Phone system for an office/warehouse

[Stuart91]

Hopefully this is close enough to be "on topic" for The Office subforum - I figure it's something that people will have come across or dealt with themselves in the past.

 

We've got a reasonable sized office/warehouse. The phone system we currently use is a somewhat dilapidated Nortel Meridian, which we bought on eBay about seven years ago when we moved in. (Didn't really have the budget to devote to anything better at the time) It's been playing up quite a bit recently, and we are thinking about buying something better/more reliable. But I'm sure phone systems have moved on in the past seven years and I'm not sure where to start with models, ranges, and features.

 

We have three incoming lines, and currently twelve extensions, although adding a few more wouldn't be a bad idea. Features-wise we probably don't need anything too powerful, although it would be useful to have some sort of grouping feature - i.e. being able to call all the phones in the warehouse at once, and someone just picks up whichever is nearest. The Nortel lets you have pickup groups, in which all the phones can pick up the call, but only one handset rings, so you have to ring round a few to guarantee someone can hear it.

 

The other thing I'm concerned about is how easy it is to programme - I've found the Nortel system to be a bit of a nightmare, just archaic and unfriendly. It's not a deal breaker, but a more pleasant interface and simpler programming would be very nice.

 

We ran CAT 5 cable between the switchboard and all extensions. The Nortel only needed one pair of wires, but we had the CAT 5 sitting anyway, so it means we could upgrade to a system that needs more. I'm quite happy to do the actual installation work ourselves. Also happy buying second hand if need be, whilst we could devote a bit more money to it than we did with the previous system, I don't want to spend too much on something that isn't going to generate any hire income. ;)

 

Any good models people can recommend? Or any rubbish ones to be avoided?

[Robin D]

I can't speak for the current range but we have a Panasonic KX series in our warehouse, 4 trunks (2 x ISDN2), + 1 x analogue line. 8 internal extensions, paging etc. In the approximate five years its been installed its been absolutely bulletproof. Programming was easy compared with the main Inter-tel system in HO.

[patrick_keys]

At the end of the day, a phone system is only an enabling tool to make your business work. Some systems are very simple, whereas others can be very complicated. I think it's worth considering just how you want to be able to use it, and more importantly, whether you want to make small changes to your business processes at the same time. Almost all phone systems will be suitable for your needs, but really you should be considering how much time you want to invest in this new system - rarely can you plug a system in and have it meet your needs from day one. You didn't say whether your incoming lines are analogue or digital - this will make a difference to the system that you choose.

 

We've recently changed our phone system to an Asterisk-based VoIP system - this is probably the most flexible option out there, and suited our business needs very well. We have already been able to change the way that we work - the system allows phones to be located anywhere, and some of our staff now work from home as a result. We've also been able to ensure that messages get to the right person. The downside is that you need to understand enough about the system to design and configure it - fortunately we have this skill in house. But there are a lot of consultants out there who can help.

 

We did very well in terms of costs, mainly thanks to Ebay. Our IP phones were secured for about £30 each and were in mint condition. We also had to buy a new server and an interface card to connect to the incoming ISDN30e line - again, nothing fancy. Our whole installation cost around £2k and is streets ahead of the system that we were using previously.

 

I can provide more details if you like - send me a PM.

[Stuart91]

You didn't say whether your incoming lines are analogue or digital - this will make a difference to the system that you choose.

 

The lines are analogue. (Just POTS)

 

Not sure if there are any real advantages of going digital/ISDN?

 

I can't speak for the current range but we have a Panasonic KX series in our warehouse, 4 trunks (2 x ISDN2), + 1 x analogue line. 8 internal extensions, paging etc. In the approximate five years its been installed its been absolutely bulletproof. Programming was easy compared with the main Inter-tel system in HO.

 

A system like that might work for us if it's possible to have more than one handset on an extension. i.e. the warehouse would act as one extension, but has four or five physical handsets. I know we can't do this with the Meridian system, not sure if the Panasonic or any others can work like that.

[henny]

We have just moved from a BT versatility system 4 +16, to an ip based system running asterisk , we now have 18 ip phones, 4 channels of ip to analouge to feed fax,door phone,conf phone and a dect cordless and 3 wifi cordless phones, we also have so users who use a soft phone on their iPhones. The phones we use are mitel 5212's and we paid aprox £300 for 18 on eBay, 2 x 24 port Poe network switches cost nothing as I swapped them for the mitel pbx that came with the phones, analogue adapters set me back less than £30 per pair of extensions, the pbx it self was from minipbx.net. And was around the £400 mark but they are built to order and come with a basic config so they work out the box

 

One thing I did do with our system was to switch it to user/device mode that effectley ties an extension number to a user not a phone or device, this allows for more than one device per user so I have my desk phone, a wifi cordless and a soft phone on my iPhone but all work on my extension number. Also we have a few users who hot desk so this setup allows for this.

 

In our workshop where there is 3 phones they all have different device numbers so can be used individually but are all tied to one user exteshion called workshop.

 

One problem we had with the mitel phones was they wouldn't read from the system phone book, we have overcome this by uesing a web based system installed in the pbx called fop2, it allows users to search the phone book then click dial and their phone then rings and connects them to the number they called, it also does things like drag and drop call transfers and a simple way for users to manage their voice mail , the voice mail also emails the user with an mp3 of the massage, fop2 also has a chrome plugin that turns all phone numbers on web pages in to click to dial.

 

I also have a script that syncs with easy job and adds any numbers to the phone book the runs every 4 hours, the phone book also drives the caller I'd display on the phones.

 

The other plus of the mitel phones is they all have a 100mbs pass threw network port on the back so you just need to run One cat 5 to most workstations along as they don't need a 1gig connection

 

Any other questions please ask

[dbuckley]

although it would be useful to have some sort of grouping feature - i.e. being able to call all the phones in the warehouse at once, and someone just picks up whichever is nearest.

 

The KX-TA624 (which is typical of the Panasonic PABXs) which I have does sort-of this, it is an extension group, which can be hunted, distributed, or rung. Never done it, but thats what the manual says. But... it seems that unlike the other two possibilities, the group ring is part of the DISA function set, and it doesn't seem that you can call a DISA group internally. However, a cable from a spare extension port to a spare CO port would soon get around that...

 

Better than ringing groups though, if one has the feature phones with speakers (the lowest member of the range is relatively cheap) what one can do is call a paging group from any phone, and then all the phones in the group's speakers will be activated, so you can shout "Hey John" which will come through all the phones, and John picks up the one nearest to him. You can integrate a paging output into that too, so your voice bellows out over the warehouse speakers (cutting the music on hold feed to them) as well as through the phones.

 

The KX-TAs really rock as a business phone system, and as a home phone system. Summoning everyone to the dinner table for example...

 

If one uses any of the Panasonic PABXs, they are a pain to programme through the phoine extension itself, requiring having the manual in front of one, but a low cost piece of software from a Russian gentleman makes it all so much easier, you'll be hunting and grouping in no time :)

[Stuart91]

Thanks for the replies. MiniPBX looks like a good option, I don't think we'd get very far configuring Asterix from scratch.

 

I like the idea of the Panasonic systems too - it's more familiar territory I suppose. Something like this but with a few more extensions. The only thing that bugs me about it is having to put batteries into the phones.

[timsabre]

The lines are analogue. (Just POTS)

 

Not sure if there are any real advantages of going digital/ISDN?

 

 

One big advantage of ISDN is that you can have multiple numbers for direct dial in. So you have 2 call channels and you can have 10 or more numbers which can be configured to directly call an extension. You need a PBX which can handle this though.

Also call quality is somewhat better (at least on our system where we have one ISDN and one analogue line for the ADSL)

[Stuart91]

One big advantage of ISDN is that you can have multiple numbers for direct dial in. So you have 2 call channels and you can have 10 or more numbers which can be configured to directly call an extension. You need a PBX which can handle this though.

 

I can see the advantage of that, although it's not likely to be the kind of thing we need.

 

Also call quality is somewhat better (at least on our system where we have one ISDN and one analogue line for the ADSL)

 

But presumably if a customer is calling from an analogue line, the quality is knocked back down? Or do you get better quality overall because the line is digital for one half of the "journey" so there are less losses?

[Owain]

I like the idea of the Panasonic systems too - it's more familiar territory I suppose. Something like this but with a few more extensions. The only thing that bugs me about it is having to put batteries into the phones.

You only have to put batteries into the 'Caprice display phones' if you want to use those phones. They're just ordinary phones with displays. Any other ordinary phone will work as well. I'm fairly sure the Panasonic proprietary system phones don't need batteries.

 

 

Check carefully whether the Panasonic PBX have the 'all ring' hunt group feature you require.

 

The newer ones are programmable over a USB lead with Windows software supplied by Panasonic.

 

 

[dbuckley]

I'm fairly sure the Panasonic proprietary system phones don't need batteries.

They do not; power is supplied from the PABX to the feature phones. But, and this might be quite important, so I better mention it, the feature phones need a four wire (two pair) connection to the PABX. Ordinary POTS phones just need one pair. POTS phones and feature phones can be used in parallel, if necessary.

 

 

Check carefully whether the Panasonic PBX have the 'all ring' hunt group feature you require.

They certainly hunt, in the conventional sense of the word, but all ring all group as I noted is (on the KX-TAs) a DISA feature, and thus may not work internally, without a patch cable to make a number you call that you think is an extension into an outside line.

 

And thinking about it, it doesn't even need to be this hard; an external call can ring any combination of extensions as a standard feature, and the combination is set per-outside-line, and the combinations can be different in day, night, and lunch modes. So at worst a patch cable and the jobs a goodun. Though page to all phones in an area (or everywhere) is still a better feature. And in a feature phone environment the page group can be put on a button, and that's exactly what I have at home. Pick up phone, press button, shout out the message from the group of phones. Because any of the paged phones can then jump into "phone" mode for a conversation by just picking up the phone, it really is a hassle free way of contacting people over a wide area.

 

Another nice feature is that you can set an extension to auto-answer internal calls, so if you have a hands-free feature phone you don't even need to pick up the phone to have a conversation. No programming needed, just touch the auto-answer button on the feature phone to enable. This is different to page groups.

 

 

The newer ones are programmable over a USB lead with Windows software supplied by Panasonic.

Yeah, the third party software is still easier to get on with than the Panny software!

[slim_mcslim]

I can't believe there are still people suggesting ISDN... its not the 80's

 

The answer is VOIP, asterisk is free, but complicated unless you like command line linux...

 

We use a windows based VOIP server called 3CX which is really simple to setup and manage.

3CX offers pretty much any service you could expect from an old fashioned PBX, plus many more grouping and ringing options, it is available for free for use with a 2 call concurrent limit.

 

We have 17 Polycom Handsets all powered on POE, physically spread over two units, all running on standard ADSL2+ connected to our 3CX server, with 4 incoming DDI numbers, and an infinite (bandwidth permitting) number of outbound lines, the call costs are a fraction of BT, its cheaper for calls to the USA than UK mobiles, but still cheaper than BT.

Excluding the fact that we have to have 2 BT lines, which we pay line rental only on, our call charges for June, based on 11hrs of out going calls cost just over £20

 

Paul...

[cedd]

Pah, my Siemens ISDX is still going strong, none of this new fangled VOIP stuff! Built like a battle ship! :-)

[timsabre]

We've moved to voip recently and are getting very variable call quality, sometimes have to hang up and try again. At least isdn was reliable. ..

[Mixermend]

Large companies have disaster recovery plans - so they can be quickly back in business in the event of a fire - or a loss of computing access - or phone communications.

 

So whatever system you go for, ensure that it can be bypassed, ensure that at the very least you can plug ordinary phones directly onto the incoming phone lines. Most PABX's directly connect exchange lines to designated extensions in the event of power failure for example.

 

I guess that it is now easier with mobile phones as an secondary, or even primary method of phone communication - and landline numbers can be diverted to mobiles of course.

 

Certainly fall back plans are important.