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Control Unit or KSU:
(Key Service Unit): In smaller business 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 "
Norstar 824 Meridian phone system 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 Meridian phone system is expandable
to 56 incoming lines and 56 telephones (extensions) by adding
expansion modules. Note: All key business phone 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 phone 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 programmed to answer after
a determined amount of rings. Voice mail comes in different sizes 2
ports, 4 ports 6 ports and up, it depends on the amount of incoming
traffic your company receives.
Ports:
The term port means circuit. For instance, a 2 "Port" voice mail
system has 2 circuits to handle incoming 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 has 2 ports and 24 mail
boxes and is expandable to 4 ports and 48 mailboxes. The term "port"
is used when describing a telephone system as 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, i.e. 100 lines and 172
extensions.
Hunt
Group,Rotary Lines-
Meaning if line 1 is busy it will roll over to line 2 an on down to
your last line. Do not put the fax line in the hunt group, because if
all lines are busy the next caller will get the fax machine. When
ordering your CO lines from your local telephone company order them in
a hunt group, i.e. order 6 lines, put 5 in the hunt group and
designate 1 line for the fax machine.
Things to think
about before purchasing an office phone system.
Many companies
today have purchased telephone equipment just right for their company
size only to find out their phone system could not keep up with their
company's growth. Estimating your company's future growth today may
alleviate problems in your telephone system later. These are questions
you need to consider when purchasing a new business phone system or
refurbished phone system.
Questions to
consider prior to purchasing a phone system:
1. What
is the maximum number of phones I can have on my business phone
system?
2. What is the maximum number of phone lines (co lines) for my phone
system?
3. Can I add phone equipment to increase the number of phones or
phone lines?
4. Can I add features to my phone system such as voicemail?
Frequently asked
question:
"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 had 4 phones lines with 4 sales
people and all lines were being used, new callers would get a busy
signal. You would most likely need 5 to 6 phone lines
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When
considering purchasing a new business phone system or refurbished
phone system the Norstar system is one of the best phone systems on
the market today.
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Nortel
Networks the manufacturer of the Norstar phone system has been
designing communication systems for over 50 years.
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Norstar
phones systems are designed with usability and reliability in mind.
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Nortel’s Norstar phone systems provide you with an expandable system
that will support your company's growing needs.
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