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Making the Right Choice Now

It is becoming more apparent that consideration must be given to both stand-alone systems (i.e. the type that you house in your office) and IP Centrex solutions (see Hosted IP Solutions below). Irrespective of the hardware, you need to ensure that the technical capabilities to integrate with other products are present in order to derive profit from this technology.

PBX

100% of new telephone systems are now fully digital and are able to support both analogue and digital ISDN lines. As ISDN is the enabling technology for many of the functions described on this website, such as CTI ( Computer Telephony Integration), digital systems are much more flexible and functional than analogue PBXs.

Even businesses with very basic telephony requirements should buy a digital rather than analogue phone system, as it gives the flexibility to upgrade to ISDN should their requirements change. Digital telephone systems are now priced extremely competitively.

When choosing a digital system look for one that has a clear migration path to the technology as covered later in the website, such as CTI, digital networking, data, Voice over IP, Unified Messaging, and so on.

It is also important to look for a telephone system that offers flexibility, growth potential and security of investment so that it can be upgraded to meet changing business needs and accommodate new technologies. It should support open standards and have common components and handsets that can be upgraded on an ad hoc basis as new features and system enhancements become available.

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The size of phone system is given in the number of ports that can be supported: buyers can specify a combination of external lines and internal extensions to the maximum port sizes. In most commercial organisations, it is best to work on a ratio of one exchange line for every three extensions required.

ISDN enables callers to dial extensions directly using DDI without going through an operator.

You may also not necessarily need to separate lines for fax, data and Internet access, allowing you to optimise line usage and reduce overall line rentals. This offers the potential of significant cost savings. Do not plan just for current capacity. If you expect your business to double in size in the next two years consider what effect this will have on your phone system requirements. It is best to provide cabling for additional extensions at the installation stage even if the extra capacity is not needed for some time.

Of course, future needs are hard to determine and maximum flexibility is required, so digital cordless phones such as DECT (digitally enhanced cordless telephony) handsets should be considered for part or all of the system.

A telephone system alone will not provide you with all the functionality to create profit. The added benefits are found in the implementation of peripheral products that can be attached to your telephone system and computer network. The first question to ask, therefore, is whether or not your existing telephone system can support these peripheral products. If it can't, can it be upgraded? If not, will the return on investment analysis determine whether or not you should change your telephone system?

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If you are unsure about the technical ability of your telephone system, contact us and we will be able to help.

Hosted IP Telephony, unlike VoIP mentioned above, means that you no longer have to own a telephone system; an IP Telephony provider has already made that investment.

The main equipment, i.e. the telephone system and operating software is owned and located at the VoIP provider and is directly connected to the Internet. A broadband connection is required at the business premises, from 1Mb up to 8Mb depending on the number of concurrent voice connections required and the Quality of Service (QoS) demanded, i.e. allocated Bandwidth to speech, typically 64kbps.

A router is installed and connected to your internal IP network. The extensions – provided by SIP enabled telephones from Polycom, Cisco or Avaya - are then connected directly to your broadband/ ADSL via your network.

No additional wiring is required as the handset connects between your existing PC and the computer socket (i.e. structured cabling like Category 5) on the wall.

Similarly, a homeworker can be connected to your business phone network using home broadband, router and an IP handset. Being connected via IP means that workers can be located anywhere in the world.

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What does it mean for a business?

Free calls to all extensions connected to the service, locally, nationally or globally. Standard network charges apply to calls to any other type of telephone or device such as mobile or normally-connected landline. These are typically in the region of just over 01p per call, approximately 10p to mobiles and comparable non-BT rates to international destinations.

• Staff can be located anywhere in the world and still be part of your standard communications structure.
• Businesses can factor in home workers anywhere in the UK.
• Additional extensions can be added quickly and without the need for an engineer.
• Call routing to extensions is managed over the Internet 24/7 and diverts to mobiles or any other number can be set up instantly.
• Users manage their own extensions via a web browser, i.e. setting up diverts and DND; access to voicemail can be from any telephone.
• Integration with MS Outlook for screen dialling and popping for increased productivity and customer service. There is no need for system speed dials.
• Contact Centre working is available providing reports and statistics on a monthly basis.
• No ongoing maintenance charges or restriction on expansion.
• Retain all existing telephone numbers.
• Blend SIP with existing ISDN or analogue lines on telephone systems to achieve maximum efficiency.

Use WiFi enabled mobiles for greater flexibility, i.e. free connection to your office from WiFi ‘HotSpots’

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However there are some caveats; in order to connect an IP handset to your LAN, you must ensure that you have a VLAN Switch; old style network hubs will not work as they cannot prioritise voice over data. You must then decide whether or not the VLAN switch should also be equipped with Power over Ethernet (PoE). This provides the power for the handset.

With typical telephone systems the power supply within the telephone system main equipment provides a low voltage through the extension wiring to the handset. Your computer at the end of the computer cabling has its own power supply and you need to decide if Power over Ethernet is required or, if you will need to pay approximately £20 for a power supply for each IP handset.

How much does it cost?

Hosted IP Solutions = £10 - £20 per month*, per extension, depending on requirements, on a 1 – 5 Year Contract.

Further facilities such as dialling from MS Outlook are also available at an additional cost.

*Requires ADSL Max Broadband (£15-£50 per month) and a SIP Handset (from £85.00 to £200.00).

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Analogue Lines

Once upon a time only analogue lines could be connected to telephone systems and they could be very expensive too if analogue Direct Dialling In was needed. It meant that a business needed to install one physical copper telephone line for ever DDI number required.

Now that has changed as explained below under ISDN, however, there is still a small demand for analogue lines.

Copper telephone lines are predominately used residentially and the numbers are reducing in businesses. Smaller companies who have no need for additional functionality continue to use analogue lines and this can still be cost effective. However, typically these are for line quantities below eight. Above eight lines the cost can be justified to change to ISDN.

ADSL (broadband), single fax lines, modems, alarm systems and legacy private lines are the most common use for analogue lines. In days gone by, it was an Oftel requirement that all telephones systems be fitted with a powerfail fall-back facility whereby, irrespective of the type of telephone lines connected to the system, 20% of the line capacity needed to be available in the event of a power cut. This is no longer a requirement, however, with larger organisations it is worthwhile checking to make sure that there are no rogue telephone lines that are still being paid for, even though they are not being used.

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ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

ISDN has been available for over 20 years and is provided in the form of ISDN2e ( BRI) and ISDN30e (PRI). Originally there were three predominant benefits of ISDN - speed, quality and integration. Transmission of data was in the region of 26 times faster than a normal analogue telephone line and, as the digital technology it was less susceptible to electromagnetic distortion, quality and accuracy were superior. Regarding integration, the main advantage with digital communications was that voice, data and images could be transmitted on a single network. This reduced the number of different networks was necessary to subscribe to.

As you will read, the transmission of data over broadband has now become commonplace and not as originally anticipated over ISDN.

ISDN2e

Once ISDN2e became widely available it had a significant impact on the telecoms market as it effectively doubled the capacity of the copper lines in the ground, i.e. two connections via one copper wire.

ISDN2e has given businesses the ability to connect a low number of telephone lines economically (typically no more than 8 at a single site) and at the same time providing a higher level of functionality. ISDN2e provided multiple subscriber numbering, MSN, which meant that an ISDN2e circuit could have more than one number attributed to it. This is more widely known now as DDI.

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ISDN30e

ISDN30e, as the number suggests, relates to the number of voice channels or lines, i.e. 30, available on one circuit (single fibre optic cable). If more than 30 lines are required multiple circuits can be connected to a single telephone system and calls are made and received across all channels. The minimum order quantity provided by British Telecom is eight channels at a single installation: smaller installations would be recommended to install ISDN2 with the same functionality.

In addition to the 30 channels for voice, two further channels are used for data and synchronisation. It is via the data and synchronisation channels that additional functionality is achieved.

Direct dialling inwards (DDI) is available across ISDN30e circuits and is now commonplace throughout the UK in most businesses. The main advantage of DDI is that telephone calls can be received by individual members of staff thereby reducing the number of calls answered by a receptionist.

In addition to multiple telephone numbers, ISDN also enables important technical features, such as calling line identity ( CLI) which enables users to see the telephone number of the person calling. In conjunction with CLI and the data channel, it is possible to harness the functionality of computer software to control telephone calls. In simple terms it is now possible to make and receive calls via database packages such as Outlook, Goldmine, Act! and Salesforce. See CTI section for more information.

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If you are not sure which ISDN service would best suit your business please contact us on 0800 970 9751 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it