Control Unit or KSU: (Key Service Unit): In smaller
office phone systems the control unit is commonly referred to as the
"Brain" or "phone box". The size of the control unit determines
the maximum configuration. Most business phone systems have a number
in the name such as "Meridian
Norstar 616" or "Meridian
Norstar 824 or the MICS
0x32". These numbers usually refer to the maximum configuration of
the system although not always. The "616" would mean 6 incoming lines
and 16 telephones (extensions). The "824", 8 incoming lines and 24
telephones (extensions). The 824 Norstar phone system is expandable to
56 incoming lines and 56 telephones (extensions) by adding expansion
modules. Note: All key telephone systems have music on hold.
Co lines-These
are the incoming phone lines from your local telephone company.
Extensions-Stations-These are the actual telephones. They are
extensions of the telephone system. They look like telephones and work
like telephones, But only work with the control unit and will not work
if they are plugged into a regular telephone line from the telephone
company. So, if you ever move, Don't forget the control unit.
Voice Mail-Auto
Attendant- voice mail systems with the auto attendant is like
having a receptionist 24 hours a day without paying labor costs.
The auto attendant is an answering service that answers incoming calls
with a company greeting,plays a list of options to a caller, and
transfers calls to the different departments, then to mail boxes if
that extension is not answered, or back to a main directory.
The auto attendant can be turned off during business hours and
answered manually. The person answering the call can transfer
calls to the different departments and mail boxes. The voice mail
system is a separate unit from the telephone system, it is wired into
an extension port on the telephone system and is programmed to answer
after a determined amount of rings. Voice mail comes in
different sizes 2 port,4 port, 6 port and up, it depends on the
amount of incoming traffic your company has.
Ports: The
term port means circuit. For instance, a 2 "Port" voice mail system
has 2 circuits to handle call traffic. The number of ports on a voice
mail system is directly related to the number of users that can be in
voice mail at the same time. An example the "Norstar Startalk Flash"
voice mail system is 2 port and 24 mail boxes and is expandable to 4
ports and 48 mailboxes. The term "port" is used when describing a
telephone system it refers to the combined number of lines and
extensions. An example of this would be the "Meridian Norstar Modular
ICS with XC software ". This telephone system supports up to 272 total
system ports.
Things to think about
before purchasing a office phone system.
Many companies today have purchased
telephone equipment that was just right for there company only to find
out that as there company grow there phone system could not.
Estimating your future growth today may not cause you problems in your
telephone system later. These are questions you need to consider when
purchasing a telephone system.
What is the maximum
number of phones that I can have on my business phone system?
What is the maximum number of phone lines (co lines) for my phone
system?
Can I add phone equipment to increase the number of phones or phone
lines?
Can I add features to my phone system such as voicemail?
"Well I need 4 phones so I must
need 4 lines, right?"
NO! Picking phone
lines really depends on the number of calls you receive in a day, how
many phones lines will be used at the same time. If you were running a
sales office and you had 4 phones lines with 4 sales people and they
were all on there phones, new callers would get a busy signal.
You would more likely need 6 to 8 phone lines. A fax lines
can be shared with the credit card terminal,shipping terminal or
anything else, But not at the same time.
Hunt Group,Rotary
Lines- Meaning if line 1 is busy it will roll
over to line 2 an on down to your last line. Don't put the fax line in
the hunt group, Because if all lines are busy the next caller will get
the fax machine. "Not good for business."
When ordering your CO lines from your local telephone company order
them in a hunt group, i.e. Ordering 6 lines, put 4 in the hunt
group 1 for the fax and 1 for a modem or 5 in the hunt group and share
1 line for the fax and the modem.
Meridian Norstar phone systems
are one of the best on the market. "We think the best business phone
systems".
Nortel Networks has been designing
communication systems for over 50 years. Product lines such as the
Meridian Norstar are designed with usability and longevity in mind.
Nortel’s Norstar phone systems provides
you with an expandable system that will support your companies growing
needs. With usability and reliability combined.
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