Office telephony � and telephone systems � is one area of business where numerous services, products and configurations exist, and, as such, is an area where a little research and forward planning is required. The first step in buying an office telephone system should be to identify, and assess, your needs for business telecommunications, both currently, and in the foreseeable future. This assessment is likely to include the number of staff that requires a dedicated telephone handset, and/or an Internet connection, taking into account any increase in that number over the next year, or two. You will also need to consider the number of outgoing telephones lines that you require, and whether or not incoming calls will be received by a central switchboard; if you want to make individual handsets accessible to external callers � a feature known as DDI, or "Direct Dial Inward" � ISDN, or "Integrated Systems Digital Network", lines are a requirement.
Office Telephone Systems
A "Private Branch eXchange", or PBX � sometimes also known as a "Private Automatic Branch eXchange", or PABX, to differentiate it from the manually operated switchboard of old � is simply a telephone exchange that serves a specific business, or office, rather than the world at large. PBX switchboards generally allow a direct line for each telephone extension in an office, a separate voice mailbox for each extension, and internal calls to be made between extensions. Other benefits of a PBX switchboard include the possibility of cordless handsets, which can be useful for technical support staff, or, indeed, anyone who needs to be able to "roam" freely around an office, and so-called "Computer and Telephone Integration", or CTI, allowing customer service staff instant access to client information when a client calls.
"Voice over Internet Protocol", or VoIP, telephony, is also becoming more popular, and although still subject to some issues regarding quality, and reliability, offers the prospect of making national, and international, calls over the Internet at preferential rates, often just the cost of a local call. VoIP business telephone systems are more expensive, initially, than traditional business telephone systems, but the cost can be recouped from the lower cost of calls, and maintenance, which typically reduce overall costs by between 25% and 50%. VoIP telephony may be of particular interest to businesses that have multiple sites, and an existing WAN, or "Wide Area Network" � voice can be transmitted via the WAN, eliminating the cost of traditional telephone calls between sites � or businesses occupying new premises, where VoIP can allow voice and data traffic to be carried by the same network cabling.
Analogue versus Digital Office Telephone Systems
Nowadays, this is pretty much a "no contest"; analogue technology is old, outdated technology, and for most organisations looking to upgrade, or replace, an existing business telephone system a digital switch, or a VoIP system, are the only viable alternatives. Analogue telephone lines operate at a theoretical bandwidth of 56Kbps ("Kilobits per second"), but that bandwidth is never attained in practice; ISDN lines, on the other hand, provide 64Kbps of real, available bandwidth.
ISDN in the United Kingdom comes in one of two "flavours", ISDN 2, or "Basic Rate", or ISDN 30, or "Primary Rate". ISDN 30 provides a minimum of 8 digital channels � and up to 30, hence the name � each of which carries voice, or data, at 64Kbps. ISDN 30 can be used to perform different tasks � faxing documents, accessing the Internet, etc. � simultaneously, and is perhaps best suited to the medium-sized, or large, business. ISDN 2, on the other hand, provides 2 channels and is perhaps best suited to the smaller business with a small switch, or PBX. ISDN 2 can, again be used for many different applications, such as file transfer, or videoconferencing.
Size
The size of a business telephone system is often quoted as the maximum number of "ports" � a combination of internal extensions, and external lines, as specified by the buyer � that it can support. Each individual telephone line, or telephone handset, requires one port, and ISDN lines obviously require digital ports. Other devices, such as fax machines, and access control systems � speaker, or video phones, for example � may require only analogue ports, but some features, such as voice mail, or cordless handsets, may complicate matters. Some voice mail systems � of the fully integrated kind � require no ports at all, while others may require 2, 4, or more, so, if you are in any doubt, check with your hardware supplier that your calculations are correct.
Buying versus Renting Office Telephone Systems
A typical PBX telephone system � excluding installation, programming and maintenance costs � usually costs in the region of �1300, with handsets costing between �30 and �200, and upwards, depending on their complexity. A VoIP PBX may be a little more expensive to buy, but its running costs are lower; indeed, unlimited outgoing calls to specific destinations, may be a possibility. In either case, the purchase of an office telephone system allows to arrange, operate and manage your equipment as you see fit. You are similarly free of any binding rental, or maintenance, agreement, and can upgrade, or replace, your equipment � all, or in part � as circumstances, and budget, allow. You can maintain the equipment yourself, if you are qualified to do so, or employ a maintenance engineer on an ad hoc basis.
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