Would you recommend Vonage ?

Would you recommend Vonage ?
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Subject Author Date
Would you recommend Vonage ? kimshapiro100 08-23-2006
Posted by Bill M. on February 20, 2007, 9:28 pm
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wrote:

>Either way, it is irresponsible to suggest to anyone that they call 911
>just to test it. Even if it is a poorly managed call center that uses an
>outmoded staffing model that leads to excessively idle operators, you
>should not call 911 unless you have a real emergency.

I don't mean to pile on, but here in the large Midwest city where I
live they've done a couple of news items on replacing landline service
with VoIP, and they always stress that it's not OK to call 911 unless
you have an emergency. Perhaps other (smaller?) communities have a
looser attitude, I don't know.

--
Bill

NMFall 20%
Posted by John Gray on February 21, 2007, 11:49 am
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> f/fgeorge wrote:
>> Don't know where you are from but how can you plan for a Hurricane or
>> Tornado or shooting with 5 victims that will needs 5 dispatchers not
>> counting the ones that are handling the normal call load? ALL call
>> centers I have ever been to have been staffed exactly the same every
>> shift day in day out. Some days you have slack time, some days you
>> could use 30 more people.
>
> Workforce management software can do an incredible job of right-staffing
> a large call center. Combine it with good intraday management, and money
> doesn't have to be wasted by staffing the way you describe. It's 2007,
> not 1985. And with the public demanding better use of tax dollars, a
> call center that doesn't use workforce management software to reduce
> staffing costs is just another item on the list of ways that government
> can make better use of the money they already have.
>
> If all the call centers you've been in staff that way, I suggest you
> need to get out, and see more call centers. And the call centers you
> were in need new managers.
>
> Either way, it is irresponsible to suggest to anyone that they call 911
> just to test it. Even if it is a poorly managed call center that uses an
> outmoded staffing model that leads to excessively idle operators, you
> should not call 911 unless you have a real emergency.
>

I called my local police department, and the person there gave me a non-
emergency number to call at the county E911 call center. I called that and
asked her. Since it was on a Monday with no emergency in progress, I was
oked to do so. I've already posted the results.

I live in a rural county where not much can happen for days. Some days
there are no emergency runs at all. I'm sure that your personnel
management isn't suggesting that E911 shouldn't be manned at all during
that time.<G>

OTOH, many large cities and urban areas couldn't handle the huge influx of
E911 testers. The sad part is that E911 is sometimes placed in service
without proper testing, and the emergency services get directed to respond
to a site many miles away from the actual emergency resulting in loss of
life or property.

Posted by Gary on February 21, 2007, 7:44 pm
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>
> Either way, it is irresponsible to suggest to anyone that they call 911
> just to test it. Even if it is a poorly managed call center that uses an
> outmoded staffing model that leads to excessively idle operators, you
> should not call 911 unless you have a real emergency.

Many emergency call centers can and do support "test" calls, as they know
that the E911 databases aren't perfect. As another poster already said, a
good call center wants to make sure the database is accurate.

An excellent way to find out if test calls are okay in your locality is to
call the administrative number for the call center or the non-emergency
police number. In many cases, some time with Google will reveal the right
contacts.

I did this a while ago when Vonage rolled out E911 in my area, and was
approved for a test call that revealed Vonage had screwed up my data. The
call center database administrator worked with her database provider to push
back on Vonage, while I worked through customer support. The end result is
my data was fixed and a problem was identified with Vonage's data for
locations where the post office name doesn't match the emergency services
municipality name. I'm not sure if Vonage has fixed this for others with
this not-uncommon situation, but by flagging it though my local E911 center
I've made sure the right people know about it.

-Gary



Posted by f/fgeorge on February 22, 2007, 4:22 pm
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wrote:

>f/fgeorge wrote:
>> Don't know where you are from but how can you plan for a Hurricane or
>> Tornado or shooting with 5 victims that will needs 5 dispatchers not
>> counting the ones that are handling the normal call load? ALL call
>> centers I have ever been to have been staffed exactly the same every
>> shift day in day out. Some days you have slack time, some days you
>> could use 30 more people.
>
>Workforce management software can do an incredible job of right-staffing a
>large call center. Combine it with good intraday management, and money
>doesn't have to be wasted by staffing the way you describe. It's 2007, not
>1985. And with the public demanding better use of tax dollars, a call
>center that doesn't use workforce management software to reduce staffing
>costs is just another item on the list of ways that government can make
>better use of the money they already have.
>
>If all the call centers you've been in staff that way, I suggest you need
>to get out, and see more call centers. And the call centers you were in
>need new managers.
>
>Either way, it is irresponsible to suggest to anyone that they call 911
>just to test it. Even if it is a poorly managed call center that uses an
>outmoded staffing model that leads to excessively idle operators, you
>should not call 911 unless you have a real emergency.

Warren I see we are just going to have to disagree here. I worked in a
City that had over 100,000 people. I have been to areas that have over
400 square miles, I have been to Cities that have well over a million
people, they ALL operated exactly the same way. Not a one had a plan
that put fewer dispatchers on duty during any percieved "slack time".
There were ALWAYS plans though to be able to "call back" more
dispatchers, if the problems overwhelmed the standard on duty shift.
And not a one had any problems with someone calling and saying "I am
testing my 911, can you tell me what it says on your screen?" Now not
all of those calls were handled immediately, sometimes the caller was
put on hold and then the dispatcher handled an emergency and then got
back to the person on the phone. I NEVER saw one dispatcher get angry
or mad at that type of call. I have seen PLENTY of dispatchers get mad
and angry and people that call and call and call over things that
should not be 911 calls. NO dispatcher ever let the Public know that
they were mad or angry though.
I have PERSONALLY made over a dozen of these types of call, and was
always helped in a very professional manner. I have found some
addresses that had problems, that were fixed by the phone company, and
most that were okay.
As I said you mileage may vary, but that is what I saw!


Posted by Warren on February 22, 2007, 8:27 pm
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f/fgeorge wrote:
> Warren I see we are just going to have to disagree here. I worked in a
> City that had over 100,000 people. I have been to areas that have over
> 400 square miles, I have been to Cities that have well over a million
> people, they ALL operated exactly the same way. Not a one had a plan
> that put fewer dispatchers on duty during any percieved "slack time".

That's very interesting.

Such a waste. Did they schedule police officers the same way? Just as many
on during slow periods as busy periods? Or was such lazy, wasteful
scheduling only in the call center?

Good, reliable workforce management software for call centers has been
available for over a decade, and there are not any private sector call
center I know of that doesn't do so. But then again, if they waste money,
it comes out of the bottom line. If your experience is common for publicly
funded call centers, then it is a very sorry testament for how our tax
dollars are wasted.

Now if we're talking about a call center that has only one person
answering the phone, of course workforce management software isn't going
to help. But as the call centers get bigger, and in my state, state law
(backed by state funding) strongly encourages only one 911 call center per
county, so in the counties with large urban population, there can be
anywhere from 5 to 25 operators on duty at any given time -- depending
upon the shift.

Do the math. How much would it cost to always have 25 operators on duty
when call volume on that shift never indicates a need for more than 5
operators on duty. How much money is that a week? How much for a year? How
can a call center manager justify NOT using workforce management software?
And these call centers certainly must have ACD switches that can provide
more than enough historic data to get the best results from workforce
management software. Set the parameters for a 100% service level with zero
wait time, and it's still going to come out with a more economical
scheduling model than just staffing the same way all the time, and perhaps
cut the call center's required budget by 25-50%. And that doesn't count
the savings in training by right-staffing instead of over-staffing the
center. That money could go towards better things, like more officers on
the street (at the times they're needed.)

This is elementary call center management theory. It's not some
new-fangled, untested idea. It's the way private sector call centers HAVE
to operate (because they don't have an endless stream of taxpayer money.)
And in a big city, the effect is going to be well into six - maybe even
seven - figures a year. Taxpayers should be outraged if this basic way of
managing labor costs is not employed in their area.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.

Maintain your landscape with Black & Decker:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blackanddecker





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