Choosing the right phone system from the beginning is always the best way, but not always the most economical. Before heading to your local electronic store and picking up the cheapest multiline business phone, you can find a few pointers that you should keep in mind.
Many multiline business phones They have a pretty decent set of features, such as voice mail, caller ID, call waiting identifier, three-party call and intercom (in the settings of several phones). These phones integrate the key system unit (or KSU) into the phone itself, which means that each individual phone functions as its own “mini-phone system”. The term KSU (Key System Unit, Key Signaling Unit or Key Service Unit) goes back to the early day of telephone systems, mostly the “Brain” of a telephone system. All call processing data and telephone line pairing are performed by KSU. For many small offices with less than 4 telephones (extensions) and 4 telephone lines, these multi-line telephones are adequate and economical. However, as business grows, many of the shortcomings of these phones begin to demonstrate their merits.
Compared , multi-line business phones are sold with the marketing term "KSU-less design", which translates (in the minds of customers) to reduce overall costs. On the other hand, small telephone systems include a separate KSU or “Brain” in addition to each telephone. The main disadvantage is that you interact with the telephone line phones. KSU acts as a “line interface”; for a telephone system, all major system connections are terminated at KSU. Now that each multi-line telephone acts as its own “mini-telephone system”, each telephone now needs direct connections to each telephone line.
One telephone line consists of 1 pair of wires. Almost all multi-line phones support up to 4 lines, which means that each multi-line phone requires up to 4 pairs of wires or the equivalent of a standard Cat5e cable. As you start adding more KSU-less phones to your office, you should consider the cost of installing another drop of cat5e (or cat5) cable. You should also consider additional termination blocks in your phone cabinet, where all these phones must be “Bridges” (or divided) into 4 telephone lines. As you can imagine, for installations with more than 4 or 5 telephones, the wiring aspect can become quite complex. Everything connected with 6 or 7 phones will be useless if it happens unprofessionally, which adds the cost of these budget systems. However, this bridge connection is how multi-line phones “intercom” with each other. By sending a signal along each bridge line, each extension can be connected without actually being tied to any of the 4 telephone lines. As long as each multi-line phone is connected to all 4 lines (or corresponds to the number of lines if there are less than 4), each phone can interact internally with each other, keeping the phone lines free for external calls.
Small phone systems on the other hand, which is equipped with a separate dedicated KSU unit, have a distinct advantage in both areas. Having a single KSU means a single interface point for telephone line connections. Many small telephone systems require only one pair of wires to connect each internal telephone. This means that if you deploy multiple phones in one particular area, you can save a lot on cable costs if your contractor “splits” one Cat5e cable, at best, into 4 single-channel telephone connectors! This becomes very economical when deploying additional phones. (However, many professionals will only split one Cat5 cable once into 2 telephone jacks, leaving the remaining wires as spare pairs). Cable management becomes much easier (and more accurate), since you don’t need to worry about connecting 10 phones to 4 phone lines. A single pair of wires (for connecting to a telephone) of 3 or 4 pairs in a standard telephone cable is enough for as many lines as a small telephone system could work, since the actual lines are connected to the designated KSU and not to an individual telephone.
Another advantage for a small telephone system is the ease of switching to a larger telephone system. The wiring diagram will mostly remain the same, although more cable drops will be installed in new areas. Not the same for multiline business phones. Depending on how each phone was “connected” to the interface with these 4 phone lines, you may need to cancel the entire connection scheme, since most small (and large) telephone systems require individual (not bridge or common) connections to KSU.
Programming the wise is one drawback when comparing small business phone systems with multi-line business phones, which can be considered as numerous shortcomings. Since each individual phone functions as its own KSU, it also functions as its own voice mail module (if there is one). This means that if you want to enable the auto attendant function (where your subscribers are welcomed by the company record, indicating that they press 1 for Joe Boss, 2 for the sales manager, etc.), you will have to record this greeting as many times as you have There are phones with voice mail support (up to 4). That's why, with most multi-line business phones, the voice mail feature includes a personal voice mail box for expansion and an additional auto attendant function. The auto attendant function can handle only one call at a time; ergo, if you want the system to answer up to 4 incoming calls at the same time, you need at least 4 phones with auto attendant support. So technically, you should record the same greeting auto attendant 4 times, 1 for each phone. You must also enable the system mailbox for each of the 4 phones to receive general messages. You now have 4 different phone / voicemail in your office, where you should check general messages. This is called a shared mailbox, which is the default destination for subscribers who do not press a menu button or dial a number. This scenario is not effective for larger installations, but may work for smaller ones.
Using the Small Business Telephone Network , there is only one central voicemail module that can handle multiple calls at once. The storage time is much longer, and there is only one mailbox for general messages. You can also take advantage of advanced features (if any), such as voice mail for sending by email (where the system sends voice mail in standard wav format to your email address), which in this rapidly developing world can be a great time and add convenience,
Last item on this topic to quickly cover this topic; With the advent of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which constantly ensures its cost-effective existence, many companies want to take advantage of these savings. Today, many modern small business phone systems are equipped to handle VoIP phone lines through simple hardware or software upgrades. The upgrade may include adding an Ethernet port (or media) to the system or, if it is already equipped, simply turning on this port through software activation. By simply connecting this device to the local network of your company, and sometimes to a small firewall configuration, you can start saving on the cost of the land line, causing cheaper VoIP lines.
A multiline business phone can also win, but through a third-party VoIP gateway. This gateway connects a VoIP line (sometimes called a “Trunk”) to a standard telephone port. You will need as many gateways as you want (or select a multiport block). However, you may need to plan some time to configure and configure device settings to get the right volume levels while minimizing echo and other artifacts that can be caused when converting a signal from a standard analog telephone line to SIP or another VoIP protocol. high-level equipped with built-in (hardware or software) echo cancellers and noise suppressors that minimize these settings (and work very well), but significantly increase the cost th gateway.
To conclude While this may seem like a big savings in the early stages of your launch, for the needs of 4 or less external lines and additional phones, a multi-line business phone can indeed be a cost effective solution. In my humble opinion, these multi-line phones are better suited for home office (or SOHO). If you have big plans for exponential expansion (and not all of us!), I recommend that you at least consider a small business telephone system. Although a bit more initial investment is required, the benefits far outweigh the costs if you do not completely eliminate them.
Copyright © 2009 Damian Parkins for PBX Interactive, LLC. All rights reserved.
