Advice on a small business phone system?

Major_Disaster · 2 Dec 2009 at 20:31

Hello all,

We are potentially moving into new premises at the beggining of next year, and i have been put in charge of sorting out all the "elec-trickery" on the cheap. Im fine on the server stuff, it's phones that i have no idea on.

Budget is key here. We want basic, bare bones cheap and cheerful sorta stuff. Usage will be very light (2 - 3 users, 2 telephone lines).

I think a year or so ago when looking at other premises we were given a quote on a "Panasonic 308" with "Panasonic 7735" handsets. Is this hardware still any good, or should we be looking elsewhere? What would you recommend, remembering key words being cheap and cheerful?!

Cheers

Major_Disaster · 7 Dec 2009 at 11:09

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for my delay in getting back to you.

Thanks for the ideas, ill look into Avaya, Linkysis and Panasonic then. Could anyone give me a ballpark figure for 2 - 3 users, 2 telephone lines at todays rates?

Finally, sorry if this is a bit dense, but what do these business phone solutions actually offer us over a couple of standard analogue lines? I understand its all down to the PBX - but i have actually no idea what it does. Could anyone clarify?

Cheers

Major_Disaster · 13 Dec 2009 at 15:49

thanks for all the help.

Im looking into Panasonic, Cisco and Avaya.

I was just wondering though, what should we be looking at on the phone line end of things? Im completely lost here. At the moment, our two telephone numbers (from a previous premises) transferred to a VOIP provider, that when they are called are forwarded to two analogue lines (current premises). These two numbers are important.

Should we just carry on with the current setup and get 2 standard phone lines in the new place and call forward the old numbers? Does the panasonic 308 require 3 phone lines?

The services we use are:
2 Telephone numbers (one for voice, one for fax)
PDQ Credit Card Machine
Broadband
Alarm / BT Red Care

Should we completely transfer for a digital / VOIP service to reduce costs?

Sorry for all the questions, its just here i have no clue!

Cheers

Major_Disaster · 13 Dec 2009 at 16:55

Thank you for the reply bigredshark, that seems sensible.

Yes, we would be probably going for O2 Broadband (at about 14mbs). Thank you for recognising the importance of cost, it really is just trying to get us off the ground and so we need to get away with the bare minimum.

You are right, hardware budget is around £250 - £500, for which the Panasonic 308 + 3 handsets fits in perfectly. I was just wondering whether considering VOIP could reduce our call / phoneline expenses... So what would you reccomend on this side of thing? I think the perspecitve premises has 1 analogue BT line at the moment, so just install 2 more for the 308 system?

Cheers again

Major_Disaster · 13 Dec 2009 at 22:14

Good point bigredshark, thanks for the input.

iaind - Could you please expand on what you were saying? Ive just read that "A 2-channel ISDN2e circuit costs about the same as 2 conventional phone lines, but it offers higher quality and far greater potential."

What are the benefits?

Major_Disaster · 14 Dec 2009 at 12:12

Hi Slime101, thanks for your reply it is very interesting. Thinking about it, i believe we would basically end up with the exact same setup as you with 3 physical phones lines, 2 of them into the 308 for voice and probably PDQ credit card machine, and then a separate line for Broadband / Fax / Alarm.

Can i ask who you rent the lines from and who your carrier is? Would you prefer if i sent you a message in trust?

Cheers

EDIT: Also, just wondering how the music on hold works and what you use for voicemail?

Major_Disaster · 14 Dec 2009 at 21:20

Thanks for the responses.

Slime101 - Cheers for looking into the providers. Also, i cant find any mention of voicemail on the Panasonic site (here) I see it mentions - "Voice Message (Optional)" did you have to buy an extra addon card? I think we were reccomended a BT Diverse 75, but thats just a bog standard answer machine.

Also, just wondering, im going to need probably two physical lines for the PBX, each with a telephone number, say:
01234 567ABC
01234 567XYZ

What happens when you dial out? Do you select which number you want to call through? Is it randomly assigned / if the other is in use? Is a "default" set in the CCU itself? I mean, what is shown as your caller ID?

Cheers

Major_Disaster · 17 Dec 2009 at 21:54

Random question ive just thought of. When you phone larger companies, the phone seems to ring once, or not at all, before you are greeted with the options menu - is this a feature of the PBX?

Also, how do you create those menus?

Cheers