COVID-19 Updates.

Our employees will survey customers prior to their appointment confirmation. Customers will be asked if they are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (for example, fever or coughing) and if they have travelled within 14 days prior to the appointment date. These same rules will be respected by our employees.

Masks will be provided to all our employees, and wearing them will be mandatory. All personal protective equipment will be put on after employees wash their hands with a hydroalcoholic solution at the customer's business location. Once the visit is complete, all personal protection equipment will be disposed of.

Our employees’ primary method of communication with customers will be through video call. If required, we can accommodate customers with in-person meetings. Our employees will always respect the 6 feet (2 metres) social distancing measure. To reduce the risk of transmission even further, they will  minimize the time spent at our customer’s location and only bring necessary equipment.

Our audio conference feature is available upon subscription for all of our phone customers. If you would like to add this feature, please call our Business Client Care Service at 1-877-846-7863. Get ready to host audio conferences with up to 200 participants. To do so, please follow the set-up instructions.

To use the Call Forwarding feature, you must be a Call Forwarding subscriber.

Your calls can be redirected to any number where you can be reached – to your cell phone, to someone answering your calls or even to your Voice Mail.

• To activate Call Forwarding from your business phone, dial *72 followed by the 10-digit number you wish to forward your calls to.
• To deactivate Call Forwarding from your business phone, dial *73.

Get ready to host audio conferences with up to 200 participants by following these Quick Start Guide set-up instructions.

Your Cogeco Hosted PBX phone service can be used to make or receive calls from your desk phone, your PC or your mobile devices. To get started and download the applications, follow these set-up instructions.

From your HPBX portal, you can configure call forwarding to transfer calls made to your phone extension to another internal extension or an external number (e.g., cell).

You will then have the choice to save your extension or external number in a list or to use the temporary number option for your call forwarding.

If you are not using the HPBX portal, here is an alternative method:

• To activate Call Forwarding from your business phone, dial *72 followed by the 10-digit number you wish to forward your calls to.
• To deactivate Call Forwarding from your business phone, dial *73

* This feature may not be enabled for your business.

Definition: The attendants feature allows you to manage your automated switchboard operator. There are three elements that define it: an announcement (i.e. a greeting), a menu and a schedule. The message is what will be heard by the caller. e.g.: when we call on your main number, there is a message that says: Hello, welcome to the Y company, to join the service dial 1, for administration dial 2 and so on.

Click on the Open Reception Settings button.

Follow the steps described in order to record your announcement through the site or by voice mailbox.

Configuring your greeting message

In the desired menu, click on the button record.

From this window, choose the action to follow: Record/Play announcement or upload announcement

To record an announcement using the computer microphone, select the Record/Play announcement option. Then press the red button to start recording. After completing the recording, please press the stop button. You can listen to the recording by pressing the play button. If the recording is correct, press the save button. In order to upload the file of a pre-recorded announcement, please select the Upload announcement option from the drop-down menu. You will then be able to choose the file to upload using the Choose File option, and upload it using the Upload button.

The announcement to be uploaded must meet one of the following standards before uploading it:

G711 WAV (8-bit, uLaw or aLaw, 8KHz) 16-bit PCM WAV (16-bit, PCM, mono, 16KHz).

Quick Tip

You can also record your announcement by calling a voicemail box with an e-mail reception function and upload the message in the desired menu.

Example: your telephone extension receives voicemail messages by email, you call your extension internally or externally, and you leave your desired company announcement when your voicemail beeps. Then, you download the audio message from your email to your computer and upload it to the appropriate section of the portal.

There are many tools you can use to make your video conferences secure, here are some of them:

1. Set up password requirements
   When scheduling a meeting, you can create a password that participants will need to join the meeting. For maximum protection, avoid weak passwords (for example: 1234).
2. Prevent attendees from joining the conference before the host
   You can prevent uninvited guests from joining your meeting before the host arrives by ensuring that the 'Allow Join Before Host' feature is disabled.
   • Here is how to access these features on desktop:
     
   • Here is how to access these features on mobile devices:
     
3. Stay on top of the meeting with the different host control options. 
   • Lock the meeting to prevent uninvited guests from joining, and enable an Enter/Exit chime to notify you whenever a new attendee joins the meeting.
     
   • Keep control by restricting who can share their screen during the meeting.
     
   • These features are also available on mobile devices.
     

The Messages and Calls tab in the Hosted PBX Customer Portal Home page displays all recent call activity. Here you can retrieve voicemails and view calls based on whether they were missed, received, dialed, or deleted.

Click the ‘play’ arrow button to listen to a voicemail. Note that you can listen to your voicemails in any order. A window (as shown over the Messages and Calls screen) will open to display the Voicemail player where you can listen to and manage the message. Click the ‘New Voicemail’ button at the top of the page to record and leave a voicemail as a memo (your computer must have a microphone to use this function).

The Messaging Settings page, accessed from the panel at the bottom of the Hosted PBX Customer Portal Home page, enables you to control how your messages are processed. For example, you can manage mailbox settings, customize your voicemail notifications, configure greetings and more. By using Voicemail Greetings, you can personalize your voicemail greeting with a recording (a microphone is required).

As per the guidance from the Canadian government and for the protection of our employees and customers, we will favor self installation product options moving forward.  We offer a large number of services available via a self-install setup.

We also have adapted our processes to keep you connected by completing our installation and repair work outside of your business.

Malicious organizations and individuals may take advantage of the collective fear and misinformation to increase their criminal activities through phishing attacks using COVID-19 as bait.

How it works

Cyber attackers send an email, a text message or even make phone calls claiming to be from a legitimate organization with information regarding COVID-19. They will ask you to share your personal information or send your money somewhere. 

What is phishing?

Phishing is a technique used to extort confidential information such as passwords or credit card numbers.

Phishers use emails, phone calls or text messages to pretend to represent companies you trust and ask you to provide confidential/financial information or access your account.

In some cases, an email is sent informing you that your account will be deactivated if you do not confirm your personal information quickly. The e-mail will contain a link to your business’ bank or a reputable business for you to reactivate your account. In reality, this link will lead to a fake, but convincing web page.

How do I know if I’ve received a phishing attempt?

It is likely a phishing attempt if the email is sent from a company with which you do business, and:

• Asks you to update financial information quickly.
• Threatens to deactivate your account if you don’t update your information or comply with their request.
• Mentions that your financial information was updated or a payment was not received. The email will also ask you to confirm your financial information.
• Uses poor vocabulary.

Check for “red flags” in a phone call: 

If you receive an unexpected and suspicious phone call, take a moment to ask yourself if the caller is requesting personal or sensitive information, putting pressure on you, or if something else seems off.  Canadians who receive these calls can help stop them by reporting them to the RCMP Anti-Fraud Centre either online or at 1-888-495-8501.

What we recommend

• Use recommended antivirus and antimalware software on your devices and update them regularly. If you are a Cogeco Business Internet customer, activate your included security licences.
• Apply updates to your devices and their applications. 

Please note that Cogeco will never ask you to confirm confidential/financial information by email. It is also important to never click on a hyperlink or reply to an email that asks you for personal information.

If, however, you receive a suspicious email that seems to be from Cogeco, please forward it to [email protected]. Delete the email after you have forwarded it. If you are unsure of the nature of the email, please call us at 1-844-217-9583.

Please call our Business Client Care Service, from Monday to Friday, between 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., or on Saturday, between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m at 1-877-846-7863.

Cogeco Business Solutions is committed to helping businesses stay connected. If you are experiencing a network outage in your area, please report it by calling us at 1-855-440-5602, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.