sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Panasonic KX-TDA 30 Versus Toshiba CIX 100

Hello,
My name is Nelson and I work as Office Manager for a non-profit organization in Vancouver, BC (Canada). Presently, I am looking for a new phone system for my workplace. I am looking for a system with 3 incoming lines, 6 phones and voicemail capability. I also want good quality sound.

I have searched around and am deciding between the Panasonic KX-TDA 30 and the Toshiba CIX 100. What would you recommend? (Below are the specs for both systems.)

Panasonic KX-TDA 30:
- 3 slot hybrid IP PBX incl. Main Processor Card (0X4+4)
- Battery backup cable
- power fail back up batteries - need 3
- 4 port digital station card - 4 digital
- 4 port caller ID Card - 4 co lines
- 1 KX-T7630 telephone
- 5 KX-T7667 telephones
- KX-TVM50 - 2 port voice system
- Surge protector, BIX & amphenols

Toshiba CIX 100:
- CIX100 system
- CTX remote maintenance modem
- voice processing card (GVMU3A)
- 1 DKT3210C-SD telephone
- 5 DKT3010-SD telephones
- headset module for telephone
- CTX1000 battery charger subassembly
- reserve power cable
- Toshiba batteries 12V 18A
- Music on hold cord
- power bar with surge protection
- SD memory card - 128 MB

The quotes I got show comparable pricing for both systems. I don't know if I'm allow to post prices on this forum, but what I want to know is how much can I negotiate?

Thanks in advance!

Nelson

I would go with the Panasonic. When I was buying a phone system for my business, another competitor used a Panasonic system. We had an At&t system that I didn't like at all.

Taking the other company's suggestion, I upgraded to a Panasonic system. Liked it very well, have owned 2 other Panasonic systems since then and will never buy anything else. They have a lot of features and are probably the most reliable in the industry.

I have a friend who is still running a 20-year old Panasonic 1232 in his store, how many Nortel's and Avaya's do you see that age that are still functional!

A properly setup Panasonic 824 with the Backlit LCD and Backlit keypad phones, 1 or 2 7895 cordless phones, ( again setup properly, these phones have 12 buttons so you see lines and have function keys like Page and Voice Mail Transfer, CID etc.) TVS voice mail would be like an Atomic Bomb going off on top of all the other systems. Especially if you use CID routing. routing has 4 time schedules. All Daughters known callers go only to her phone or page only her, calls to her after hours go to message box and won't ring phone. Grandmas callers ring her phone, business callers ring or page for dads home office, screen via paging or phone ( i have a call for Cindy from Jeremy), either over the page or when phone picked up, special greeting for special friends by CID, doesn't mater what line they call on, Windows program for literate home owner, modem built in for non literate homeowner, video door phone that connects to phone system with multiple monitors including TV, IP Cam can also connect to door phone etc,etc,etc. With the new Talking Caller ID, you don’t even have to get up to see who’s on the phone.
KABOOM!!!! All the others are dust in the wind baby.
Panasonic has residential locked down tight!

Go with a 848 or TDA 50 (for business) with same phones or better and the Cellular wireless phones, Hydrogen bomb time!
And the Panasonic has a great cellular wireless that can cover any estate size property, they work, not to high, dollar wise. The wireless phone can be paired with a wired phone so you only need 1 number for each person with both a keyset and wireless phone. Complete CID log functions (300) available on the cell phones.
If its a big house or uses metal sheathing you need the cell phones if your going outside, test with cheap 2.4 phone from Wall Mart, if it wont penetrate the walls business sets wont either. With the 848 you can have 4 cell antenna stations, the TDA 50 you can go to 8, plus able to use the fancy 7600 series phones for office etc.
These cell phones can be set to Auto Answer on Speaker. Take the phone to the pool. Set it on the table. When someone in the house calls the phone rings 3 times to get your attention, then goes to speaker phone mode. You can stay in the pool and respond.



And the even the small voice mail include email integration, so your home messages will pop up in your work email (and 2 others, if you desire). Record any call or all,
they go to E Mail where they can be reviewed and transcribed or archived.
For computer interface such as caller id screen pops or dial from outlook etc you need the TDA 50.

Lets see. Your building a house. The Biggest purchase most people make. Fill with electronics. TV's, Security, etc. Yet a few hundred bucks will keep you from getting with a local company that has a track record of providing quality home communications systems.
A communications system that you or your family will reach for in an emergency, which could be life or death.
Most overlooked in most houses? Power fail provisions. A "quality" battery back up and power fail cut over to std phones after the battery is exhausted. ( the battery to be replaced every12 - 16 months) When the power fails and you hear weird noises in the middle of the night, it will be nice to look over and see the Green Backlight glow of your Panasonic phone on your night stand. Pickup the handset and the keypad lights.
If the system goes kaput you will still have a line out with the std phone or phones set up as power fail, assuming you have a real phone line from a central office and not some VOIP silliness. Cheap sounds sweet, but remember those VOIP lines might tell the Cops you live in Pakistan. Call 911 several times a year to verify that your correct address is being transmitted to the Public Safety folks.
System should be setup so that lines can be pulled from phone system and still be connected to std power fail phones.
If you use std cordless phones remember to put battery backup on the base unit, otherwise when power goes the phone is useless. Unless its a Panasonic cell phone, because the transmitter gets power from the control unit, so the main battery back up powers the wireless also. Again it’s your home, get a high quality battery backup, APC for example. Not the cheap ash color units found at Sams or the one that look like an oversize multi outlet. Go to a good computer store, look for the Black APC Smart UPS, at least 700VA, they are high quality. And be sure to get the remote modem for the phone and voice mail, if there are set up issues a good programmer will not have to come to your home, we program systems down to the buttons on the phones and send the little paper desi slips out in the mail.
Oh, by the way, don't get hung up on "Digital",
it really doesn't mean Jack Squat as far as function to the end user. Some sales people play mind games with "Digital" "Analog" "IP Ready"
"Upside down Bubble Memory" and other claptrap.
Digital and Analog both have good and bad sides.
Panasonic has analog integration that does the same voice mail tricks as the digital.
Whatever system you get it needs to be set up properly, (just like a computer- garbage in - garbage out) including the Panasonic, otherwise they are as useless as tits on a boar hog.
One other thing about remote: Sometimes an electric surge zaps the memory of your system.
Usually the only thing needed is to default the memory and reprogram, a costly and long operation in a fully set up system using lots of features.
If it can be programmed by computer, you make a back up. Just default and upload. Or a good vendor can do it for you, we just get you to flip a switch to default, call in and upload.

if it was me i would go with the TDA30 you could go with a vm/card plus its a digi system and voip compatable the toshiba system is also a good system however you need a engineer to do anything to it
with the panasonic most things can be changed from the reception handset.the panasonic 824 is an annalogue system i dont think any buissness should have an annalogue system myself and you will probly have this for a long time but it is a fine cheap system all the same if you dont mind annalogue .

peter (www.vpi.ie)

hands down the TOSHIBA

PM sent.

This thread has been moved to our "General" catagory.
MrG

I am a installer for both of these tele sys and i have to say that the panasonic would be better. Easyer to install and easyer for the end user to run. The tosh is a good system but in this case the pana would be better.

Although this may not be considered 'Kosher' by my compatriots, you will not be the 1st 'buyer' to hand competitors each other's offer. I'm not famailiar with the TDA30, I think the U.S. equivalent is the TDA50. It has remote capability if the modem is installed, the TDA30 may have the same. Looking at the 2 'offers', there are the typical 'tricks' that the sales guys use to 'puff up' their brand. Example, Toshiba headset module. Panasonic 76XX phones have a headset jack as standard equipment. They both have battery support, they just show it differently. They both have non-proprietary memory cards. (It's what's on the cards that's proprietary) I'm prejudiced, although I think I did a pretty good job of being fair. That said, BUY THE PANASONIC, you'll br happy! John C.

I have searched around and am deciding between the Panasonic KX-TDA 30 and the Toshiba CIX 100. What would you recommend? (Below are the specs for both systems.)

Panasonic KX-TDA 30:
- 3 slot hybrid IP PBX incl. Main Processor Card (0X4+4)
- Battery backup cable
- power fail back up batteries - need 3
- 4 port digital station card - 4 digital
- 4 port caller ID Card - 4 co lines
- 1 KX-T7630 telephone
- 5 KX-T7667 telephones
- KX-TVM50 - 2 port voice system
- Surge protector, BIX & amphenols

In the US, the TDA-50 wouldbe about $200 more to substitute all 7633 phones. The 7633 is backlit and allows you to expand to 36 buttons. At a minimum, I would NEVER propose a 12 button set on a system with voice mail and CID. {they use 4 buttons)

Also, lose the batteries. At 40 watts, an SPS is better. You can power the TDA, VM and any network devices you have on a 600 volt-amp unit.

Carl