atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Need advice on equipment needs

I have been asked to recommend a land line telephone for our church. I think the wants are beyond the capabilities of what we have. We have one line coming in to the building and the group wants to have the ability to route incoming calls to different people. I think that means incoming calls would be forwarded to different phone numbers. Anybody know of telephone hardware that will do this?

Get a small phone system like the XBlue X16, if that's not what you're looking for many cordless phone systems have intercom capabilities. Personally I think the XBlue is a good fit for something like this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/F208-Plus-...stem-Control-Exchange-2-X-8/222765628378

This item on Ebay is one of many similar small telephone systems available. They all seem to have the same "guts" but in different packages. They all come from China, and have either 220 or 110 volt power supplies, so be sure to order one with a 110 volt input. They all share the same programming and list of features, such as the ability to have the caller select what extension is desired (we call this the "automatic attendant" feature.) Search for "SOHO PBX" (Small Office Home Office Private Branch eXchange).

I have been planning to buy one or two of these small PBX's just to experiment with them, because occasionally one of my customers asks the same questions that you have posed. For less than $100, if you're willing to take a gamble, this might work for you. (If gambling is allowed in your church.)

A commercial telephone system that would do the same thing will cost many hundreds of dollars, and will need to be installed and programmed by one of us professionals. I don't often suggest that a customer try to do-it-themselves, but in this case, you might want to buy one and get a professional to make sure your wiring to the various extension phones is up to standards, and to help you program it to your requirements.

That's cheaper than the XBlue, by quite a bit. Best price I've found on the X16 is at Telco Depot I'm sure you can find them on ebay also. You do have to use the system phones or the adaptor for straight line phones, but there's a lot of features for a small system.

Google "YourCityName Business Telephone System" and see what pops up locally. Call a couple of them and ask for someone to come out to discuss things. The prices won't be as cheap as the stuff mentioned above, but you'll get a phone system that meets your needs, installed and programmed with local support.

Although discontinued, the Avaya Partner ACS is a fine key system for Churches and small businesses. The cost of hardware has come down on the secondary market, and, you can direct connect devices such as corded/cordless telephones and fax machines without the need of purchasing adapters or specific modules.

If you are looking for the ability to add outcalling (if someone leaves a voicemail the system will autodial an external telephone number to provide notification) you will need to add another telephone line.

Thank you for providing this information Art.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like they are all good ones. Someone suggested I look into a service called Grasshopper. Anybody heard of this?

I used to hear commercials for Grasshopper on Sirius/XM radio..."The entrepreneurs phone system" was the slogan.

The service allows users to send calls and whatnot to individuals smart phones. This feature is common amongst VoIP providers.

Right now it looks like it is even less on Amazon;
https://www.amazon.com/KOOKYE-F208-Exchange-Telephone-Extensions/dp/B01HCUNDWC

A while back (probably two years, now) I was able to drill down and find the actual distributor for the actual manufacturer of one of these products, which as I said, all seem to share the same hardware and software, just in different form factor housings. At the time, I was intrigued by the very large number of features, including the Auto Attendant feature, and flexible numbering plan. You'll notice, if you compare these critters, that they all have extension jacks numbered 601 through 6xx, or 801 through 8xx. But according to the technical documentation, you can reprogram the ext's for any three-digit number. I wanted to use one as a "911" simulator for my fire department's education program, but in the mean time I found a cheaper solution.

Back when I was researching these, it became apparent that they had not gotten *all* of the North American features exactly correct: They were programmed to use ZERO, rather than 9, as the escape digit for seizing an outside trunk, and NINE was being used for the local attendant or OPERATOR. This is the way Japanese PBX's are/were generally programmed. When I finally got through to them, via email, I explained this conflict. Lo and behold, a few moths later, the product info on EBAY reflected the changes I had suggested. I can't take credit, because maybe a few other people brought it to their attention, but now they seem to be programmed correctly for North American dial plans.

I would sooner think it _was_ you, Arthur. Not too many would go to that effort to make sure things were right.

At least here on Sundance, we'll all know it was you.

Jim

Well, that's very nice of you to say. I appreciate it.

I have a school district that consists of 4 buildings I want to network them together with these choices of systems I will be adding Sip trunking. Which one of these would be best
Which one of these systems would be easiest to program and configure

Are you certified in either? If not I think the Shoretel (Now Mitel) would be way too much to take on and learn based on what I have seen.

Your web page states "...phone systems (Nortel, Meridian, Avaya, etc.)."

I can only assume by the use of et cetera that you service other system but perhaps are not certified and thus cannot obtain technical support or new parts as an Authorized Dealer?

[Personal Side Note: I have "serviced" many more systems than I have certifications for.]

If you cannot obtain Technical Support for the duration of your warranty period then it really reflects on your company.

A 2100 for 4 buildings? Really you need to be looking at a 9100 minimum. The benefit of the 2100 is that you don't need to be certified to get tech support as it's supposed to be end user friendly (which is a stretch).

I am the original poster in this chain. I have been asked to look at this again. I downloaded the manual for the F208. It says that it is not possible to route an incoming call to another phone number, which is what we need. I still believe a cloud service like Grasshopper is what we are going to need. Anybody have any other suggestions?

Just as an FYI, if you only have one phone line coming into the building, then forwarding externally is not possible. You will need at least 2 call paths for every call that is getting forwarded off site, one coming in and a second going out.

Basically Grasshopper appears to be just a Auto Attendant in the cloud.It would answer the call first then direct callers to another phone number. This might make sense in your situation. I don't know if I would call it a PBX. You still would not be replacing your internal office equipment.

There are a lot of other VoIP services that would do the same thing as Grasshopper, such as Ring Central, Vonage, Nextiva, etc. Most of the other services also offer VoIP to the desktop, which can start to add up in cost if where to replace all your internal handsets. If all that you need is a cloud Auto Attendant, then maybe Grasshopper is a good choice because it looks like that is primarily what they do.

In order for these services to work you would have to "port" over your local number to the service so that the VoIP service can answer the call first. You may need to change the local incoming phone number if that is the number that people call. This could take some time and coordination with your local service provider so that you don't miss any calls.

Are yo talking about transferring the calls "Externally" or "Internally"? Big difference. If you mean internally take Bill's suggestion with an X-Blue X-16 system or something similar...

[quote=MooreTel]Are yo talking about transferring the calls "Externally" or "Internally"?

They would like to transfer calls externally to another person's phone (or cell phone) that is offsite. For example, when the main phone rings, the AA would ask if they wanted to speak to person A or person B. If the caller presses the code for person B, it would call person B's phone number. As far as I can see the F208 is only for internal calls and would not work for what I just described. In fact, I have been looking and have not found any hardware solution like the F208 that would work Does anybody know of one that would?

I'm having a hard time understanding why a technical support group with staff and members that specialize in the sales and service of real telephone systems would be here recommending "products" that literally take food away from our tables. Buying "products" right off the boat through on-line mass marketers such as E-Bay and Amazon are buyer beware at best. Who is going to wire it? Who is going to support it? Who is going to be able to add onto it later? Why would anyone recommend such an open-ended "solution" to someone truly seeking guidance from professionals?

So many questions, and sigh.... So many disappointing answers.

Better off with a quality used Brand ,, That has Built in AA that can be programmed ,, In the Menu Press 1 Deacon John,, and with a local Link with Flash the line and dial the speed dial :number of John ,, all one 1 line ??

He has suggestions for a couple different brands of phone systems. Hard to provide sound solutions if you don't know all the info. Larry headed him in the right direction....find someone local to come sit down and discuss things. Then an educated solution can be considered. If they have no money for the project, sure buy something off the internet and hopefully it works out.

Nonsense. You get to pay twice, one for the cheap-assed solution, and again for the working solution.

To the OP. A single line solution does't exist, unless you use a cloud Auto Attendant and all the members have cell phones or a way to be called. A professional would be able to put you into a system that would fit your needs. A pure IP system, don't laugh, might give you the best of both worlds, but it isn't exactly a DIY project. I have a auto dealership that has a system that has a short delayed ring for the sales people. It rings their desk, then their extension and cell phone 12 seconds later. From that cell connection, they can transfer calls to any other extension.

Though I don't know about the VoIP solutions, with a service like Grasshopper it doesn't look like you can use your existing number.

You need to understand that you are going to need at least two lines at your church in order to use an on premises system. If you are willing to install another line then there are many inexpensive solutions available to you. The one exception is if you can still get Centrex service from your phone company. Then you only need one line and an auto attendant like the Partner ACS+Partner Messaging (available on the refurbished market).

-Hal

If you start to go through the setup process they do have an option to port your existing number. Of course the issue becomes replacing his original POTS line number with a new number after the 1st number gets ported.

My guess is that the original carrier cancels his phone service (and maybe even Internet if it's DSL) as soon as the port process is completed. He then spends the next few days trying to a new POTS line to the existing PBX.

a cheap operation using just one line: answer your one line with an aa, then offer recorded destinations that either directly give alternate phone numbers to be

dialed or collect voice messages that can then call out and deliver the callback request messages.

even cheaper: telephone answering machine giving out numbers.

not ideal, just cheap.

is cheap really the goal?

I'm new here, so I'll just offer some general suggestions.

The first thing to do is find out exactly what they want to do, and what their budget is to do it.

Do they want a PBX, with separate extensions on each desk? Do they have an operator who will answer all incoming calls?
Are they looking for a keysystem, with all lines at every desk and an intercom?
Do they need features like the ability to pick up a call at another desk, or voice mail?

I hope this helps.

I think the OP established that in his first post. They only have and want one line. As for the budget, well it's a church. They want callers to that one line to be given the option of transferring to any of the cell phones owned by the clergy and staff. That's it. No desks, no VM, no extensions, no nuttin'.

-Hal