Whether you operate a small business or a large enterprise, you can count on Start2Star to deliver the world’s most complete cloud-based unified communications solutions. We unify customers voice, video, mobile and fax into one easy-to-use and reliable system to improve employees’ productivity and collaboration, while reducing costs.
Traditional phone calls are made over dedicated telephone circuits; VoIP calls are carried over the Internet. VoIP calls share a data network with other computing devices. When you place a VoIP call, your speech is digitized at the originating end transmitted as small bundles of data (called “packets”) over the data network and Internet. At the receiving end, the packets are reassembled into an audio signal.
When properly engineered and executed, VoIP call quality is at least as good as or better than a traditional phone call. However, if the segments of a call are delayed or lost, as can easily happen on a data network, then call quality can suffer. The Star2Star architecture eliminates this risk with its end-to-end approach that controls both ends of the call path, including automatic prioritization for voice packets over data packets.
Other business-oriented VoIP vendors typically just offer one part of this complete solution. Some specialize in the the on-premise phone switch solution which provided call routing and features like voicemail, but leave locating connectivity and VoIP telephone service up to you. Others offer telephone service but no on-premise solution; this approach limits flexibility, functionality, and reliability. Almost none offer any form of monitoring and management; once the system is set up, the assumption is that it will just run with no problems.
Star2Star is different. The Star2Star system uses a proprietary on-premise StarBox® Cloud Connection Manager. This solid-state device has no moving parts, no hard drive, and no fan for the utmost in reliability. The Star2Star StarBox® Cloud Connection Manager gathers information about the phone system and network that the system uses to prioritize phone calls while minimizing impact on regular data traffic.
Calls are connected to a private network of carrier class telephone lines or carried long distance by Level3 Communications. At every point, our StarWatch service monitors nearly 1000 operational parameters in the hardware, data network, routing systems and carrier infrastructure to assure uptime and call quality.
Star2Star is the first and ONLY solution to fully integrate the hardware, phone service and active monitoring and management. That’s what makes us different.
The StarWatch service from Star2Star measures the quality of the network and adjusts call parameters to assure the best possible quality. In addition, StarWatch can detect a degrading local area or wide area (Internet) connection and alert you to this problem along with recommended solutions. Star2Star’s unique integrated combination of proprietary hardware, monitoring, and central routing service means we do the best possible job of assuring call quality and reliability for our customers.
However, the very first business VoIP installations were deployed at some of the world’s largest companies on their large enterprise networks. Quality on those systems exceeded that of the legacy phone system with a corresponding increase in feature set and capability. Though powerful, these systems were also incredibly expensive and best suited for very large companies with multiple, world-wide operations.
Our end-to-end solution combines the in-house, high quality systems that big businesses have used for years along with a powerful set of features and the best phones available for Internet calling. The result is an offering entirely different than that provided by residential providers.
For example, suppose the Internet connection to one of your offices is cut. The monitoring system will note this almost immediately, activate the backup StarBox® Cloud Connection Manager at our operations center, and automatically reroute calls from the StarBox® Cloud Connection Manager at the affected office to the supplementary phones (usually a cell phone) for each of the company’s users. All other applications such as automated attendant, voicemail, etc. will continue to operate without interruption. Customers calling in will not notice any change.
The StarBox® Cloud Connection Manager at the office can detect an Internet failure as well and can route all outbound calls to be made on the analog backup line. Simultaneously, the Star2Star notification system will place an automated call to the company’s administrative contact (using their supplementary phone number), alerting him or her to the Internet connection outage along with suggested remedies. In most cases, the administrator will find out about the Internet outage well before employees start to complain that their web browsers and email are not working. This is only one example. The StarWatch monitoring system watches nearly 1000 different parameters and has hundreds of response states.
In the extremely unlikely event that anything would ever happen at all six data centers that causes them to become non-operational, the StarBox® Cloud Connection Manager (the Star2Star Phone System) at each customer site will automatically switchover and utilize other carriers and the on-premise analog connection to maintain the ability to send and receive calls.
If anything were to ever happen at your office to compromise the Internet connection (such as a lengthy power failure or a natural disaster) we will mimic your phone system in our data center and reroute calls to a backup phone line or even to the cell phone of each employee when their extension is dialed.
First, most organizations see a dramatic drop in their monthly phone costs; many businesses cut their monthly phone bill in half. For customers who pay extra for services such as central office voicemail or for those who make lots of long distance or international calls, the savings can be tremendous.
Second, a Star2Star telephone system costs a fraction of what you would pay for a traditional business communications solution. Since the Star2Star system can support hundreds of phones at a single location, and you can add phones one at a time as you grow, you never are forced to buy “too much” just to accommodate potential growth plans.
Third, Star2Star has tremendous multi-location features. Your system can be configured so that it operates as a single, unified phone system, no matter how many locations your business has. Individual work-at-home employees can have a phone at their home that operates just like the phones in the office, so your remote offices and remote employees are now available via local extensions. Flexibility like this can result in tremendous cost savings.
The bottom line is that for most companies, we can install a new Star2Star phone system, including lease payments and phone service, for a monthly cost at or below what the company currently pays for traditional phone service alone.
Our phones use Virtual LAN (VLAN) technology to keep voice and computer data separate, even though they are sharing the same physical cable.
Our dealers and installers generally need only a few hours on site to complete the installation. If you want to reconfigure your settings after installation is complete, simply visit the Star2Star portal site, and your system will automatically be updated. Unlike most companies, there’s no requirement to bring your dealer back on-site to make configuration changes.
If StarWatch detects a problem, it sets off a chain of events to report and repair the issue. First, the problem is categorized. Critical events, those which affect the functioning of a customer’s entire system, are escalated to priority 1 status and are immediately handled by a service engineer. The StarWatch system also immediately contacts the administrator at the customer’s location to advise of the problem and the steps being taken to resolve it.
In many cases, less critical problems can be resolved without any human intervention since we have built hundreds of self-healing and redundant features into our infrastructure to make many issues self-correcting.
Star2Star also staffs a round-the-clock service desk to handle customer reported problems. Customers may access our service desk directly over the Internet or by calling our support line 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year or by email. You can also dial Star2Star (“*2*”) on your phone’s keypad.
This automated monitoring and service desk operation allow us to maintain a high level of quality and reliability. Typically, we can solve most problems remotely, but your local dealer/installer is always apprised of any issues related to your site and is dispatched by our service desk to solve problems that cannot be solved over the Internet.
