atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Mitel Telephones & Systems mitelsx20

I have never had the rebooting problems ,most people experience,sometimes it takes several times to reload default, but all in all in it's time for hotel motels it couldn't be beat,It's longevity is far above the systems of today.The one I got a call this morning on the one I installed yesterday,They said it was noisy,Thus the reason for the previous failure, They have owned the Motel five years ,and the fan never worked.

Another good thing about the 20 is how many new systems it has sold for me ,because other companies told them it couldn't be fixed ,two I recall were as simple as having ground start trunks , they had painted the wall and removed the ground wire. They were told there was no way they could be repaired.when they needed a new system guess who they called? Another plus was all their friends were told about the "Honest Phone Man" I allways tell them how old they are,And should be replaced,they feel a lot better about replacing them ,when they aren't under the gun.

RCA man,

True, you can keep obsolete equipment going if you're willing to invest the time and trouble to keep repairing failing parts.

I've got a PC with a K5-100 processor, running Win95, that I keep around mostly for old times' sake, and for a couple of handy apps that I seldom use. I understadn and appreciate your affection for the older technology.

But for serious work, I use a new laptop. It talks to new equipment and printers, it runs new software, and it's more reliable. Sure, I can make the old '95 machine print if I'm willing to reload printer drivers each time, clear the print queue when it garbles a job, and manually sort out some of its file management issues. But when I need to conduct real business, I use the laptop.

It's the same with phone systems. Sure, you can resolder capacitors and jumper over breaks in printed circuits, and if you're highly skilled, you can maintain uptime in the high 90-percents on an old system.

But the average motel owner is not all that skilled with a soldering gun, and doesn't want to pay my rates for me to keep repairing that same trunk card. If he buys parts online, it's a crap shoot whether the part will match the old one, or if it'll even work. At best, he's just bought someone else's problem. For him, not being an electronic engineer, it's better to replace the system.

Gene, I know the feeling. When you tell the customer, "I got it back up this time, but you need to start planning to replace this system," the customer takes you much more seriously.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not advocating installing SX-20s or trying to keep them alive just because I can.

I have been in the exact same situation as Gene. We have several "less than honest" telephone companies around here. I have been called to a site and told, by the owner, that XYZ phone company was here and they said the SX-20 was trash and it could NEVER be repaired. They tried to sell him a new system. Several times all I had to do was sell them a UPS and reload the system and reporgram. Several times it was the local LEC that decided to change trunks from ground to loop or vice versa.

The power supply is actually four linear power supplies under one tin cover. I have a crash kit and have repaired these supplies on site several times.

So, the owner pays me a couple of hundred dollars to get the system back up (no phones for ANY business is an emergency) and now I have an opportunity to talk about a new or newer system without the preception that I "have him over a barrel."

When a client calls for service that has a SX-20, I take a complete working SX-20, a crash kit and a fully loaded SX-50 with me to the site.

At one time, a telephone repair person was considered an ethical, honest person and people trusted us. Things have changed as too many people got into this business who are neither technically savvy or honest. Those of us who are of the former enjoy the challenge. Those of the latter like "bling."

Rcaman

Gotcha.

I understand about helping people where they are, with what they've got. I do that too. And I try to help people work with their budgets when it's time to upgrade. And I do enjoy a challenge. Love old voicemails, Active-Voice especially.

I've also talked to techs who are of the "well, it still works, let's keep piecing it together until it melts down" school of thought, and never tell the owner that it's time to look for the next system.

You've got to be ethical, and you've got to give the owner good, sound advice. Sometimes that's telling them to save their pennies and see you next year. Other times, it's saying, "Well, time for the next step."

Right now, we're seeing an upswing in upgrades from people to whom we said, last year, "Look how much you've invested in keeping this going." They've thought about it, planned ahead, and here we are.

So there's a balance.

Yes, and there is the real core of this discussion. Business people ALWAYS have an eye on the bottom line. Having a business "relationship" with a client allows one to know when that appropriate time is to advise the client to "cut the cord" or keep it going a while longer.

There was a time when business people actually enlisted their telephone service people for advice. There are still a few situations like that. However, when telephone systems became a commodity that one could purchase online, that "relationship" was lost and now the preception is that telephone people are like shady automobile mechanics.

I remember once talking with Harry Newton at NATA. He was then the editor of Telephony Magazine. It was the early eighties and many of us from a telephone background felt the need for some sort of "National" clearinghouse. We thought, if a group of telephone service companies (we were known, then, as interconnects) could adopt a "code of standards and ethics" and have some sort of National Datebase, we could advertise as being honest, reliable contractors who were just as good, if not better, than the old "Bell System" from which many of us, at that time, came from.

Harry said that in 10 years, telephone systems would be sold like potato chips. Although the thought was good, it would be short lived and a lot of work and effort would be for nothing.

I see this site as a realization of that idea that is now 25 years old. Not EXACTLY as we had envisioned, but close.

Rcaman