We’re hiring a VA that is overseas, and in order for the VA and us to be in the same call queue, answer the same inbound calls, transfer calls, etc.. They have to be connected to the same VoIP.ms pop server as us, ie: sanjose1.voip.ms.
However I know that Voip.MS has IP blocking enabled, and the VA will not have a static IP. How do we get some sort of workaround for this?
You can create multiple sub-account to do it?
It should not be a problem. Your VA should have its own sub-account.
As for the IP blocking, is it activated in your account (under Account Settings > Security) or are you referring to the general anti-fraud thing where voip.ms blocks calls when it thinks it might be abuse?
My take is that this “security” feature (which also annoys me a lot) is looking with a pretty wide mask that will usually ignore IP changes within the immediate same network group (like 255.255.255.0). Your VA should be fine. First time they connect they might need to authorize the new IP through the email alert, but if they’re working from a fixed location this should settle down pretty quickly after that.
It’s not like those of us roaming all the time with cell phones. A fixed location should be quite stable.
Another solution would be for your VA to use a VPN to your installations/location, if you have the hardware or setup already available for that.
Kind regards!
@aleclerc’s recommendation with a VPN works, otherwise you can use intl.voip.ms POP and get all your team on it. It was created for this exact usecase :-). I’ll make sure we document it better.
Edit: Now on https://wiki.voip.ms/article/Choosing_Server :
intl.voip.ms is intended for organizations whose team members are spread across both North America and international locations. Unlike region-specific servers, it is not tied to a single geographic region, making it the right choice when all agents need to register to the same server regardless of where they are located.
So I’m unclear on this, as I was told that we cannot transfer calls or do extension to extension calling if we aren’t all registered on the same server. So am I correct in reading this that I would have to reconfigure the entire company over to the intl server in order to have one VA be able to answer and transfer calls?
The ping time differential between our present server and the intl.voip.ms is 7x slower. I’m concerned about latency and call quality due to the much slower ping times with intl.
You’re correct in the sense that all need to be registered on the same server, hence why we created intl.voip.ms. What’s the ping time you’re getting on intl vs. sanjose1?
sanjose, 8ms, Intl, 69ms.
If that 69-70 ms ping is stable, I don’t think anyone would notice any difference to be fair. Actually, even with latency >100 ms, call quality is typically still perfectly fine.
that’s domestically.. Add another 6000+ miles away and the latency goes to 190… so there’s a problem between intl and domestic servers having drastically different ping times.
@DavidR looking for a response please?
Hi, I sent you a DM with my contact infos so we stop the ping pong!