atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems ESI-50L New Installation

I'm in the market for a new phone system and I just saw a demo for an ESI-50L and was impressed, both with features and price.

I won't pretend that I'm any kind of an expert with phone systems but I'm pretty tech savvy. I'm hoping to get some input on what has been proposed.

What will connect us to the outside is a PRI circuit. We'll have about 20 extension on the inside plus two analog lines for fax machines.

What's been offered is the following, just as it's listed on the quote...

ESI-50L digital bundle - Basic cabinet (4x8x2, 4 ports x 30 hours voice message storage)
Memory module (CompactFlash)
Two 482 cards
1 expansion cabinet
20 40D-Key feature phones
12 licenses for VIP Pro
Upgrade to ESI 40D phones (x5)
Upgrade to ESI 48 Key 3-line display receptionist phone (x2)
SL-DLC82 card for PRI, 23 channel x 8 digital x 2 analog
Upgrade ESI-50L voicemail fm 4-ports x 30-hours to 6-ports x 30 hours

Anyone care to comment?

Thanks in advance.

Loos like an extra 482 card to me.

You have 20 phones, plus a receptionist so lets call it 21.

The base cabinet has 8 digital station ports, the PRI card has 8 digital station ports, and then they are proposing (2) 482 cards. Seems like a single 482 card would be more than enough and give 3 spare ports before you need to add the second 482 card.

Base Cabinet = 8 Digital Ports
DLC82 = 8 Digital Ports
482= 8 Digital Ports
Total of 24 Digital Ports without the second 482

Maybe they are building in extra room for growth, but do you want to pay for it now, or when you need it? The only time I would add the extra card in now is if you are leasing the solution.

Thank you James.

We have 20 extensions but we have more DID numbers than that. 40 all together, but we aren't using them all. Would that make a difference?

How would you compare this hardware to other manufactures with similar functionality?

Would you be able to tell me what a fair price would be minus installation?

If you hit the maximum there is always the option of adding up to 12 IP phones - 1 at at a time, even.

Depending on your growth potential, you might consider a 100 in place of the 50.

Every market is different and has different pricing structures. ESI is a great system and will run with out issue for years.

As far as DIDs go, that doesn't have a bearing on the number of phones because with a PRI and DIDs the one number/one line/one phone ratio is thrown out. You could have 100s of DIDs and only 5 PRI channels.

I would look at projected 5 and 10 year growth. With a single 482 card in the config you have room to add 3 phones before the next 482 is needed. So really you have room to add 11 digital phones before the system is at max capacity. If you plan to expand rapidly in the next 5 years, then you might want to start in a CS100. Worst case scenario is you buy the 50-L and migrate to the 100 when needed, retaining all of your phones.

Can you tell me how that would work?

Just plug the IP phones into our LAN and somehow configure the system to look for them there?

sorta kinda ...... basically you would need to "activate" the IP Port (pay a fee / license) and then buy IP phones and licenses

i believe you would be limited to 8 with a 50 because 4 are always reserved for ESI Link.

4 aren't reserved with UIP's

you sure?? .... i had a conversation with my inside rep and that is what she told me