sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Phone system

I need to purchase a new phone system for my business. i currently have 10 phones and employees, and am looking to expand the business in the future. first question i have is, should i look to buy a refurbished or new phone system? Second, with needing only 10 phone lines right now but possibly 15 to 20 phones in the next few years, am i better off going with a integrated PRI or POT line system? third, which type of phone company do you recommend, avaya, nortel or samsung? thanks for your help. much appreciated

Welcome to the board Jozko. Please fill out your profile. You'll have some responses shortly. Here's a hint to get you started. Choose a good vendor. All phone systems in that size range have great features and prices are pretty close, as well. Your local vendor will be very important.

Also, in cojunction with the phone lines, i need DID lines for the 10-15 phone lines

Hello jozko.. Welcome to the forums.

I would say that refurb would be cheaper, but new would last longer in the long run.

My signature system (favorite) is the norstar systems. A norstar 8 lines 24 extensions, with a line expansion would probably suite your needs, but you must not forget that you named three larger companies.. Avaya has good systems, and so does samsung, telrad, toshiba, etc.

You would probably want to go with POT line systems? (experienced techs may care to differ)

Also, Get yourself a tech that can demo, and help you with a system once you decide on a few brands. Never hurts to have someone show you the product so you know you will like it.

heh, looks like I'm a little slow. Well yes, please complete your profile.

Sorry about that MARK3906

Joz, Excellent move to get advice before the purchase. 1st piece of advice. Set aside some time to visit either in person or on the phone with any of the excellent members of this board. A 30 minute conversation can save you a lot of grief down the road. Please take this the right way. Several of us will know right away what is best for your business. We just need an opportunity to ask a few questions. Like, where are you, what type of business, with or without Voice Mail, yada,yada,yada.

I'm available, fire of an email.

Jozko
Finish your profile and find a few good local vendors and their product line. After you know what they offer come back ,finish your profile and you can get excellant advise on pros and cons of each product.

Look at a system that will give you the T1 PRI option, flexablity if you want to go with either TDM phones or IP, will you have need for any wireless phones, where do you see your company's needs in 5 years and will that system be able to provide the foundation for that. New is better because of the discounts, it's a up-to-date system, look at software and the ability for future intergrations. Above all, look at what it will cost you after the sale to maintain it from both service and M.A.C.

You want DIDs and they come as part of a T-1 or PRI, but have you priced out the monthly cost of a T-1/PRI.

On copper lines, DIDs are inward only making you buy more lines, in/out lines and DID inward only lines.

Check the price of both before you start looking at equipment so you can ask for a system that is configured for what you need.

There is a ton of refurb Toshiba on the market and it seems to last forever, it is just people buying newer and fancier and trading the existing.

You're probably going to pay about 60% of new price for refurb and most small business have no need for all the features that are possible.

With updated software chips you can take a ten year old Toshiba and add PRI or T-1 cards, voicemail, pretty much anything you could wish for except voip phones at your home. The same is true for most Samsung and Norstar.

You can get phones that have new plastics and look like the day they were made.

See how many dealers of each system are in the phone book. You wouldn't want to buy a system that had one dealer in driving range.

Just a few things to think about, and yes I am partial to Toshiba, I like the red and green lights on the phones that Norstar does not have, and the Samsung equipment is fine while management decisions to limit availability of parts at the end of a product cycle really, really stink.

I would recomend you look at T-1s and PRI's....even if you do not have them directly integrated with your system. With 10 lines now (in my area) I could guarantee to save you money with a T-1 and channel bank, or if you were upgrading your system I would also price out a direct connection PRI so you can get caller ID and your DID's. In fact, in my area I could probobly even save you enough money by switching to a T-1/PRI and get you a new system - all without you spending more money than you are right now on your POTS service.

Avaya and Nortel make fine products, but they are no better than MANY other brands out there, you are paying for the name on the system. I would recomend looking at Vodavi (LG electronics outside the USA). Stay away from NEC and Samsung. Their products are less quality (IMHO) for the price than many other systems out there. The NEC is basically the same thing that has been on the market for 20 years, just new plastic.

As others have said try to see what the system looks like and how it works before you buy it. Many companies have demo rooms, or can demo the sytem on your property. I also like to advise people to visit their prospected vendor at their office....people can put up good smoke screens and mirror shows, but how much inventory do they really have? How many techs are REALLY in your area? Check them out.

"The NEC is basically the same thing that has been on the market for 20 years, just new plastic."

I hope you aren't talking about the NEC Aspire system. It's quite a bit different from it's Nitsuko/TIE roots.