When considering a new business telephone system you may consider the following: PSTN, ISDN or VOIP. Look at what type of system you have now. If you look at the main equipment, KSU or simply referred to as the box on the wall, each unit has a series of electronic cards in it that determines what type of system that you have. The standard configuration starts with up to 4 telephone lines and 8 handset extensions. This can be doubled by the insertion of electronic cards to be increases to 8 telephone lines and up to 16 telephone handset extensions. An increase to more lines and additional extensions would require investment in a larger telephone system.
Even if a unit has written on the main equipment ISDN capable or VOIP compatible, it does not mean that the phone system is already configured for that protocol. You need to look at the electronic cards in the main equipment to determine over what protocol the system is running. If cards are removed and ISDN or VOIP cards are inserted then the system can be set up for that new protocol & the existing handsets can be utilised & so do not have to be replaced making it more economical for the client.
You can usually tell if the client has an ISDN system when they have consecutive phone numbers and each phone number has its own voicemail service.
With PSTN incoming lines are not usually consecutive and you can only have and end point answering machine where the caller leaves message when you are on the phone or no one answers the call after 6 rings. This setting can be reduced or increased to determine how long the phone rings before it is diverted or picked up an answering machine or service. When you leave a message it could be for any person to call you back. If the phone system has a voicemail mail module then you will be able to leave messages for individuals associated with a particular extension.
With VoIP systems or business VoIP solutions where voice calls are made over the internet you are making calls over the same service as you send emails or surf the net. The calls are made ” in the cloud” . The calls terminate off site and through your internet connection. With VoIP service voice calls are given priority over internet email exchange. For this reason we usually recommend that the client has one internet service for emails & anther internet service for voice calls so that call quality is not compromised. With PSTN & ISDN you use the copper wire that come into the premises via Telstra.
The National broadband network or NBN is not using the old copper that is in the ground so eventually all the systems that use copper will not operate when the copper is” turned off” in about 10 years time.
It is not expected at the current time that the NBN will be rolled in the Northern Beaches of Sydney for at least another 10 years.
One thing that we are hearing a lot of from customers is the question “is your telephone system NBN compatible?” If it has anything to do with the copper network then it is not NBN compatible.
The future is making voice calls over the internet or VOIP. Our Copper source which carries a lot of voice traffic will eventually be phased out and all voice call traffic will be over the National Broadband Network.
As a business phone company, ECT Connect will provide the best business VoIP solutions when it comes to voice and internet telephony. We can also assist with telephone system upgrades and phone system service.
