Phone System ?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I am currently researching possible phone systems for our company - I am considering TalkSwitch 24 and 48 by Centrepoint Tech, Elite 48 and 192 by NEC, DCSc, and iDCS by Samsung, and the Partner and Merlin by Avaya.

A. I guese I should ask a few questions. What do you do? How many incomming lines do you need? What applications (if any) are you looking to do? Voicemail and if so auto-attendant? One question that you may forget to ask until it's too late--How much is the maintenance contract? Also, make sure there are a couple vendors available in your area that will work on each of these systems, that way you won't be locked into a single vendor if you aren't satisfied with their performance. The DCS is a good system. If the NEC uses the same phones as the NEAX, I would stay away from it. Never heard of the talkswitch. The Partner is ok for a basic square system, not a lot of features though. The Legend is a much better system, but maintenance will probably kill you. Avaya is VERY proud of their stuff. You may want to consider the Nortel Norstar or BCM too. It's probably priced about the same as the Legend, but is, IMHO, a much better switch. I think I would probably be looking first at the DCS though. If I must say the NEC phone system is extremly flexable and will run next to forever I have had both Nortel (I feel it is junk) & NEC I usually don't respond to these but I will say the one that said if the NEC elite uses the same phone as the NEAX is Junk, I want to know which NEC Phone he is referring the NEAX 2400 we have has been upgraded over several years and we have had the D-Term V, D-term II, D-Term III, D-term -E and D-term I that we just received and they all worked great and all that we continue to have work great I would never say junk....mabe a wee bit antiquated but not junk. I've seen the new NEC elite systems..though I have personally only worked on the NEAX systems and yeah the phones are pretty weak. Always replacing them..especially the NEC analog sets are the worst. Well maybe JUNK is a little strong but I use to work on the nortel systems and found them to have their share of issues, just as any other system. But I must say as far as support and flexability the NEC has it hands down over the Nortel Also as far as longevity and development NEC is better positioned in the market place, Remember Nortel is having Financial issues and has laid off approximatly 40,000 people over the past year where as NEC has only laid off approximatly 1,000 so it makes me wonder how much development Nortel can do. As far as the D-Term issue goes the Series one and series two phones were know for having dialpad and display issues but the series 3, E, and I phones are very durable. one place people can get info on the NEC systems is at the following web page www.necamerica.com

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