Datastream Frequently Asked Questions

At Datastream Communications we put our customers first. One of our goals is to make sure that our customers are educated and understand all of the projects and services that we offer. If you can’t find the answer to your question(s), feel free to reach out to us directly to speak to a business communications expert today.

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I already have/own a premise-based PBX. Why should I change now?

Managing change has always been an essential skill for business owners, but managing a business today isn’t simple. No longer can an owner wait for the next big change in his/her business. With the pace of technological advancement increasing by the day, business are now managing transition, rather than change. It’s hard to catch your breath. Thus, it’s imperative that our technology is capable of keeping up with the ever changing needs of your business advances. Because of this, many businesses are moving to cloud-based applications like hosted PBX. With your phone system in the cloud, you no longer need to worry about your communication infrastructure’s ability to keep up with the needs of your business. There’s little to no expertise required and it provides every capability of a traditional phone system and then some, all while reducing your costs up front and over time. Additionally, cloud-based PBX won’t become obsolete with new features and capabilities countinuously being added without the need for a system upgrade.

I already tried hosted PBX and it didn’t work well. How are you different?

What issues were you experiencing? Not all hosted PBX systems are created equally. Our proven platform has been built from the ground up over the last ten years. We’ve been able to alleviate the common woes you may have experienced with other hosted PBX providers. With our complete PBX in the cloud, you’ll be able to improve your business collaboration and flexibility while reducing your costs.

Is hosted telephony reliable?

When implemented properly, a hosted PBX solution is more reliable than a premise-based solution, as it can scale to meet your business’s evolving needs and provides benefits that traditional phone systems cannot match. Hosted PBX also reduces the capital expenditure of a new phone system, safeguarding it against technological obsolescence, broadband issues, and natural disasters.

Is a new phone system expensive?

A hosted PBX solution doesn’t require large, upfront investments like a traditional phone system. Switching to a hosted PBX will reduce your operator costs upfront and overtime. That means your expenses are actually reduced. Our platform is continually updated to provide your business with new, enhanced capabilities and features, ensuring that your business is on the cutting edge and up-to-date.

Is hosted PBX as feature rich as traditional PBX systems?

Yes, our cloud-based phone systems include features most organizations couldn’t afford with their existing phone system. You now have the ability to manage these great features via our easy to use web interface with no expertise needed. You’ll be able to access carrier-class scalability, and API-extensible apps such as Salesforce.com and Outlook, providing you with a simple solution for all your communication needs.

Which carrier does the platform utilize?

The benefit of our cloud-based PBX platform is that you’ll never have to deal with a traditional, long distance carrier again! We manage all carrier connectivity in the cloud, with cross-connects directly to the PSTN. Our platform includes connectivity to multiple carriers for redundancy purposes, so no carrier issue will impact your business. Our carriers are chosen, and maintain favor with us based on their reliability and costs.

What kind of Bandwidth is sufficient for Hosted Voice?

This depends on usage, but we find that anything over 10MB works well, providing we have our routers in place to control and ensure voice packets get the highest priority

When we lose our Internet what will happen with our phones?

All cloud-based applications rely on Internet connectivity, but with a hosted PBX solution, when you lose your broadband connection your communication infrastructure remains available. In other words, your Internet connection is no longer a single point of failure. When your PBX resides in the cloud, you’re provided with a plethora of call routing options. For example, our cloud-based PBX includes features like find-me-follow-me, voicemail to email, and all calls have the ability to be automatically forwarded and routed to virtually any person, device, or location. Plus, we’ll architect a redundant broadband solution with multiple seamless Internet connections, cutting your costs.

How Will I Be Using My Phone System?

Do I have to use specific phones with your service? Most SIP enabled phones work but not all phones are supported because of outdated versions of software. We perform audits and discuss the impact and call quality phones will experience if they want to use existing phones. We prefer certain brands based on great quality and features and this is from extensive testing and customer feedback. This discussion really needs to be at length during the discovery phase to ensure we all understand the outcome and performance expectations.

Are your services geographically distributed?

We have multiple locations for redundancy and we can service any business as long as they have enough bandwidth.

Do I need any other on-site devices (QoS) for your service?

We highly recommend a QOS device to ensure call quality but we do have customers who do not have QOS routers (they are smaller customers of 7 phones or less). We perform tests when we do initial site surveys and discuss call quality and bandwidth usage so they understand the impact to their business.

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What Our Customers Say

Our relationship with DataStream began with a referral from our IT company. Navigating through the many different options for telephone service is a daunting task, but with DataStream, we felt like we had an honest, trusted partner. Throughout the entire process of migrating to our new phone system, DataStream was responsive, knowledgeable, and professional. Their equipment and services are top notch, and we couldn’t be happier with the end result!

-Paula T., Rockpoint Corporation

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View The Areas We Serve

Baltimore County Phone Solutions: Baltimore City, Arbutus (21227), Catonsville (21228, 21250), Cockeysville (21030, 21031, 21065), Dundalk (21222), Edgemere (21219), Essex (21221), Garrison (21055), Lansdowne (21227), Lochearn (21207), Lutherville (21093), Middle River (21220), Milford Mill (21244), Overlea (21236), Owings Mills (21117), Parkville (21234), Park Heights (21215), Pikesville (21208), Randallstown (21133), Reisterstown (21136), Rosedale (21237), Timonium (21093), Towson (21204), White Marsh (21162), Woodlawn (21207), and more.

Carroll County Phone Solutions: Eldersburg (21784), Finksburg (21048), Hampstead (21074), Manchester (21102), Marriottsville (21104), Taneytown (21787), Union Bridge (21791), Westminster (21157, 21158), Mount Airy (21771), New Windsor (21776), Sykesville (21784), Woodbine (21797), Taneytown (21787), and more.

Frederick County Phone Solutions: Frederick (21701, 20702, 21703, 21709), New Market (21774) , Mount Airy (21771), Urbana (21704), Ijamsville (21754), Walkersville (21793), Libertytown (21762), Damascus (20872), and more.

Howard County Phone Solutions: Clarksville (21029), Columbia (21044), Cooksville (21723), Dorsey (21075), Elkridge (21075), Ellicott City (21043), Fulton (20759), Glenelg (21737), Glenwood (21738), Granite (21163), Hanover (21076), Highland (20777), Jessup (20794), Lisbon (21765), Marriottsville (21104), North Laurel (20723), West Friendship (21794), Woodbine (21797), Woodstock (21163), and more.

Montgomery County Phone Solutions: Olney (20832), Damascus (20872), Laytonsville (20882), Silver Spring (20910), Clarksburg (20871), Gaithersburg (20878), Germantown (20876), Bethesda (20816), Chevy Chase (20815), and more.

Prince George's County Phone Solutions: Bowie (20715, 20716, 20720, 20721), Beltsville (20705), Adelphi (20783), College Park (20740,20742), Greenbelt (25689), Hyattsville (20781, 20782, 20783, 20784), Landover (20785), Laurel (20707, 20723), Springdale (20774), Upper Marlboro (20772, 20774), Woodlawn (21207).

Serving Southern Pennsylvania, All of Maryland, Washington, DC and Northern Virginia

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