To dramatically lower costs and take advantage of advanced Unified Calling features (e.g. instant messaging, paging, call screening, etc.), a hosted cloud phone system shares the same network infrastructure that is used for connecting to the internet, browsing the web, sending and receiving emails, transmitting files, and so on.
As a result of this integration, if the power goes out — such as during a storm — then provided that you have back-up power supplies, you can continue using the hosted cloud phone system. This is because a hosted cloud phone system uses a geographically dispersed cloud-based infrastructure.
In simpler terms: if the power is out in one part of the city, state, or country, back-end operations automatically shift to another unaffected area. For example, in September 2018 when Hurricane Florence swept through North Carolina, we were fully prepared to handle all calls in a geo-redundant mode in the event that one of our data centers experienced a power outage.
But what happens if your power stays online, but you lose your internet connection — say, for example, because there are issues with your ISP or a problem with the cabling? In this situation, your business will continue to receive calls as normal, and your customers and other incoming callers won’t get a “sorry, the number you have reached is not in service” recording or anything like that.
Until the internet connection is restored, calls will be automatically routed to your auto attendant or to voicemail. During this time, you will not be able to use your IP phones (these are phones that are specially designed to work with a hosted cloud system). However, you can still make and receive calls by using our mobile app. This can be done anywhere — even off-premises.
In addition, you can forward incoming calls to any other operational number, such as a cell phone, different location, home landline, and so on. You can do this by accessing your secure web-based dashboard from any location.
If you do not have the ability to go online and make this change (i.e. if you cannot do it from your cell phone or from another location where the internet is working fine), then you can simply call us and we will take care of it for you!