Our Features
The account management features shown here are also available to you and free to set up, but they have to be managed on our end. Give us a call and we’ll get it sorted out for you.
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require contacting us to change your account settings. There is no charge for this, but we assume no responsibility for service disruptions resulting from features you configured incorrectly before asking us to apply them. We do not verify the settings you provide to us.Standard Features
Dynamically filter calls based on their Caller ID and assign routing rules, including what to do if the line returns busy, unavailable or unreachable.
Use this feature to block numbers you do not want to hear from (such as telemarketers or spam callers), or ensure known numbers are routed to the correct place.
For example, if you frequently receive calls from a family member, you can assign a Caller ID Filter so that if they call and you do not answer the phone, the call is automatically forwarded to your cell phone. All other calls go to your voicemail.
Three Layer Solutions can help you block robocalls using a simple digital menu challenge. Whenever calls are placed to your number, the caller is asked to enter a number in order to complete the call. Automated calls will almost always fail this challenge, while real callers can connect with only one button press.
Using Caller ID filtering, you can whitelist numbers you trust, like family in friends. You can make a phone book group called “Whitelist” and add all the numbers you know are from real callers, and filter their Caller IDs to skip the menu challenge.
Please note that in order for the Robocall Blocking to work properly, the call is immediately answered to present the challenge; the call will start billing as soon as the system presents the challenge, and will stop billing when the call ends.
Call Forwarding allows you to route calls placed to your phone number to another phone number. If you know you will be away from home but still want to receive calls, you can forward calls to your cell phone to take calls without having access to your home phone.
Please note that when forwarding calls, you are billed for both the incoming call and the outgoing call. For example, if you forward a call to your cell phone, you would be billed 1.53¢ per minute for the incoming call, and another 1.53¢ per minute for the outgoing call to your cell phone. The specific rates depend on your plan.
You can create up to 99 phone book entries, with each one assigned a unique speed dial code. Dialing this code from your phone connects you to the number in the corresponding phone book entry.
You can also assign phone book groups, such as specific groups for family, friends, or clients. By creating a “Whitelist” group, you can allow calls from certain people while blocking others, or a “Blacklist” group that blocks calls from certain numbers while allowing others.
You can upload custom recordings to use for your voicemail greeting, digital menus, audio conferences, and more. There are specific technical limitations listed in the “Recordings” section of your customer portal.
If you have multiple devices at home, each registered to a different subaccount, you can set up a Ring Group so that all the devices ring at once.
Using Time Conditions, you can customize how calls are routed based on when the call is placed.
For example, if you do not want your phone to ring after midnight, you can set up time conditions to automatically route calls to voicemail between 12am and 6am.
Have your voicemail automatically saved as an audio file and sent as an attachment to your e-mail address.
Enhanced 9-1-1 service automatically provides a 9-1-1 operator with the address you set in your customer portal.
This feature is disabled by default and will not work until activated by the customer. There is a $2.00 monthly fee for E9-1-1 service, but we include that in the pricing above. We make no money from this charge; the service is provided at-cost.
You should understand how 9-1-1 works with VoIP systems before you sign up. An information package will be included with your contract, but you can find the information at threelayer.ca/911.
You can send and receive SMS and MMS messages with your phone number. You can access messages on a compatible device (some business-grade desk phones offer this feature), or through the SMS/MMS menu in your customer portal.
Please note that while the feature itself is free, there is a 2¢ fee per SMS (both sent and received) and a 4¢ fee per MMS.
Easily add a third person to your calls on devices that support three-way calling.
Please note that you will be billed for two incoming calls if a third person joins the call.
If a call is placed to your number while your are on the phone, you will receive a notification (on compatible devices). You can place the active call on hold and accept the new call.
In your customer portal, you can view a detailed record of all calls placed to and from your phone numbers. These can be filtered by call type (incoming vs outgoing, local vs international, etc), call billing (paid vs free), and whether the call was answered, busy, or failed.
While you cannot generate invoices from the customer portal, send us an e-mail and we will generate an invoice for you if you need one.
All calls between Three Layer Solutions customers are FREE! If you refer friends and family who you frequently call, not only are you eligible for our referral credit, but calls between you are on us.
Free calling does not apply to extra charges from SMS/MMS, call forwarding, audio conferencing, or any other services that incur charges unrelated to the connection of the call itself.
Advanced Features
If you want to place a call but you do not have access to a VoIP device, we can set up a Callback entry on your phone number to remotely place calls from your account. If you call your home phone number from a separate device, the system will call you back on that device and allow you to dial out using your account.
DISA, or Direct Inward System Access, allows you to make calls from your account by dialing in from an outside device. This is similar to Callback, except instead of the system calling you to dial out, you call the system and will be presented with a dial tone.
Please note that you will be billed for two calls: in the case of DISA, one incoming call from your device, and one outgoing call from your account; for Callback, one outgoing call to your cell phone, and another outgoing call from your account to the number you are trying to call.
IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, is a digital menu that presents the caller with options and routes the call to different locations depending on caller input.
Calling Queues consist of agents who log in to the queue to receive calls, and callers who are placed on hold until an agent is available to take the call.
Voicemail Transcription allows you to have your voicemail transcribed, and the resulting transcription saved to your account and sent to you through e-mail.
Please note that there is a 7.8¢ per minute fee for call transcription.
Using a dedicated fax number, you can send and receive faxes from your account.
Faxes can be sent and received virtually through your account, with incoming faxes routed to your e-mail. Documents you want to send can be scanned and uploaded, then sent as a virtual fax through your customer portal.
To use a physical fax machine, you will need a fax machine and ATA with T.38 support. The ATAs we provide our customers have this functionality, but they need to be configured specifically for this purpose.
Voice numbers cannot be used for fax; you must order a dedicated fax number.
Please note that fax numbers have a fixed fee of $4.00 per month and 8¢ per minute.
Make calls with crystal-clear HD audio to other Three Layer Solutions customers on supported devices.
You can add custom hold music to your account. Music needs to be uploaded in “Recordings” first.
By using custom music, you affirm that you have the rights to use the content you upload. Three Layer Solutions assumes no responsibility for the content you use on your account.
Sequences are an IVR feature that allows you to pre-program specific sequences of recordings and commands.
For example, if you live in an apartment building with controlled access, you can set up the intercom system to route to an IVR menu that gives guests the option to connect to your phone number, or enter a passcode that automatically sends the “open door” command from your number, allowing the guests in. Then, you can have the system send you an SMS informing you that the door was opened.
Call Hunting works like Ring Groups, except instead of ringing all the accounts at once, it will ring those accounts in a specified order until one of the accounts picks up the call. If none of the accounts accepts, the call will be routed to the failover options specified in your account.
You can record calls, both incoming and outgoing. Recordings are stored in your account and can be downloaded as audio files, sent as e-mail attachments, or deleted.
Please note that call recordings have a fee of 0.5¢ per minute.
While Three Layer Solutions offers the ability to record calls, it is important that you are aware of the laws regarding the notice and notification requirements, legality, and use of such recorded conversations. By requesting use of the call recordings feature, you affirm that you will use the feature for legal purposes, and you agree to be solely responsible for complying with all laws and regulations that apply to you.
Create your own private Audio Conferencing room! Users dial into the conference room and are bridged together in one conversation. The host is provided with a dashboard monitor that allows control over different aspects of the call in real time.
While there is no charge for the audio conferencing feature, each conference member will be billed as a separate inbound call at standard rates.
Customize how your calls are routed in case your number is busy, unreachable, or there is no answer.
For example, you can set your failover options to automatically forward calls to your cell phone if there is no answer, or go directly to voicemail if the line is busy.
Account Features
Need a second phone number? A third? Maybe a seventeenth phone number, for some reason (a good one, hopefully).
No problem! You can, in fact, have as many phone numbers as you want… within reason. There are a finite number of phone numbers in existence, so you can’t have all of them, but we can certainly try to get you as many as you need.
Extra phone numbers are billed separately, but you don’t necessarily need a separate plan. Give us a call to discuss your situation and we will make it work.
Customize the allowed calling areas for your account. Countries can be individually allowed or forbidden to prevent accidental long distance calls.
Certain destinations are blocked by default. We do not offer origination or termination services for Egypt, India, Lebanon, Macedonia, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, there is a list of forbidden dial codes in our terms of service.
Seen enough?
Create an account by clicking the button below and we will contact you to activate your services!
How It Works
We here at Three Layer Solutions think communications networks are pretty cool, so let’s talk about how our service works and why you need this fancy hardware in the first place:
Typically, you are connected directly to the Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN. You get your phone service from a PSTN carrier, who manages the infrastructure, call routing, and all the other technical stuff we take for granted. Your phone calls travel along telephone lines to your home, where you plug your phone directly into a dedicated phone jack.
Three Layer Solutions offers Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. This is not traditional telephone service — signals are carried over the internet instead of dedicated phone lines. This saves a whole lot of money, and gives easy access to virtually unlimited customization. However, you may have noticed that RJ-11 phone plugs are much smaller than the connectors you use to connect devices to the internet. Enter the Analog Telephone Adapter, or ATA: the little device that manages your connection to the VoIP network.
In this new diagram we’ve added three links to the chain. Let’s dive into how it works!
Your ATA at home has three functions:
- Maintain registration with our servers
- Capture incoming and outgoing calls
- Translate between analog and digital signals
Below we will illustrate these three functions.
Function 1: Registration
VoIP relies on a standard called the Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP. SIP is an incredibly interesting topic on its own, but for our purposes we are mostly concerned with its efficiency. Bandwidth is expensive, and keeping a channel open all the time is a waste — just like how a separate, always-connected telephone line is a waste! If there is nobody trying to call you, why do we need to have an open connection between your phone and our network?
This is where SIP registration comes in; we don’t need to be talking to your device all the time, we just need to know how to reach your device when necessary. Just like sending mail to a physical address, your home router has an IP address where all your internet traffic is routed by your internet service provider. Thus, your ATA sends a short message to our servers every five minutes that simply says “Hello, I am sending this message from account 1234. Here is my IP address.” Short and sweet, gives us all the information we need to connect calls to you, and saves room for other more important traffic to get through!
Function 2: Packet Capture
Okay, your device is registered and our servers know where to send all the data. Great! Now what?
If someone calls you, they’re really calling Three Layer Solutions. However, your phone number is mapped to your account with us, so when a call comes to your phone number, our servers will send a SIP INVITE to the IP address we received from your SIP registration. This request is exactly what it sounds like — the server invites your home ATA to join the call!
Of course, you need to be available to take the call, and so your ATA will tell your home phone to ring. Once you pick up the phone, the ATA will inform the server that it is ready to connect, and the call begins.
If the call is not picked up in a certain amount of time (which you can set in your account), the ATA will return a failure code that informs the server the recipient was not available.
Function 3: Analog/Digital Conversion
The last function of the ATA is the convert from digital to analog signals. The little packets of data sent between the ATA and our servers are not audio signals, and trying to play them through a speaker would not be a pleasant experience. Instead, those packets are translated to analog electrical signals and sent to your phone, which uses those signals to produce sound. Similarly, from your end of the call, your phone captures your voice and turns the sound into electrical signals. Those electrical signals reach the ATA, and are then translated into data packets and sent over the internet.