atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Vertical Telephones & Systems SBX-IP System - basic install /tech support or punt??

One of my customers has an SBX IP system that came out of the office of a business they bought. The phones themselves are connected via a single pair so i assume they are digital sets.

They also own a small marina / restaurant and asked us about installing it there. I would normally pass on this stuff but i hate to have my customers dealing with other telecom vendors.

Is this simple enough / can i hire someone to provide remote support or programming or should i just avoid it??

Simple system to install, easier than some of the ESI systems you work with now. Just be aware that the phones connect to pins 1 and 4. The same pins are used at both the KSU and at the user end. PC admin requires a software download. Support is available from a number of us Vertical people here.

I have a lot to say about the SBX. I came from Comdial products and had quite an adventure learning the SBX, followed by a couple afternoons of electroshock after which I was fine. On the basic KSU and on a 3x8 expansion board, you get 8 hybrid ports. Pins 3 and 4 are for single line sets, pins 2 and 5 are for the digital sets. I have been on many sites where the original installer trimmed back all the orange pairs, so the blue pair had to be moved at the jacks. Include this inspection in your job walk when quoting a new install. If you have orange pairs, your install is lucky.

Programming the system is an adventure. Forget everything you know about other systems, and forget the terminology you learned as a telecom tech with years of experience. On the SBX, Hunt Groups are both Station Groups and Hunt Groups depending which screen you are on in programming. To set them up you must call them Station Groups. Many programming settings aren't documented at all, and the feature labels are translated directly from Korean, likely with a free tool like Google. It results in some interesting names and descriptions at times.

Tech support doesn't even know what many of the settings do, which was a bit unnerving for me. When the settings are documented, reading the description doesn't always convey what the feature does. Sometimes it just says in a nutshell, ON for on, OFF for off.

Key things that customers will always ask / complain about:
-DID call wait should always be on in station attribute IV. I believe they finally made this the default a few firmwares ago.

-Change mailbox message type to FIFO (first in first out). They haven't made this a default yet. It causes the voicemail to act opposite of every other voicemail system, well, on the entire planet.

-Don't use the internal hold music. A hold tone is a far better default choice. Go into the CO line list to set this, not the Music screen. That would have been be too easy.

-In system attributes make sure the "Auto Flash LED" is set to off or steady for auto ring mode. This was an early annoyance fixed in feature pack 4 and up.

-Change the ringer settings by hitting the up arrow on the keypad and select Basic Program, then choose ICM ring and CO ring. Many people won't like the default.

-In system attributes, turn on No DSS indication or else the flex buttons will light up like a christmas tree if they all have a ringing assignment. If using a hunt group (called station group), too bad, it will be Christmas.

-Go to system timers and select better defaults. Specifically look for rewind/fast forward, valid message length, user record time.

-Save all these changes to a database template to replicate onto other systems.

-No, you cannot skip to the main menu to play voicemail messages. The voicemail is miles away from Keyvoice / Corp Office DX but it gets the basic job done. To dial offsite, use a speed dial and set a digit in CCR.

-There was a whole wishlist / discussion on annoyances of the SBX right here on the forum. Look that over. Apparently Vertical was lurking in there and it helped them make feature pack 4.

-The Summit's programming was organized almost entirely based on complaints received about the SBX's lack of organization in programming.


Long story short, taking over an existing system should be no problem for you, you have the experience to make things work. But when deploying a new system, do your homework first. On my first install I nearly felt silly over some of the programming changes that had to be made, after the customer ran into the issues, because the defaults were so bizarre. Have fun with the SBX. Most of the time you can set it and forget it. Good luck

Thanks for the feedback. Since it is an existing system and i am just installing it and not necessarily telling them it is the right one for them to buy we are going to take a shot at it.

I have made arrangements with Derrick to help us out.

Thanks to all!

Hacky, good info.

I have found that if the orange pair, or pins 1,4 or 3,6 if you prefer are not wired and if the jacks are hard to access then I make an adapter line cord, pins 2,3 at the wall end and 1,4 at the phone end. That is easier than moving furniture around.