🛡Phone: costs, emergency calls, privacy

You do, as before: to your phone provider, at your existing tariff. Every outgoing call runs over your connection and appears on your usual phone bill.

Aurora Hive does not sell call minutes or phone numbers. Internal calls between extensions and the echo test only go through the exchange and cost nothing at the provider.

If you want to know what a call cost, ask your provider; the call history shows duration and destination, but no prices.

By default, the exchange only lets calls out to German landline and mobile numbers. Blocked are:

• International numbers — anything starting with 00 or + that does not go to Germany.
• Premium-rate and special numbers such as 0900, 0137, 0138, 0180, 0190, 0700 and 118 directory services.

The reason is toll fraud: anyone misusing someone else’s access almost always calls expensive international or premium-rate numbers. The block limits the damage, even if a password is ever lost.

An admin can enable them in the Connection tab, separately for international and premium-rate numbers. The setting applies to all extensions of the business. Only enable what you really need.

Yes. 110 and 112 — as well as 115, 116116 and 116117 — are exempt from all blocks and always go out over your business’s connection. Without a connection set up, you hear an announcement; no emergency call goes out then.

What matters is which location reaches the control centre: that of your connection, not that of your browser.

• Route A (with the provider): your provider transmits the address it holds for the connection. Keep it up to date.
• Route B (FRITZ!Box or phone system): the emergency call goes out over the connection at the location of the FRITZ!Box or phone system.

So anyone dialling 112 through Aurora Hive while working from home or on the move is placed at the company location. In that case, always tell the control centre yourself where you are.

And: the browser phone needs an open browser, power and internet. For emergency calls, a landline or mobile phone is the safe choice.

What is stored is that a call took place — not what was said.

• Per call: direction, the other party’s number, extension or person, start time and duration. This is the call history; it is kept in your instance.
• No recording. Calls are not recorded; there is no function for it.
• Credentials for your connection are stored encrypted and are no longer displayed after saving.

The exchange runs on rented servers at IONOS in Berlin. Between browser and exchange, registration and speech are encrypted — including on the fallback path over port 443 when a company network blocks the usual path. From the exchange to the provider, encryption depends on whether your provider offers it.

Your call data is also held by your phone provider, as with any phone call.