Call flows and IVR
A phone tree template that works
A copyable menu: one greeting, three options and four exits, with the wording written out. What to change, what to leave, and where each line has to land.
The Inbound CX blog
Notes on routing, queueing and call control, written from the code that runs Inbound CX, not from a content calendar.
Latest
Spam and call blocking
The Do Not Call list, explained
How to register your number, what the list stops within 31 days, the long list of calls it never covered, and what the same registry asks of a business.
Updated · 6 min read
VoIP basics
Is a cloud phone system a PBX?
PBX named a switch in a cupboard, and the word outlived the hardware. What cloud PBX and hosted PBX mean on a quote, and the questions that settle it.
Updated · 4 min read
Call flows and IVR
Auto attendant mistakes that lose callers
Five failures in menus that are wired correctly: too many options, no way to a person, department names, a key that cannot help, a greeting that rambles.
· 8 min read
Quebec area codes
Drummondville business phone: 819, not 514
Drummondville is issued 819, 873 or 468, and the 450 family starts an hour west. Where that boundary is real, where it is not, and what it costs to ignore it.
· 3 min read
Quebec area codes
Gatineau business phone: 819 or Ottawa's 613
Gatineau is 819, 873 and 468; Ottawa across the river is 613. One business, two numbering territories: which number to publish and what each one signals.
· 4 min read
Quebec area codes
Business phone in Laval: 450, not 514
Laval is in the 450 family, not the 514 one. Where that mistake comes from, where it shows up in your own records, and what it costs to leave it.
· 3 min read
All articles, by topic
Call flows and IVR
Auto-attendants, menus, business hours and the routing behind them.
- A phone tree template that works · 6 min read
- Auto attendant mistakes that lose callers · 8 min read
- What is an auto attendant? · 5 min read
- Why clock changes leave holes in phone coverage · 6 min read
- How to find the dead ends in your phone menu · 5 min read
- The six messages a phone line needs · 6 min read
- Why your phone system rejects your greeting · 7 min read
- After-hours call handling: three honest options · 5 min read
- Change your auto attendant menu yourself · 5 min read
- Business hours and holidays in one call flow · 4 min read
- Small-business voicemail: where a message goes · 4 min read
- Unexpected closure: the snow-day phone message · 4 min read
- Building an auto-attendant callers stay on · 3 min read
- French-first IVR that still serves anglophones · 3 min read
- How long may the “for English” message be? · 3 min read
- Quebec statutory holidays in call routing · 3 min read
Queues and routing
Skills-based routing, waiting callers, and what a queue can and cannot do.
- What missed calls are actually worth · 7 min read
- How many people do you need to answer calls? · 7 min read
- Call centre software for a five-person team · 4 min read
- Missed calls while everyone is with a customer · 4 min read
- One number for sales, service and billing · 4 min read
- Call queues and skills-based routing in Quebec · 3 min read
Transfer, hold and conference
The mechanics of moving a live call: assisted transfer, hold, and three-way merge.
- Call forwarding on an iPhone · 5 min read
- Call forwarding star codes explained · 5 min read
- The four types of call forwarding · 6 min read
- How call forwarding actually works · 6 min read
- Assisted transfer, hold and conference · 2 min read
- Why call transfers drop, and what fixes it · 4 min read
Accounts and access
Who can sign in, what each person may see and do, and what happens to an account when somebody leaves.
- Remove an employee's phone system access · 4 min read
Softphones and apps
Making and taking calls from a computer or a phone: what a softphone is, what it needs, and when a desk phone still wins.
- Headsets that work with a softphone · 7 min read
- Softphone audio problems, and the fixes · 7 min read
- Softphone vs desk phone: the real trade · 7 min read
- What is a softphone? · 7 min read
- What to look for in a softphone app · 7 min read
Numbers and porting
Getting a business number, and moving an existing one without losing calls.
- What a free phone number costs you · 4 min read
- How to get a second business number · 4 min read
- How to get a toll-free number · 5 min read
- Toll-free or local: which number to use · 4 min read
- A virtual phone number for a business · 4 min read
- What a toll-free number actually means · 4 min read
- What is a virtual phone number? · 5 min read
- A valid number is not an active line · 4 min read
- Moving your business number to another provider · 3 min read
Quebec area codes
The 418, 819, 450 and 514 families: which regions each covers and what that means for a business line.
- Drummondville business phone: 819, not 514 · 3 min read
- Gatineau business phone: 819 or Ottawa's 613 · 4 min read
- Business phone in Laval: 450, not 514 · 3 min read
- Longueuil business phone: 450, 579, 354 · 3 min read
- Montréal business phone: 514, 438, 263 · 3 min read
- Business phone in Québec City: 418, 581, 367 · 3 min read
- Business phone in Saguenay: what 418 covers · 3 min read
- Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu: 450 and Montréal · 3 min read
- Business phone in Sherbrooke: 819 in Estrie · 4 min read
- Terrebonne and the 450: a ring, not a suburb · 3 min read
- Business phone in Lévis: one code, both shores · 2 min read
- Business phone in Trois-Rivières: what 819 says · 2 min read
- Quebec area codes for a local business number · 3 min read
Law 25 and Law 96
What Quebec's privacy and language statutes ask of a phone system, and what they do not.
- Yes, you can record a call in Quebec (2026) · 6 min read
- Law 25 and a breach involving call records · 3 min read
- Law 96 and your phone system: greeting and menu · 4 min read
- Recording announcements in Quebec: what to say · 4 min read
- Serving Quebec from outside: Law 25 and 96 · 3 min read
- Five things Law 25 asks of a phone system (2026) · 3 min read
- Where your call data lives under Law 25 · 3 min read
Spam and call blocking
Caller ID, unwanted calls and do-not-call obligations, from the point of view of the business placing and answering the calls.
- Caller ID lookup: what it can tell you · 7 min read
- How caller ID actually works · 7 min read
- How to block unwanted calls · 4 min read
- How to scrub a calling list · 5 min read
- Screening calls without losing customers · 6 min read
- The Do Not Call list, explained · 6 min read
- What a robocall is, and which are legal · 5 min read
- What do-not-call rules ask of your business · 6 min read
- Why you get so many spam calls · 5 min read
- Why your business name shows up wrong · 6 min read
Cloud telephony
What a cloud phone system is, what it replaces, and what it costs to run one in Quebec.
- Hidden costs in a VoIP contract · 6 min read
- How much does VoIP cost per user? · 6 min read
- What a VoIP quote should itemize · 6 min read
- How much bandwidth does VoIP need? · 6 min read
- How much storage do call recordings need? · 6 min read
- The true cost of a business phone system · 6 min read
- Surprise phone bill: toll fraud and a ceiling · 4 min read
- Cloud phone system for a Quebec SME: the trade · 2 min read
Migrating from a PBX
Moving off an on-premise system or a Centrex line, and what breaks if you rush it.
- How to replace an aging PBX · 10 min read
- On-premise PBX vs a cloud phone system · 6 min read
- What is a PBX phone system? · 6 min read
- What to do with your old desk phones · 7 min read
- Migrating from a PBX or Centrex line, safely · 3 min read
VoIP basics
What VoIP is, how a call actually travels over the internet, and how it differs from a landline or a mobile.
- Does VoIP work without internet? · 6 min read
- How a VoIP call actually travels · 5 min read
- Types of VoIP phone systems · 5 min read
- VoIP meaning, in plain English · 4 min read
- VoIP vs cell phone for a business line · 5 min read
- VoIP vs landline for a business · 6 min read
- Is a cloud phone system a PBX? · 4 min read
- What is a VoIP phone? · 5 min read
- What is VoIP, and how does it work? · 6 min read
- What is VoIP phone service? · 5 min read
SIP and networks
SIP trunking, SIP ALG, bandwidth and quality of service: the plumbing under a phone system, and what breaks it.
- How many SIP trunks do you need? · 6 min read
- Network settings that break VoIP audio · 7 min read
- SIP ALG: why to turn it off · 7 min read
- What happens when your internet drops · 7 min read
- What is SIP trunking, and do you need it? · 7 min read
- Why your VoIP phone will not register · 8 min read
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