atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Help with preliminary PBX cost

Thanks to the board for the a ton of information on phone systems that they didn't teach us accountants in CPA school.

I am writing a recommendation for a client that currently has 670 Centrex lines on a property costing $13,000 a month. There are two buildings on the property that have been Cat 5 wired in the last 5 years. They are not connected. One's a Social Services building (360 phones) and the other is a Health Services building (210 phones).

PRI in this area can be had for $650 a month so I'm guessing 3 PRI will do the trick. Big monthly savings there before equipment cost. My problem is 1) what's the cost of an appropriately sized PBX/IP-PBX including installation and 2) what's the cost of linking the two buildings?

If I can tell my client it will cost not mroe than say $350 per port plus $2000 to install fiber between the buildings, then its probably a go. Any pointers on what might be feasible in terms of cost per port and fiber cost?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Jim

Jim,

You have a lot of variables here, first off 3 PRI's are not going to be sufficient for 570 users, what are they using for handsets? I don't know about our brethren in Virginia but $350 a port is extremely low, I would also think that they also may fall under the HIPAA guidlines which would also mean that all voicemails, emails and instant messaging need to be archived and stored.

I'm sure there has to be some happy vendor in Virginia that would be happy to get this job but I think you will end up doubling your proposed budget before you are finished, was the Cat V cabling certified when it was installed? For a VoIP system which I think would be the primary choice you would also need a Network Survey performed to identify all components of the network to make sure you would have enough bandwidth to meet your needs.
On the good side they should be able to recover the costs for a new system over a fairly short time span.

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One stop Voice and Data Solutions VoIP

[This message has been edited by Milestone (edited December 12, 2004).]

Thanks for the reply! I started with the 3 PRI because the entire county (980 phones including DSS and Health) are using only 69 NARs. I imputed 3 PRI as providing 69 channels. We also have a county client just north of this client that has 8 PRI for 1900 phones. Recent traffic studies have us dropping 1 PRI and ports to channels will be about 12 X 1 (they have more phones now).

Yes, both agencies are HIPAA regulated. But VM is not archived and stored. They have an inhouse Centigram system that's maxed out (so I'm told). We have probably 50 NC counties as clients and I promise not 1 Health or DSS is archiving VM for longer than it takes for a rep to take and dispose of the call. Not that that is HIPAA compliant, just the way things are.

I got the $350 per port number from another post on this board. My experience in getting bids for the other county govt client was $1.1M for two 11Cs and a 61C serving 1800 phones, right at $600 per port. However, there were several large buildings that had to be entirely re-wired. Install cost was as big as equipment. I was guessing the current client's install would be smaller given rewiring already occurred.

And about the rewiring. I am informed it was done under the NC state master contract...e.g. it better have been done to NC standards for Cat 5. Again, not that it was but I'd bet is was.

I'd say the breakeven's going to have to be $600 per port and that won't allow much for maintenance. But is there a realistic chance I could get the job done for less than that? Is the filber connect between the buildings (only 150 ft between closets max) a major cost issue?

Thanks again.

Jim,

Not wanting to step on local toes, I would be happy to run some numbers for you we do work nationally and the job is definitely big enough to be worth it. Is there anybody locally who wants to say anything?
The best thing would be for you to give me a call on my cell 201-681-4496 and we could discuss the project. Part of the problem is the delay between questions and answers for a project of this scope and size.

Chris

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One stop Voice and Data Solutions VoIP

[This message has been edited by Milestone (edited December 12, 2004).]

Curious as to what HIPAA regulations specifically you are talking about. I have never heard of such umm info.

That's ok it seems that most healthcare professionals haven't either, I did a quick search to get the actual regulations but that will have to wait until tomorrow when I get back into the office. Basically it relates to all healthcare operations and relates mostly to secure transfer of patients information and paperwork over the internet through a secure VPN, they also got mixed in with Financial services in that (I believe) they also must save all emails, voice mails and instant messages to an offsite location. Rather than give too much misinformation I will post a link tomorrow to the actual regulations but they are there and the penalties are very high for any operations that do get caught.

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One stop Voice and Data Solutions VoIP

I actually think 3 PRI's would be more than adequate. 1 to 5 trunking is a tad low but consider what you are doing here as well. It's only a bit under 25% and the PRI helps alot in this regard. If this is for housing you maty really want to consider using a PBX with analog ports that provide caller ID. As far as the 2 buildings I assume they are close enough to be cabled together with feed cable? Without knowing the specifics I wouldn't try and second guese you. The 4th or 5th PRI if you get them you may consider getting a dedicated one from a long distance provider to give you premo rates on long distance and 800 numbers.

Thank Coral. I don't know how far is too far for feed cable. The closets of the two buildings are less than 150 feet by my guesswork. I'm just trying to get a ballpark on the installed cost per port. The PRI is dirt cheap ($850 per month each). Long distance is insultingly cheap at a flat $0.04 per minute with -0- regulatory fees and no cost to connect to LD network. The PRI provider gives LD connection free as a part of a state master contract with the State of NC.

By installing a 670 port PBX with VM, I can reduce almost $12K of monthly recurring bills to the number of PRI X $850. Super operating leverage. I just don't know how to ballpark an outside worst installed cost per port.

Thanks again

150 feet is a chip shot. I would do it and pull fiber with the 500 pair feed that you run when you do it. Is this housing?

Jim,

Most switches will easily give you a 1000 feet which sounds well within reason here, Coral I was also considering the analog port route but thinking long term if you went with a VoIP system you will also take a huge bite out of maintenance and service, adds moves and changes are as simple as unpluging the phone and plugging it in where ever you have network or internet access. You could also use a media gateways to give you the analog ports as another option, again without an actual spec on what features they might be looking for it's all a crap shoot. With more info it would be a good excersize to compare the two options and see how they work out apples to apples

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One stop Voice and Data Solutions VoIP