Phone Systems ---- Obsolete?

[Steve]

Looking into the phone stuff for our second shop. At our current shop we use a phone system, but when talking with two phone companies they said they can roll the phone lines over at no cost… So my question is, are phone systems obsolete now?

We will be using SpeedLine POS with integrated swipers and a WHOZZ Calling Caller ID Box. 3 phone lines then the internet will be on cable.

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[bodegahwy]

Not for me until internet is as reliable as the phone company. At least around here, internet goes down a couple of times a year. Sometimes for an hour or two, sometimes all day. Never had the phones down even once in 16 years. Having my phones shut down for a big dinner rush sometime because the internet is down could cost me as much as my phone service for the whole year.

 

[OSV]

Yup. Phones may be heading towards obsolescence, but they’re not there yet.

 

[Steve]

Not for me until internet is as reliable as the phone company. At least around here, internet goes down a couple of times a year. Never had the phones down even once in 16 years. Having my phones shut down for a big dinner rush sometime because the internet is down could cost me as much as my phone service for the whole year.

As far as the internet, my phone would still be going through the phone company, but I was told they can roll over the lines and place calls on hold, thus possibly, if I’m understanding them correctly, eliminating the need for a phone system

 

[tguag]

i think they are talking about piggy backing the lines to if one is busy they will automatically transfer to the next line…you still need to plug all 3 lines into a phone system that can handle all the lines…check out office depot they have 3 and 4 line phone systems for around 600 bucks i think.

 

[bodegahwy]

Roll-over is not a feature that costs money for us. Regardless, we still need to have a phone system that can take calls on our four lines and which allows us to answer all four lines at once on any of the phones in the store. We have five phones including the one in the office. Any of them can answer all the lines and we can put a call on hold on one phone and pick it up on any other. These features are an absolute requirement for us. Perhaps as online grows we will get to where we do not need four lines but not soon.

 

[GotRocks]

As far as the internet, my phone would still be going through the phone company, but I was told they can roll over the lines and place calls on hold, thus possibly, if I’m understanding them correctly, eliminating the need for a phone system

We use a cable company for our ISP and our phone, We have 2 lines with caller-ID & hunting (Hunting; If the main number is busy, it rings on our 2nd line) and 60 MB internet service, it is just under $100/month

I imagine most large cable phone providers could do that with several more lines, so my guess is that it would make a phone switching system less than needed in your situation.

I am in a very rural area, and we’ve only had one outage from a main trunk being damaged in another state, so reliability has not been an issue for us.

 

[bodegahwy]

Yes, Comcast has offered that kind of plan to us for the store with four lines. But I have Comcast at home and my service is down for at least a half hour once or twice a month and for a half day or longer once or twice a year. Until that changes… I can’t risk it.