Frequently Asked Questions
Rapid Telecoms is a software platform hosted in the Cloud. Think of it as an intelligent switch following the rules you set up on what to do when calls are made and received. We provide the glue between your phones (be they desk phones or our App on your smartphone) and the traditional network operators like Telkom, Vodacom, MTN and CellC. We use the internet as the pipe for connecting your phones to our servers so your phones can be anywhere in the world. You can move between offices, travel the globe – your extension will keep working so long as you have internet access. Our servers are located in South Africa’s biggest and best data centres as well as overseas so you get great quality and reliability.
Rapid Telecoms App | Mobile Only | |
---|---|---|
Unified communications bill across all employees | ✔ | ✘ |
Transfer calls to other extensions for free | ✔ | ✘ |
Route calls to your number based on schedules and IVR prompts | ✔ | ✘ |
Redirect calls to appropriate staff when people are on leave | ✔ | ✘ |
Record calls and store securely in the cloud | ✔ | ✘ |
Receive department calls while away from your desk | ✔ | ✘ |
Real time analysis and download of calls/spend | ✔ | ✘ |
No hassle if you loose your phone/SIM - get up and running on a different phone in minutes | ✔ | ✘ |
Make and receive calls anywhere in the world with WiFi as if at work. No roaming required. | ✔ | ✘ |
Make and receive calls | ✔ | ✔ |
Easily add additional staff and allocate them a direct dial number | ✔ | ✘ |
Dial out from the office number | ✔ | ✘ |
You will use about 1MB per minute of calling – pretty much the same as WhatsApp voice.
Each phone needs to know how to contact the phone system (our Rapid Telecoms servers in the cloud), what extension the phone should have, and a password so hackers can’t make calls and charge them to you. We have done our best to simplify the setup of VOIP phones so it can be done quickly and easily. Unfortunately, the process does depend on the exact make and model of your desk phone. Here are the instructions for common phones. If yours is not listed then contact us and we will add it immediately.
We are friends who worked in the large telecoms companies in Africa and decided to make a difference and use what we have learnt to “Uberise” the business telephony market. We want to disrupt the industry, starting in Africa and then take on the rest of the world. We have teams of people in Mauritius, India and South Africa giving us a great mix of skills and personalities!
Rapid Telecoms is a subsidiary of Rapid Group of Companies so for more details and the other work we do, see our other web site.
Yes! We rely on people just like you to spread the word and help us grow Rapid Telecoms. If you help us then why would we not help you? We can offer revenue share models and later on white label solutions. Go to our reseller section for more details.
If you ask this question then we are fulfilling our promise to you. We got sick and tired of all the complexity in setting up a new business and wanted to do our bit to make life simpler for us all. If you have any ideas on how to make your telephony even simpler then let us know!
Good Question! There is really no limit to how many outbound and inbound calls you can make at the same time. Even if you only have one phone number. Normally companies like to have more than 1 number so that they can use some numbers and set them up to directly ring on a certain extension. E.g. Your CEO could have a phone number that rings directly on their PA’s phone without ringing at the company secretary first.
The great thing about Rapid Telecoms is you can register and get started with one number and then add more as your needs evolve. If you don’t need a number any more you can remove it with 1 click in our online portal.
The Rapid Telecoms team are seasoned techies who have built some of the worlds leading telecoms platforms. We pride ourselves in building reliable and scalable solutions. If Rapid Telecoms breaks then trust us – we will be more upset than you. We understand how important telephony is to a business and do everything in our power to deliver on our promises.
All said, our goal is to never ever go down, and we work every day to achieve this.
The call quality depends on who you are calling and what your network connection is like between you and our servers in South Africa. Unless you are connected to the internet with a cup and string, we bet you will have excellent quality. When you call between your extensions we use the latest high definition voice as we don’t need to cater for the old telecoms networks. You will hear a pin drop!
To test our quality please register for free and try us out. No obligations!
Some people like having a traditional desk phone that they know is always there, powered up and good to go. Others are out on the move doing deals, meeting clients and never in one spot for long. We cater for both of you. You can connect your VOIP desk phone to Rapid Telecoms or use our App that gives you the functionality of your desk phone (and more) while being able to carry it in your pocket. Or you can use both – they will both ring when someone calls you and you can answer either.
You can register for free and try the App and see how it works. No upfront costs nor commitments.
We can help you port your phone numbers over to Rapid Telecoms so no need to update business cards, websites and company stationery! Register and give us a go and if you like what you see and want to port your numbers onto Rapid Telecoms then give us a shout.
Yes! You can port your phone numbers to Rapid Telecoms and never look back. Unfortunately porting requires a bit of documentation to get it done but it is well worth it. Contact us for more details and we will answer any specific questions you may have.
Register and give us a try. You will get instant access to our configuration portal and can see all the functionality at your disposal. We are adding new functionality every day so even if we don’t have something now, it will likely be added soon. We want to be sure that you get all that a typical business needs but not so much that it confuses you and makes you pull your hair out.
You can also contact us with any specific requirements and we will let you know if we support them or can do so in the near future. Our customers determine our roadmap!
Rapid Telecoms is perfect for companies from 1 to 1000 employees. We have solutions for very large call centres but those typically need lots of customisation and fall outside of the goals of what Rapid Telecoms can do for you. So if you are a typical company wanting to have some business lines, voicemail, call recording, transfer calls and make free calls internally then Rapid Telecoms is perfect.
Our prices are largely based on what the traditional telecoms companies charge us to send calls to their networks. If we could make then free, we would, but for now, we can’t.
Please go here to see more details on pricing.
You can register on Rapid Telecoms and try out the service for free – with no credit card details required. If you like it and want to continue then you will need a credit card in order to purchase more airtime for making more calls. At the end of each month we will check how many extensions and extra phone numbers you have added and charge your credit card accordingly (see here for detailed pricing). We prorate the charges so its all fair. If you add an extension at the end of the month you will only pay for the portion of the month.
If we can’t charge your credit card at the end of the month then we will keep trying and let you know if we give up and need to have a chat about it. We are human too!
You get a tax invoice by email each time you buy airtime or pay for your monthly extensions so your accountants will be happy.
No! Our software is based on global standards and we have 2 options for you (more to come – watch this space):
You can use pretty much any “VOIP” compatible desk phone. Common manufacturers are Snom, Bell, Ubiquity, Gigaset, Cisco, Yealink. If you are not sure if your existing phones will work then contact us and we will check for you.
We have an App for Android and Apple smartphones. Install it for free from your app store and our 1 step configuration wizard will have you calling in no time. Our App has no nasty advertising and won’t impact your normal GSM phone calls. It just gives your phone the ability to be connected to your mobile network and Rapid Telecoms at the same time.
You can move your extension between different phones and also have it on many phones at the same time (they will all ring and you can choose which one
We hate paperwork and manual labour! Our pricing is transparent and simple and our technology allows you to sign up and get going without anyone needing to manually set something up. Just sign up and control your spend. It’s that simple. If you feel that you do need someone to talk you through our pricing or provide more details then please contact us and we will get back to you ASAP.
Our technology and business model is focused on lowering our cost to serve so that you can get great service at a great price. Think Uber vs Metered Taxis! We cannot see how a competitor could beat our pricing – If they can then less us know and we will do something about it! For detailed pricing go to our pricing section
Simple. Try us! You can register for free and get enough credit to test a few calls and check the quality. As a thumb suck, we recommend at least a 3G connection with 3 bars or more. A fixed connection is better – if you have at least a 2Mbps ADSL or Fibre link then you can have great calls. If you are going to have lots of staff calling at the same time then you will need 1Mbps per 4 concurrent calls.