Cable VoIP Platform Use Case — Service Providers Win with the Cloud

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is an internet telephony that enables you to place and receive calls over the internet. It’s a fairly well-known technology, especially to those looking to run a business, control costs, and provide communication tools to a large team. The cost savings and rich features are enticing to savvy service providers and end customers alike.

Similar to how cable providers deliver hundreds of television channels to consumers, the same system also supports the assignment of channels for internet data services. With a plain old telephone system (POTS), the cable provider can divert the signal to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

With VoIP, voice signals are transported inside IP packets, which means the cable provider’s infrastructure doesn’t need to distinguish regular data packets from those transporting VoIP. When their end users connect to the internet, the VoIP provider handles the sending and receiving of VoIP packets.

So, what does this mean for you?

The next era of voice is here. Carrier-grade cable VoIP platforms are typically feature-rich and easy-to-manage solutions with a clear business case for all types of service providers. Whether you’ve used wholesale hosted solutions or built your own network in the past, cloud-native VoIP solutions can help you boost margins, launch new business UC services, and simplify operations. With the cloud, your voice becomes an app over your broadband networks without requiring cumbersome infrastructure.

Voice is a key service offering for cable operators, but legacy solutions are complex and expensive. It’s time for a change. Here are some challenges cable service providers face in today’s market and how a cable VoIP platform can address them:

Cable VoIP providers still have plenty of opportunities to retain existing customers, secure new voice customers, and win back old ones. Nearly 60% of respondents said they switched, or seriously considered switching voice providers, in the past several years.

SMBs said their top criteria for selecting a voice provider are ease-of-use, speed and efficiency of deployment, and brand reputation. Surprisingly, the SMBs we surveyed didn’t place as much emphasis on a service provider’s local presence. If all other criteria are equal, that can certainly be a differentiator for a provider and aid setup and support.

 * Independent Research 2021: SMB Cloud Communications Survey

Adams Cable experienced several issues with their previous voice provider. For example, to set up a customer with a new number, they had to fill out and submit paper applications. The process was so cumbersome that Adams Cable spent their own developer resources to create a hypertext preprocessor (PHP) clone of their Word app. This allowed them to create new number requests in a PDF that could be emailed to their provider. Once emailed, there was still a 3–day turnaround to process it. In short, the manual process required to create a new number resulted in massive bottlenecks, used precious developer resources, and had a negative impact on their end users’ experience.

In addition to the heavily manual processes and delayed turnaround times, “the quality of service was terrible.” In their opinion, least cost routing, which was used to traverse from SIP to TDM networks to handle traffic, was causing a significant number of interconnection problems. Adams Cable had two incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) near them, but due to these processes and outdated technology and infrastructure, it was very difficult to port numbers from the ILECs. The issues were so immense that one of Adams Cable’s end users couldn’t reach their own customer in the same ILEC. “It was a nightmare.”

Adams Cable needed a unified communications provider that provided reliability, superior audio quality, and responsive technical and customer support team. Their primary goal was “to partner with a better provider,” so, they looked for a solution that was more in-line their own network.

Adams Cable needed a solution that would provide the following:

• Fewer Manual Processes. Remove burden of emailing in individual PDF requests to activate a new number for end users and remove the 3–day implementation turnaround for new phone numbers.
• High-Quality Calling. Resolve severe call quality issues, such as those that prevented their end users from completing calls to nearby ILECs.
• Improved Porting. Correct problematic interconnection issues that prevented them from seamlessly porting customers from other providers.
• Reduce Technical Support. Decrease end user support tickets and burden on Sales and IT members.

A residential voice service that provides secure, reliable, and full-featured voice services with the ability for users to customize their call experience in an easy-to-use Voice Portal..

• • • Keep Your Numbers. We’ll port over your customers’ existing home phone numbers to get them set up.

• • • Voice Portal. Users have control over call waiting, schedules, forwarding, call screening, and more.

Fault-tolerant PBX and PRI connections that allows customers to keep their existing phones by connecting their on-premises PBX system to your VoIP network.

• • • Self-Maintained Solution. No in-house technical expertise or personnel needed to maintain the SIP network, meaning happier customers with less effort.
    • Recurring Cost Savings. A SIP trunk takes the place of the 3–4 traditional business lines. Customers can eliminate complicated monthly bills to unlock predicable billing and recurring savings for their entire system.

Feature-rich voice solution for business users with access features like auto-attendants, custom schedules, ring groups, voicemail-to-email, mobile applications, and more. Whether your customers simply need phone service or want to enhanced mobility and collaboration tools, Business Cloud Communications does it all within three tiers of service.

• • • Scalability. Add an extension or direct numbers in minutes. Cloud voice margins scale in-step with your customers’ needs.
    • Desktop and Mobile Apps. Your customers can utilize smartphones, tablets, and PCs — without moving to an all-IP system.
    • Instant Messaging. Group and private chats and 1:1 messaging enable virtual workers to connect and engage more effectively.
    • Advanced Provisioning. Within minutes of joining, an end user can get their own phone number, download the app, and sign in.
    • Meet Anywhere, On Any Device. Host or present on any device with the Cymbus desktop and mobile app or a web browser.

With a combination of solution reliability, high-quality calling, and excellent customer and technical support, Adams Cable noticed an immediate impact. “A metal perforating company, one of our oldest customers, immediately noticed a call quality difference as soon as they picked up the phone.” Adams Cable recently extended their agreement with Alianza and continue to be a notable advocate. “Of course we recommend Alianza. With our past provider, we were a customer. With Alianza, it’s been very clear from the beginning that we are a partner, which makes a huge difference.”

With Alianza’s full-stack cloud communications platform, Adams Cable is able to leverage the interoperability and technology to compete with OTT providers, target and win new SMB business, save previous internal development resources, and reduce operational costs. The Alianza suite “affords our SMB end users, such as a doctor’s office with 8 employees, the opportunity to appear as if their customers are calling a larger company. The infrastructure makes little guys feel like big guys.”

Adams Cable, although initially tentative transitioning through their first migration, felt supported through the whole process — “training, support, everything was very easy.”

Deliver a compelling new communication service to your customers with Alianza. Our cloud-based platform is highly sustainable, cost effective, all-inclusive, and flexible — enabling service providers to move quickly, address evolving market demands, and enable rapid growth that on-premises solutions will never be able to keep pace with.

Sell our carrier-grade solutions standalone or bundled with your business voice products to drive greater revenue, market footprint, and customer lifetime value (CLV). It can be sold anywhere — even outside your broadband or voice footprint — and over the top of any voice solution.