What is a Phone System?
A phone system serves to connect devices,
usually telephones or other systems, together. Calls are
routed (or passed) through one or more systems and make
their way from point A to point B. If snippets of conversation
were cars, then a phone system could be thought of as the
roadways on which they travel.
Just as roads come in many forms, telephone systems of different
types exist. Generally systems are categorized into three
different categories:
PBX or Private Branch Exchange
Systems are the superhighways of the phone system
world. They route a large number of calls and are generally
used by telephone service providers, and by very large corporate
buildings. Your company should consider a PBX type system
if you require several hundred telephones in a single location.
Like a superhighway, PBX systems are very expensive; pricing
on true PBX systems will generally start in the mid tens
of thousands of dollars and range into the hundreds of thousands.
Key Systems are the
smaller brother of the PBX. In our roadway analogy Key systems
might be thought of as regular roadways. Key systems route
a smaller number of calls then a PBX, just as the road that
leads to the highway handles less traffic then the highway
itself. Excepting their suitability for smaller locations,
Key systems offer features equivalent to those which a PBX
provides. Key systems are generally much more economic then
PBX systems, and tend to be used by businesses who need
4 or more phones. Both Key and PBX systems require a central
point of control, or cabinet.
A third type of system, sometimes called the
Independent Keyset also exists. This is the dirt
road of the traffic world, providing limited functionality
at a minimal cost. This type of system does not allow more
then 4 phones, and does not provide nor allow for many of
the features offered with Key or PBX systems.
What Phone System
Size and Features should I look For?
Determining a phone system that’s
right for your company will come down to two factors; the
size of the system you need and the functionality you require.
Phone System Size
is usually given by the
number of lines, or connections to the phone company
it will support, and the
number of extensions,
or telephones it will handle. Knowing the size of system
you require greatly narrows the possibilities.
Extensions are generally
the easier criteria to determine – you will need an extension
for each phone, or about one per employee.
Lines are sometimes
a bit more difficult – usually companies want a line for
every two or three phones. With some larger Key and PBX
maximum system size is given in
Ports rather than
in lines and extensions – a port is a line or extension.
Phone systems provide their current size in the notation
Lines x Phones for example a 6x16 system comes with support
for six lines and sixteen phones. Smaller systems generally
come at a fixed size; a 3x8 (pronounced three-oh-eight)
is expandable to no more than 3 lines and 8 phone, similarly
with a 6x16 (six-sixteen) and an 8x24 (eight-twenty-four).
Larger ICS or “Integrated Communications Systems” start
at a fixed number of extensions but allow additional cards
to be added to handle more lines or phones; the CICS (Kicks)
for instance starts at 0x16, and the MICS (Micks) starts
at 0x32.
There are not one but two size timeframes you should consider,
the size your company is today, and the size you might be
several years from now. If you will never grow past 3 lines
and 8 phones a 3x8 is a very economic system for your company.
Conversely if a 3x8 will work today but you plan on growing
substantially, then a larger cabinet will often be more
economic then a later upgrade.
Phone System Features
are the functionalities you want to be provided by the phone
system. First and foremost most of the features that you
would expect a system to support are built into almost all
Key and PBX systems. The systems listed above (Norstar 3x8,
6x16, 8x24, CICS, and MICS) all have included support for
over 200 built in features like conferencing, intercom,
paging, and call forwarding as well as music on hold .
The most commonly requested features that are not commonly
included in cabinets are Caller ID, Voicemail, and Automated
Attendant. Caller Identification (ID) provides information
about incoming calls. Voicemail is, for all intensive purposes,
an answering machine that has been scaled to handle thousands
of messages in tens or hundreds of mail boxes. Automated
Attendant is reception like answering and routing functionality
provided by the system (for sales press one, for service
press two…). Generally if you want any of these features
you should request them specifically and ensure the system
supports them.
What Else
Should I Take Into Consideration?
Most businesses find the phone system
to be a critical part of sales.
An outage of the system
can cost leads, lose sales, and can cause customer dissatisfaction.
If this does not describe your organization we recommend
shopping by price and ignoring all that follows. But if
the phone is critical to your company then the perfect system
is one which operates smoothly 24-7 and any deviation in
the uptime will cost exponentially more then a $50 price
difference. These additional considerations are for you.
Equipment Quality:
With refurbished or open box equipment quality sometimes
varies from vendor to vendor. At Business Phones Direct
all our phones are refurbished in house. Servicing and testing
is done by a team of seven employees with strict quality
control standards. We guarantee the cosmetic condition of
our refurbished phones, and we warranty systems against
mechanical defects for up to three years.
Warranty Service:
Look for vendors that stand behind their equipment. One
of the things provided by us and a few of the competitors
we would most highly rate is Warranty Advance Replacement.
Advance Replacement means sending replacement parts out
immediately rather than waiting until we receive the defective
unit.
Technical Support:
Look for vendors that provide technical support with the
system. Something as simple as adjusting a system time could
otherwise require a service call..
Past Customer Experiences:
Lets face it some companies are great at advertising "perks"
and bad at following through on them. halfvalue feedback
can be a great gauge of order handling (placement, shipping,
and providing goods which are as advertised) but does not
measure long term customer satisfaction. Three months is
the limit for leaving feedback, any issues outside of this
timeframe are handled elsewhere. A great place to find a
companies history of satisfying or dissatisfying customers
is through the Better Business Bureau. The importance of
checking out a vendor prior to purchasing is illustrated
prominently by one company which lists phone systems frequently
on halfvalue holds a 100% feedback rating on one of their
id's, but is rated a "D" (the second lowest possible rating)
by the BBB - to quote the BBB "we have enough concerns about
this company (for example, their offer, customer
complaints, advertising, etc.) that we recommend caution
in doing business with it ".
