Control Unit or KSU: (Key Service Unit): In smaller
office 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 "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
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 business 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 phone 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 phone system, it is wired into an extension port on the
meridian phone 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 phone 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 Meridian phone system supports up to 272 total system
ports.
Things to think about before purchasing a
business 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
business phone system
later. These are questions you need to consider when purchasing a business phone 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 business 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 business 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 Meridian phone systems provides you with an expandable system that
will support your companies growing needs. With usability and reliability combined.
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