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Business Phone Service in Terre Haute

4/22/2012

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Do you have 7 to 10 lines of business phone service now?  Do you need to add lines? Are you looking to upgrade to digital phone service or PRI?  Do you spend $500 to $5000 per month on communications products and services?  Have your current services been in place for more than 18 months?

Well, it's time to get a price quote.  As a voice and data communications consultant, I work with mid-sized and multi-location organizations throughout the area and offer competitive price quotes for communications products and services, including business phone service. 
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Avaya is a leader in Gartner's UC Magic Quadrant

2/2/2012

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Avaya is a leader in Gartner's Unified Communications Magic Quadrant. 
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Gartner is an IT research and advisory company. They have nearly 800 analysts on staff , with an average of 12 years experience in their specific field.

The Magic Quadrants present a first step for buyers in reviewing and understanding the vendors they might consider for a specific purchase. Magic Quadrants provide a graphical view of competitive positioning of technology providers.
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Which manufacturer sells the most phone systems?

1/26/2012

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Despite the state of the economy, 2010 posted some nice growth in PBX sales. Studies performed by The Eastern Management Group show Cisco as the clear leader in this space here and here.

Cisco, Avaya, and Panasonic led the world in PBX sales, while Cisco, Avaya, and NEC led in North America according to Eastern. 

  1. Cisco - 35%
  2. Avaya - 23%
  3. NEC - 8%
  4. Mitel - 7%
  5. Panasonic - 4%

These reports indicate that Cisco acheived 35% of marekt share in US. Productivity improvement was the leading driver for purchase as cited by IT managers surveyed. 

I'm interested to see the numbers for 2011.
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What is the difference between FXS and FXO?

1/23/2012

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You'll probably come across these terms when shopping for a new phone system, whether it's a VoIP phone system or a traditional TDM PBX or Key System. FXS and FXO are two of the most common ports  found  on a phone system. 

FXS stands for Foreign Exchange Station. FXO stands for Foreign Exchange Office. In simple terms, the FXS represents Stations on the phone system, whether fax machines, telephones, or other analog devices. 

FXO is Outside of the phone system and on the phone company's central Office side. FXOs connect the phone system to the public switched telephone network. If you have analog POTS lines, you use an FXO card to connect to the PSTN.

FXO provides the on hook/off hook loop closure indication. FXS provides dial-tone, battery current, and ring voltage to a station on the phone system. 
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How to Effectively Use Auto-attendant for your Business

1/22/2012

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Automated-Attendant is a technology that automates interactions with telephone callers. It allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the manual intervention from a receptionist or telephone operator.

Auto-attendant performs virtually limitless call routing, including directories, transfer-off-premises, pager notification, etc. The outgoing messages and routing tables can change, based on the day and time as set in programming. Auto-attendant typically contains flexible options for day, night, holiday, and auto modes. 

 The purpose for using auto-attendant is to provide service to your customers. Your auto-attendant options should route the caller to the employee or department that can meet their needs in shortest aomunt of time and the fewest transfers. You may choose to handle all incoming calls with auto-attendant; or to live-answer calls with the auto-attendant set to handle overflow calls during busy time; or to use auto-attendant only for after-hours calls.   

With a little thought and planning, you can be sure that calls will be answered or messages will be left with the right department best suited to quickly meet your callers' needs.
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What is a PBX?

1/22/2012

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A PBX is a type of phone system. PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange. It connects the internal telephones within a business to each other, and also connects them to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) outside of the business. 

A PBX is used to efficiently share resources of many different phone numbers and many phone lines within a business. A PBX is typically used in larger environments where employees are located in separate offices. Most telephones in the PBX system have a single, unique per-phone extension number. A receptionist at an attendant console or an automated-attendant receives all incoming calls, which are transferred to the requested extension number.

A PBX will usually connect to the PSTN with ISDN PRI line and DID numbers. An ISDN PRI is essentially one line that is capable of carrying up to 23 phone calls at one time. DID is an acronym for direct-inward-dialing. DID is a service offered by the telephone company. 

DID numbers are purchased in a block of phone numbers and associated with one or more phone lines. DIDs are used to assign a dedicated phone number to each employee, without requiring the purchase of a separate phone line for each employee. In doing this, telephone traffic can be split up and managed more effectively.

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POTS versus PRI

1/22/2012

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What is POTS?

POTS is an acronym for Plain Old Telephone Service. POTS, also known as analog phone lines, basic business phone line, and B1 lines,  are individual phone lines that can be used by a business. They are delivered over twisted copper pairs by the local telephone company.

POTS lines may be used as phone lines, elevator lines, alarm panel lines, FAX lines, and credit card terminal lines. With POTS, each business line has its own individual phone number associated with it. POTS can be connected directly to an individual phone handset, KSU-less phone system, Key system, or PBX phone system. If you have a small business, and only need to have a maximum of 8-10 people on the phone at any given time, you probably have POTS lines.

What is PRI?

PRI is an acronym for Primary Rate Interface. A PRI is essentially one wire that provides 24 channels, and is capable of carrying up to 23 concurrent phone calls. 

PRI service may also be referred to as a voice T1 or an ISDN PRI, though they are different. The difference between a T1 and PRI in voice lines is that the PRI protocol establishes one channel of the 24 channels as a switching and data channel.  

In techie terms, a PRI consists of 23 B-channels and one D-channel. The D-channel, aka data channel, is used for signaling and providing services like caller-ID. The B-channel is the bearer channel.  B-channels are used for your phone calls. A PRI uses a D-channel for signal, while a T1 doesn’t. So a T1 will support 24 calls at once, while a PRI will support 23. Not all central office switches support PRI.

When you buy a PRI, you also buy a block of DID telephone numbers. The DID numbers may ring the as a dedicated number for the primary phone number of the business, or direct extensions for employees, departments, or fax machines. 

In most situations, PRI is the service that's actually deployed and used by businesses. If your business requires more than 8-10 people to be on the phone at any given time, then you need to look at a PRI for the increased call-handling capacity.

When should you buy a PRI? 

If you review the cost of POTS lines versus that of PRI, you’ll find that there’s a price break around 8-12 POTS lines. POTS lines bill for around $40 per month with the extra fees the phone company charges. Do the math and find that 10 POTS lines run $400 per month. A PRI may bill anywhere from $350-600 per month, and it offers many benefits over POTS.

Should you buy a PRI or keep your POTS?

Why would a growing business hang onto POTS lines, even though they could pay less with a PRI?
  • they don’t have a person on staff to maintain their phone system and manage their communications expenses;
  • they're not aware of how the current service compares with other options that may be available; 
  • they are feel like they're not getting the best service and pricing but don't know where to get started;
  • the current phone system may not support a PRI.

How much is a PRI?

If have a new business needing service or your existing business has grown over the years, it's time to review your options.  I can help you get started.  Why not contact me?

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    I work with clients in support of telecommuni- cations  and data infrastructure needs, providing options for Business Phone Service,  Internet, T1, VoIP Telephone Systems, Ethernet, ISDN PRI,  and other services.

    I'm available by phone at 812-462-9166. 

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