Recently updated
Updated September 10, 2026
The Do Not Call list, explainedUpdated September 10, 2026
Is a cloud phone system a PBX?Updated September 9, 2026
A phone tree template that worksUpdated September 9, 2026
Auto attendant mistakes that lose callersUpdated September 9, 2026
Drummondville business phone: 819, not 514Updated September 9, 2026
Gatineau business phone: 819 or Ottawa's 613All posts, by topic
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
- How much does VoIP cost per user?
- What a VoIP quote should itemize
- How much bandwidth does VoIP need?
- How much storage do call recordings need?
- The true cost of a business phone system
- Surprise phone bill: toll fraud and a ceiling
- Cloud phone system for a Quebec SME: the trade
Numbers and porting
Getting a business number, and moving an existing one without losing calls.
- What a free phone number costs you
- How to get a second business number
- How to get a toll-free number
- Toll-free or local: which number to use
- A virtual phone number for a business
- What a toll-free number actually means
- What is a virtual phone number?
- A valid number is not an active line
- Moving your business number to another provider
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
- Gatineau business phone: 819 or Ottawa's 613
- Business phone in Laval: 450, not 514
- Longueuil business phone: 450, 579, 354
- Montréal business phone: 514, 438, 263
- Business phone in Québec City: 418, 581, 367
- Business phone in Saguenay: what 418 covers
- Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu: 450 and Montréal
- Business phone in Sherbrooke: 819 in Estrie
- Terrebonne and the 450: a ring, not a suburb
- Business phone in Lévis: one code, both shores
- Business phone in Trois-Rivières: what 819 says
- Quebec area codes for a local business number
Call flows and IVR
Auto-attendants, menus, business hours and the routing behind them.
- A phone tree template that works
- Auto attendant mistakes that lose callers
- What is an auto attendant?
- Why clock changes leave holes in phone coverage
- How to find the dead ends in your phone menu
- The six messages a phone line needs
- Why your phone system rejects your greeting
- After-hours call handling: three honest options
- Change your auto attendant menu yourself
- Business hours and holidays in one call flow
- Small-business voicemail: where a message goes
- Unexpected closure: the snow-day phone message
- Building an auto-attendant callers stay on
- French-first IVR that still serves anglophones
- How long may the “for English” message be?
- Quebec statutory holidays in call routing
Queues and routing
Skills-based routing, waiting callers, and what a queue can and cannot do.
Transfer, hold and conference
The mechanics of moving a live call: assisted transfer, hold, and three-way merge.
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)
- Law 25 and a breach involving call records
- Law 96 and your phone system: greeting and menu
- Recording announcements in Quebec: what to say
- Serving Quebec from outside: Law 25 and 96
- Five things Law 25 asks of a phone system (2026)
- Where your call data lives under Law 25
Migrating from a PBX
Moving off an on-premise system or a Centrex line, and what breaks if you rush it.
Accounts and access
Who can sign in, what each person may see and do, and what happens to an account when somebody leaves.
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?
- How a VoIP call actually travels
- Types of VoIP phone systems
- VoIP meaning, in plain English
- VoIP vs cell phone for a business line
- VoIP vs landline for a business
- Is a cloud phone system a PBX?
- What is a VoIP phone?
- What is VoIP, and how does it work?
- What is VoIP phone service?
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.
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
- How caller ID actually works
- How to block unwanted calls
- How to scrub a calling list
- Screening calls without losing customers
- The Do Not Call list, explained
- What a robocall is, and which are legal
- What do-not-call rules ask of your business
- Why you get so many spam calls
- Why your business name shows up wrong
SIP and networks
SIP trunking, SIP ALG, bandwidth and quality of service: the plumbing under a phone system, and what breaks it.
