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In today's business environment it is essential to communicate with your customers in an efficient yet cost effective manner. At BridgeNet Technologies, we try to help you to decipher some of the common terms and features used in the industry to help you make an informed buying decision. It is important to gather some basic yet significant facts about your company before you start shopping. Once you are certain of your needs we can put together a plan for the proper system. The following questions are important because they help us determine the number of phone lines and station port capabilities your business will require and the type of service that will best suit your call traffic.

How many telephones will your business require at the time of purchase?
How many new telephones do you expect to add over the next two years?
Is most of your call traffic inbound, outbound or internal?
Will you require a Voicemail system or Auto Attendant?
What is the average number of people requiring to use the phone simultaneously during your heavy call traffic times.
How are the phones to be answered? By the receptionist, Auto Attendant or the first person to answer.
Should in bound callers to have the abiliy to dial directly to a specific person bypassing the receptionist or auto attendant.

Consider how you are handling the current phone traffic and check to make certain your staff has not experienced complaints of busy signals or the inabilities to make outbound phone calls. There are efficient yet cost effective methods to make certain you have an appropriate number of lines for inbound and outbound calls.

Digital vs. Analog:

Digital transmission offers many advantages over analog transmission. Digital signals are less affected by interference and line degradation and offer greater security. Several years ago T-1 circuits were not nearly as commonplace as they have recently become. The change is due to a significant cost reduction from the service providers throughout the industry. T-1's offer great flexibility allowing for a large number of analog trunks, DID's or data circuits and as of recently the ability to combine the voice and data cicuits over the same T-1. Many companies still make use of analog lines, thus even a digital phone system must convert the signaling back to analog until digital service such as a T-1 is in place.

Key Systems vs. PBX

Key systems accommodate a certain number of lines and extensions. A system that is referred to as a 1236 or 12x36 would acommodate 12 lines and 36 telephones. Allowing 12 of the 36 users to be on an inbound or outbound calls simultaneously, assuming your business has 12 lines from your dial tone provider. However, the other 24 users are able to communicate internally without concern.

PBX (Public Branch Exchange) systems define size in ports. Ports are defined as line or station capabilites. This indicates the number of connections that can be made to outside lines and to inside extensions.

T1 vs. DSL

Voice over IP (VoIP):

What are the big selling points? Long distance savings, the ability to effortlessly add new applications and extensions and the easier management and monitoring of the system are the most outstanding features. Since calls utilize unused bandwidth on the data network, voice essentially “rides for free” on the existing network. This is a significant savings for multiple office businesses, employees working from home or satellite offices as well as high volume outbound long distance calling. However, when the internet is down so are your phones. Also, the delay between when a word is spoken and when it is heard – meaning a call from Boston to San Francisco could sound more like an overseas call to Australia, which is far from ideal for a business environment. And the sound quality in general sometimes leaves much to be desired. Although like all other technology these days the quality is improving steadily and becoming more affordable.

Features:

Although having the right features is important, it is even more critical to make sure they are easily accessible. Because most employees devote very little time to learning how to use a phone system, it is important that the most common functions be extremely simple and intuitive to use.

Nortel features and descriptions:

Check voicemail compatibility:

Almost all new telephone systems are voicemail compatible. However, when purchasing a refurbished telephone system make certain it is compatable with an appealing voicemail system. Both should have the ability to meet your current requirements as well as handle atleast two to three years of company growth and fit into your budget.

Buying Tips to consider when purchasing equipment:

Buying refurbished components such as phones, cabinets or cards is one option to save money and maintain the same warranty as new equipment.

If your monthly expense for the voicemail from your dial tone provider is in the $50.00 plus range, it is time to consider purchasing your own voicemail system.

How can we help:

One of our staff members would be happy to assist you with as much or as little of the process as you would like. Once you have determined your needs we can assist you with choosing the proper system to best fit your needs and budget. We will help guide you until you are certain of your purchasing decision and continue to work with you until you are satisfied.

We hope you find our site both informative and helpful with your buying decision. If you have any questions you can send an email to sales@bridgenetech.net or feel free to give us a call at 651-221-0112.