beside them.  If you do not see this icon check that you have set the Profile (in the Profiles Page) to be of the type 'Microsoft Teams' and if you have created a new profile for Teams then in the numbers page make sure you assign that profile to the Teams lines.




Now click on the 'Teams' page on the left menu

Fill in the fields against each teams number including the teams user IDs hosted in Office 365 (including the domain name e.g. Joe@herointernet.uk). You can also decide if you want to twin with a regular SIP phone or have the call failover to SIP or be hosted on Teams only. You can also decide if you want to use the Teams Voicemail system or the Hero voicemail and provide an 'offline forwarding number' for your users in case calls fail to Teams and you need to have a backup number for these users (e.g. their mobile phone number). Press 'Save Changes' when done.


The following steps are for Advanced users only who understand how to use the Microsoft Power Shell. Click on 'Power Shell' to display a list of commands you need to enter.


The final stages require a good technical knowledge of Microsoft's Admin Center and Power Shell command line to complete the integration.  You will likely need an authorised Microsoft Office 365 Reseller to complete the final steps.

Power Shell Setup and Commands

You will need the Skype for Business Powershell environment installed before you can run the Powershell commands later in the guide:

Follow the guides below for instructions on how to setup Skype for Business and Windows Powershell

Setup Guide:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-powershell-overview

Install Link for Skype for Business Online, Windows PowerShell Module

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

Useful Guide for Installation of the Teams Environment

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/52052.microsoft-teams-administration-powershell-admin-center.aspx

Once these packages are installed and your Power Shell environment is ready you will need to do the following:

  1. Start Power Shell as Administrator (or with Administrator Priveleges)
  2. Run the following commands in Power Shell:

    Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams

  3. NuGet Provider is required to continue. Confirm by pressing 'Y'
  4. Untrusted Repository. Confirm by pressing 'A'



  5. Download and install SkypeOnlinePowerShell.exe from the following link if you have not done this already

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

  6. Restart Power Shell and run as Administrator
  7. Change execution policy by typing the following command in Power Shell

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

  8. For the Execution Policy change confirm by pressing 'A'.  (Click here for additional information)



  9. Now run the following commands in Power Shell replacing <youradminemail> with your Administrator Email in Office 365:

    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector $acctName="<youradminemail>"
    $sfbSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName

    Import-Module MicrosoftTeams
    Import-Module SkypeOnlineConnector
    $userCredential = Get-Credential
    $sfbSession = New-CsOnlineSession -Credential $userCredential
    Import-PSSession $sfbSession
We now need to map your Hero phone number(s) to your Microsoft Teams users.
Open up the Microsoft Power shell and start a session under your domain/user.  The following example assumes that your username is Joe@herointernet.uk by way of example:

1. Establishing Your Session


The format for this command is similar to the below commands (where User@yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com would be replaced with your own administrator login details you use to manage your Microsoft Office 365 account)

$acctName="User@yourdomain.onmicrosoft.com"
$sfboSession = New-CsOnlineSession -UserName $acctName
Import-PSSession $sfboSession

Enter your Microsoft User Password




You should now be logged into a new session in the Power Shell and can start executing commands

2. For Each Domain (Tenant) in Teams

Run the following power shell commands for each of your tenants in Microsoft Teams.  The example below the example domain is "ms81012345.sbc.msteams.uk" (replace this with your own domain) and we have named the Voice Identity as 'HERO'.  These commands are given to you in the Power Shell page in the hero portal so you should be able to just paste them in.
The first command you need to run is the Set-CsUser command and this adds the first user to the trunk (NOTE: this needs to be done BEFORE creating the Voice Route and Policy) and will look something like:
 
Set-CsUser -identity "Joe@herointernet.nz" -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true -HostedVoicemail $true -OnPremlineURI tel:+442034567890

Next paste the other tenant commands to setup the PSTN identity and Voice route details and then assign the calling and voice routing policy to your first user. This should look something like:

Set-CsOnlinePstnUsage -Identity Global -Usage @{Add="VOIP"}
New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "VOIP" -NumberPattern ".*" -OnlinePstnGatewayList "msxxxxxxxx.sbc.msteams.uk" -Priority 1 -OnlinePstnUsages "VOIP"
New-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "VOIP" -OnlinePstnUsages "VOIP"

 
Once the routing policy and voice route have been created then you can assign these to your user using commands similar to those below:
Grant-CsTeamsCallingPolicy -PolicyName AllowCalling -Identity "Joe@herointernet.nz"
Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "Joe@herointernet.nz" -PolicyName "VOIP"

3. For Each of your Users

You will need to now map a phone number to each of your Teams users using the following commands.  The example below assumes that our example user Joe@herointernet.uk is going to be assigned the phone number 442034567890 (added to Microsoft with the full country code format as +442034567890) and we are still using the Identity of "HERO".  Replace these as required for your own circumstances.

Set-CsUser -identity "Joe@herointernet.uk" -EnterpriseVoiceEnabled $true -HostedVoicemail $true -OnPremlineURI tel:+442034567890
Grant-CsTeamsCallingPolicy -PolicyName AllowCalling -Identity "Joe@herointernet.nz"
Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "Joe@herointernet.uk" -PolicyName "HERO"

Moving From Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams

If your company is currently using Skype for Business, you have to upgrade to Teams and enable the Phone System feature. This process requires a bit of prior planning, so check out the Microsoft articles for more information.

If you are using Skype for Business, this will help you:

FAQ:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/faq-journey

Getting started:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-start-here

Deployment and implementation:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-to-teams-execute-skypeforbusinessonline

If you have any questions or technical problems, get in touch with our support team.

Author: Support
Last update: 2020-08-03 00:22