MetTel Launches Mobile Integration Via Channel

By Khali Henderson

Metropolitan Telecommunications (MetTel) announced  May 3 the addition of MetTel Mobile Integration, extending PBX functions to wireless devices. The new service is available for sell through its indirect sales channel

MetTel Mobile Integration provides employees with a single office and mobile phone number, combines office and mobile voicemail in a single mailbox and transfers calls seamlessly between the two devices. The new service also enables companies’ existing four-digit office extensions to be dialed on mobile devices.

customers need not change any of their office telephone numbers, equipment or service plans. The service does require that customers switch out their existing mobile devices but the company offers many handset options including the Express, an Android smartphone, provided at no charge as part of the MetTel Mobile Integration service package.

“Unlike many of the so-called fixed mobile convergence services on the market today that rely upon specific applications or Wi-Fi, MetTel Mobile Integration offers the reliability and security of a truly network-based converged solution,” said Max Silber, MetTel’s director of wireless services.

MetTel, a mobile virtual network operator, offers mobile integration using the Sprint wireless network. The company  told Channel Partners that completed a backend integration between MetTels Broadsoft platform and Sprints mobility platform, enabling call set-up signaling and route selection on a call-by-call basis, as well as seamless midcall transfer and unified voicemail.  As a full network-based deployment, MetTel said it can provision mobile integration services on any Sprint device, without the need to download  an application. In addition, it does not rely on Wi-Fi connections.

For U.S. businesses with international branch offices and customers around the world, MetTel’s Mobile Integration means international calls can be made at landline packaged rates thereby avoiding the high cost of mobile usage minutes. For retailers, provisioning communications for a new store will be as easy as handing employees mobile phones with all the features and functionality of the wired phones in well-established locations, Silber noted in a press statement.

MetTel has been offering mobile services since 2009, but revamped it portfolio in January 2012 in response to customers’ demand for improved mobile productivity. The company offers nationwide wireless voice and data plans, Mi-Fi wireless hotspots and advanced wireless solutions along with its proprietary MetOne telecom management software.

“What also makes our offering unique is our ability to combine the service with the advantages of our MetOne Software Suite,” said MetTel CEO Marshall Aronow, in a press statement. “These proprietary tools bring together every product and service from every carrier for every size customer and enable clients to manage expenditures from one simple, easy to use interface.”

MetTel agents are able to sell the mobile integration services as well as the entire portfolio of wireless services under their existing agency agreements. The wireless compensation plan includes upfront commissions on activation, as well as residual commission for the life of the contract. According to MetTel, the service is packaged in simple plan format, and requires minimal training to sell. No minimum customer size is required.

Founded in 1996 and based in New York City, MetTel resells other carrier networks and consolidates billing and customer care for customers in the United States and Canada.