atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Samsung Telephones & Systems Which system to buy?

I am not sure which system I should buy. The first system is a new Samsung 7100 with the SVMI-4E voicemail with 17 digital 28 button speakerphones. It comes with a 5 years parts/labor warranty at no additional cost. The other system is a used 3 year old Iwatsu Enterprise 3.0 phone system with an 8 port TOL Voicemail/Auto Attendant. It has 15 digital Platinium 18 button series phones and 7 Voip 18 button phones. It also has 25 Unified Communications client licenses, plus a remote maintenance modem. Both systems are priced within $500 dollars of each other before adding the warranty cost of $4000.00 for a 5 year parts/labor warranty for the Iwatsu system. Which system would you choose and why? Thanks for any insight that you can provide, as I am just a network guy, with no phone system experience.

Is the same vendor offering both systems? and if so, why? You will need to ask the right questions. Speaking in a general mode, I would buy the new one. There is a great deal of parity between phone systems today - Especially if you only plan to use the basic features. Your two biggest questions however, should be if you have special applications that need to be met and the reputation of the vendor.

Paul, welcome to Sundance Teck-Talk

Just a note of correction incase you are looking at SMVI4e sales info and options. The SVMI4e does not work with any of the 7XXX series Samsung systems. The 7100 uses a voicemail integrated on the CPU. All other 7XXX series Samsung systems use the SVMI20e

I would ask opinions about the Iwatsu in the Iwatsu forum. You know we will have a bias about Samsung in here!

However the numbers you are giving us tells me to go with the Samsung. :thumb:

With 17 phones I would be looking at the Samsung 7200.

Different vendors offering a system. According to the vendor, the Iwatsu system was used by the vendor for 3 years and now they put in an ICON system, so that they can be well-versed in it to better serve their customers. What is strange, is that they didn't offer us a new system and we never gave them our price range for consideration. The used one has a real nice VM system that as we grow could be quite useful to us. I hear that Iwatsu's are bulletproof, so the "USED" label doesn't bother me. The Samsung system has all the features that we would use right now, but not quite the expandability of the Iwatsu. I am leaning towards the Samsung, because I like the phones better and it has everything we need, plus it feels like the Iwatsu vendor is trying to offload their old system onto us.

The Samsung system has all the features that we would use right now, but not quite the expandability of the Iwatsu.

This is why I say ask for a quote on the 7200. The 7100 is hard to beat for entry level when you consider what comes with it, but it will not grow.

It's more important to choose the right vendor than the right system.

What kind of business is it for? I ask because it can make a difference for expandability (are you going to set up a call centre or is this for a flower shop for instance).

I personally wouldnt overlook the 7100 for the 7200 right away. It can handle SIP trunks with low cost licenses, or a full PRI for trunking. Yeah the digital station count would only grow to 20 stations max with a PRI card, but you could also grow into wired or wireless IP sets, to a max set count of 32 combined TDM/IP.

Vendor choice, expansion that meets your 5 year needs, support and warranty...

We are a small, family owned, CPA firm. We currently have 16 phones with a desire to add one more for a phone in the server room. We probably won't need more than 18 phones in our current building. We are thinking about moving to a larger building within 3 years or so. The newer building wouldn't be that much bigger, so I think expandability wouldn't be a concern for us.
I just realized that the 7100 comes with voicemail embedded on the processor. Does anyone know if this voicemail is worthwhile or it is about as worthless as on-board video on a PC motherboard?

Even though the voicemail on the OS7100 is embedded on the processor, the voicemail programs and functions exactly the same as the SVMi-20E. The difference is it is limited to 4 ports on the OS7100.

There is also a slight difference in the voice quality, but very few end users can tell the difference.

It's a tough decision because the OS7100 is limited to the number of ports that can be added. The good news about going with an OS7100 now is you can always upgrade to an OS7200 and reuse your phones. The phones can be the most expensive portion of a new system, so the ability to reuse them is a great cost savings.

Whole heartedly agree with CIT, the onboard voicemail is really powerful in what it can do or can be programmed to do, but currently its only 4 ports. If you plan on using the auto attendant to answer every call, and have people wait in a vm queue until your people are available, the 4 ports 'might' not be enough. That one instance aside, the 7100 is quite a little power house, particularly with the new software enhancements of 4.30i and the minimal licensing scheme Samsung has.

CMDL_GUY is right tho, i'm just 'a little' biased.

Samsung over Iwatsu any day.

Why?

Any company that makes nothing but phone systems won't be around in two years. Count on it.