New Features and Updates for the Customer Administration Portal
On April 20, 2020, Voyant will make product updates to the Customer Administration Portal to include new features that enhance user functionality and and improve user experience.
OVERVIEW OF NEW FEATURES
Secure Voice (SIPS/SRTP) For Poly x50 Phones
The ability to enable encryption - SIPS for encryption of SIP signaling, SRTP for secure RTP - is being added to this release and is currently supported on the Poly VVX 150, VVX 250, VVX 350 and VVX 450 devices. Encryption is useful in cases where customers are concerned about voice communications going over the internet. Encryption helps protect these calls against attempts to intercept the voice traffic. If you have purchased Secure Voice licenses, these can be managed in the Customer Administration Portal by an administrator. A new Secure Voice tab has been added to the Manage Phone System screen.
From here, you can choose an unassigned Secure Voice service and assign it to a device. You can also unassign one that is currently assigned. The list of devices available for assignment will only include Poly x50 devices. Once assigned, the phone may reboot to apply the encryption.
NOTE: If other phones have an SCA to a phone that is enabled for encryption, calls answered on the other phones will not be encrypted. You should enable encryption on all phones if they share lines. If you attempt to assign an SCA to an encrypted phone from a non-encrypted phone, a warning will be presented alerting you to the possibility that you may be creating a way for another device to handle calls that are not encrypted. If you know you are enabling devices for Secure Voice, click Accept the Risk to continue, or click Cancel and first assign Secure Voice to each device. If you have a mix of devices, like Polycom x0 or x1 devices, you will also receive this warning even though those devices do not yet support the Secure Voice feature.
When a phone is assigned a Secure Voice license, a shield icon will indicate the device is currently set to be encrypted. While on an active call, the phone will display a small red lock icon to indicate the call is being encrypted.
Bulk Update for On-Net Calling Name
When placing external calls, the calling name is typically delivered to the person you are calling by their phone provider. In some instances, VoIP providers may carry calling name information end-to-end and in these cases, the person you're calling may see your seat name as the calling name. An option has been added the Bulk Update, Calling Line ID section to change the calling name for calls that are “on-net” (carried VoIP end-to-end). It is recommended that the Group Calling Name match the Caller ID Name (CNAM) set when you ported in your phone numbers. This provides consistency and displays the same calling name to the person you’re calling, whether they’re on a mobile device or using another VoIP provider.
Device Registration Info in the Customer Administration Portal
In Managed Devices, a new information icon is added in Connected Devices that will provide more detailed information about device registrations.
Clicking the “i” icon will bring up additional details such as the Public and Private IPs and Port numbers, as well as when the registration expiration time is expected. This information can be useful in verifying what public IPs devices are reaching out from, which device this is on the local network and if there is an active registration. The registration expiration is only updated approximately once per hour, but can be useful when initially trying to register a device to confirm if it did successfully register. The SIP User Agent information can also be used to confirm the actual device that is registered and what firmware version the device is running.
International Restriction Options
For PBX users that are permitted to place international calls, an additional restriction option has been added for each user. When choosing to enable International calling for a user, there are now two choices. The US50+ restriction consists of the 50 US states, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam. All other destinations are restricted. The Basic International option is the same as the current international calling restrictions which opens up additional countries, but still has a number of restrictions.
Additionally, this can be updated in a Bulk Update option. If your PBX is enabled for international calling, the International Calling Features will be available in the menu.
The calling plan can then be updated for all users in the Enterprise or per location group or a group of selected users.
These new controls do not change what destinations are billed or not. This only allows you to place additional controls on where your users are allowed to call.