Recommendations for telephone system vendors?

Yahoo Archive
1
We did this last year and decided on a Nortel system over the Avaya.
Ameritech is a reseller and our local phone company. I'm not a fan of
Ameritech but they did a good job with service and training. We have 30
phones, 10 lines, voice mail and a call center.

Mitchell Kirby
V. P. Manufacturing
Riten Industries, Inc.

740-333-8719 Direct
800-338-0027 Sales
800-338-0717 FAX


-----Original Message-----
From: Dina Hieber [mailto:dhieber@...]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 7:54 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Recommendations for telephone system vendors?


Joe,

If you did not get any responses off line - I have a thread that was
from last year saved, if you would like to see it.

Happy Holidays,


Dina Hieber
Vamco International, Inc.
(412) 963-7100 Phone
(412) 963-9511 Fax

-----Original Message-----
From: technifast <jholloway@...>
[mailto:jholloway@...]
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 5:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Recommendations for telephone system vendors?

We are in the process of looking at upgrading our telephone system,
voice mail, etc. We need to be able to connect to a new warehouse.
I have already received a proposal from Expanets/Lucent. I would like
to get a few more, but would like some recommendations on suppliers
vs. just going through the Yellow Pages.


Joe Holloway
Technifast Industries
Carol Stream IL
jholloway@...




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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
2
We are in the process of looking at upgrading our telephone system,
voice mail, etc. We need to be able to connect to a new warehouse.
I have already received a proposal from Expanets/Lucent. I would like
to get a few more, but would like some recommendations on suppliers
vs. just going through the Yellow Pages.


Joe Holloway
Technifast Industries
Carol Stream IL
jholloway@...
3
Joe,

If you did not get any responses off line - I have a thread that was
from last year saved, if you would like to see it.

Happy Holidays,


Dina Hieber
Vamco International, Inc.
(412) 963-7100 Phone
(412) 963-9511 Fax

-----Original Message-----
From: technifast <jholloway@...>
[mailto:jholloway@...]
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 5:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Recommendations for telephone system vendors?

We are in the process of looking at upgrading our telephone system,
voice mail, etc. We need to be able to connect to a new warehouse.
I have already received a proposal from Expanets/Lucent. I would like
to get a few more, but would like some recommendations on suppliers
vs. just going through the Yellow Pages.


Joe Holloway
Technifast Industries
Carol Stream IL
jholloway@...




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
Dina,

We went with the Avaya product back in 2001 and it�s been great stuff. We
had a quote from Expanets, but they are not the only people that can get you
the Avaya products. We went with a local vendor and got much better pricing
and were able to keep the Avaya service agreement. You should check to see
if there are any Avaya vars in your area.

Paul L.


We are in the process of looking at upgrading our telephone system,
voice mail, etc. We need to be able to connect to a new warehouse.
I have already received a proposal from Expanets/Lucent. I would like
to get a few more, but would like some recommendations on suppliers
vs. just going through the Yellow Pages.


Joe Holloway
Technifast Industries
Carol Stream IL
jholloway@...




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
5
At 10:02 PM 12/9/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>We are in the process of looking at upgrading our telephone system, voice
>mail, etc. We need to be able to connect to a new warehouse. I have
>already received a proposal from Expanets/Lucent.

I would recommend you stay FAR AWAY from Lucent or whatever their name is
this month. There's good reason they've been bought / sold / spun-off /
merged / renamed about 20 times in the last 5 years, and that their stock
crashed & burned.

I bought a Merlin Legend system (50 X 12) from them in 1998-ish. Their
prices were absurdly high, but we talked them down from $51,000 to $27,000
(still $540 / station). The sales guy remained real nice through all of
this. Post installation, it was like pulling teeth to get anything from
them. All maintenance and add-ons were back up at the crazy prices. And
the local independent vendors didn't want to mess with us since we'd bought
directly from Lucent in the first place. They coddle their Definity
customers (the BIG PBXes) but the little systems were hit & run sales. On
top of all that, the features, quality, and ergonomics of the thing weren't
all that great. Then 2 years into it, they announced it was a discontinued
product, and maintenance & parts (ALL refurb now, BTW!) would be even
higher! Nice.

Enough ranting! Some positive suggestions... We have a Panasonic KXTD
here at our little consulting office. Has most all the features of bigger
PBXes I've played with (Rolm, Mitel, Lucent) in a little system. Our
digital 8 X 4 with 2 port voice mail and 4 phones was only $1500! You
didn't say what size you needed, but I'd definitely contact a Panasonic
vendor for their proposal.

Also, from what little I know about it, Voice-Over-IP is probably the way
to go for most new systems. Whatever you buy, try to find something with
multiple local sales & support vendors.

-Wayne Cox
Twenty Three - Information Technology Consulting
828-685-2338
6
Joe,

I've just recently completed the process of choosing a new Telephone
solution for Commercial Tool...
Some of our requirements:
- Centralized telephone reception (one operator for 3 buildings on our
campus)
- Supports PRI and Analog trunks
- Distinctive ring/light pattern for each facility
- DID blocks (Direct Incoming Dial)
- View Call/View Message on PC (Voicemail & Email integration )
- 130 stations (expandable to 400)
- 16 full featured multi-line wireless phones (replaces half our Nextels)
expandable
- Detailed call reporting software
- Integrated dynamic zone paging

I had quotes from Avaya, Nortel, Toshiba and Shoreline...
Shoreline being a nifty IP Voice Communications System - just a little to
bleeding edge for my taste.
Nortel, super solid solution unfortunately SBC Ameritech priced themselves
out of the running.
Avaya Magic was a competitively priced solid solution but the wireless
solution I wanted didnt integrate as cleanly...
In the end I opted for the Toshiba DK424 solution which gave us all the
items on our wish list plus some extras... was reasonably priced and
ultimately gave the "best bang for the buck".

Good luck, Lee
-----Original Message-----
From: Dina Hieber [mailto:dhieber@...]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 7:54 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Recommendations for telephone system vendors?


Joe,

If you did not get any responses off line - I have a thread that was
from last year saved, if you would like to see it.

Happy Holidays,


Dina Hieber
Vamco International, Inc.
(412) 963-7100 Phone
(412) 963-9511 Fax

-----Original Message-----
From: technifast <jholloway@...>
[mailto:jholloway@...]
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 5:02 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Recommendations for telephone system vendors?

We are in the process of looking at upgrading our telephone system,
voice mail, etc. We need to be able to connect to a new warehouse.
I have already received a proposal from Expanets/Lucent. I would like
to get a few more, but would like some recommendations on suppliers
vs. just going through the Yellow Pages.


Joe Holloway
Technifast Industries
Carol Stream IL
jholloway@...



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]