Use Voice PRI to Eliminate Excess Analog Lines

Does your thriving business still operate on numerous analog lines in addition to your Voice PRI? Do the monthly charges seem to add up month after month after month, and you wonder why you even still have them? Did you know you can get rid of nearly all of your old analog line technology when implementing a Voice PRI, and eliminate those excess costs?

All too often, companies continue to operate on archaic telecom products when they have not been properly advised on the latest and greatest products in the marketplace. Although analog POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines are traditionally among the most reliable voice circuits available, the cost of having too many justifies a better solution immediately.

POTS lines run anywhere from around $25 a month for a bare bones service line to over $50 a month depending on local serving area, calling package, features and provider. If you are using analog lines for your local calling service, it may be in your best interest to seriously consider other alternatives.

With your business telephone system or PBX, you can insert an analog line card to convert your digital station ports (which you typically have available) into analog ports specifically for analog devices. Examples of analog devices include the following:

• Cordless telephones • Conference room speaker phones • Fax machines • Modems (Yes, there are still some out there!)

The investment in a typical 4 port analog card is only a couple hundred dollars, so the payback is well worth the investment if you can eliminate high monthly recurring expenses. By leveraging the power of your PRI circuit, you can eliminate all of your excess analog line costs to save hundreds of dollars in unnecessary expenses per month.

Very few large companies operate ANY analog lines except as required by law for elevators, burglar alarms, fire alarms, or backups. They have consistently found that the reliability and capabilities of their PRI circuits make analog lines an unneeded expense.

Are there situations where I should consider keeping analog lines?

Yes. Let’s take a look at first things first though. What do you have and why?

It’s not uncommon to run across companies with dozens of analog lines that are no longer in use if they have not been audited in recent years. The costs of unused lines may be costing you hundreds each month if you are unaware of their use. You should know EXACTLY how many analog lines your facility needs, and EXACTLY what they are for. Otherwise, you ARE wasting your money. Old lines that are left intact and forgotten about are often for old fax lines or modems.

The idea of backup analog lines in case of PRI failure is also reason that is consistently used by your local telephone company to “save” their POTS line revenue stream. “What if your PRI goes down?” is one of their favorite questions. Are you telling me your 99.99% guaranteed uptime isn’t any good? Of course outages can happen, so just make sure you have a plan in place in case of service failure.

Larger facilities will have default forwarding at the carrier switch level to forward their calls on their PRI in case of interruption to another facility or to another number if the circuit is down. (That feature is often called Truck Group call forwarding.) The number that you forward your PRI calls to will typically need to have staff available to answer the rerouted calls, or a voicemail attached to catch incoming messages. You do NOT need numerous outgoing analog line banks “just in case” because nearly every one of your employees on staff carries a cell phone. The major concern of years past used to be about safety and being isolated from communications access. “If my PRI goes down, and I have no analog lines, I won’t be able to make a call!” That is simply no longer the case. However, make sure that if you do have line failure, your calls are routed as desired so you do not miss calls during your service interruption.

On occasion T-1’s CAN lose connectivity, but it is most often from line cuts on the local loop. If that happens, since your PRI runs on the same copper wires as your pots lines, they are likely going to cut and out of service as well. So why pay extra for them?

In case of power failure, battery backup can provide temporary power service for your PRI carrier piece of equipment and phone system, just as you might use for your computers. Areas with dirty electricity and transient voltage problems should consider a backup analog line or two, as the power runs through those lines, and they can still provide connectivity in case of electrical failure. That is a recommendation based strictly on the area in which you operate, and you will already know if you electricity issues in your area. One thing to keep in mind: If you hook up those backups to your telephone system and the electricity is out, the phone lines will only work if your phone system is still powered. If your backup power does not last, your phone lines will not work unless they are set up to operate outside of the switch.

In years past, older business telephone systems or data technology also would often require a modem for remote access to service, troubleshoot, etc, but that method is now arcane and outdated. Any newer technology would be assigned a static IP address on the LAN (Local area network) behind a firewall and be accessible over your High speed internet connection by your vendor of choice. You should no longer need analog lines for these services.

Take inventory of all analog lines in your facility, and convert as many as possible to your PRI via analog card technology. Remember that some services like elevators, burglar alarms and fire alarms must be run over analog lines, and cannot be converted. Although they will actually work over the PRI in most cases, you put your facility at risk for regular false alarms during carrier line testing and severe liability in case of emergency. In addition, if the electricity is out at your facility, and your battery backup is depleted, your facility is wide open for theft and fire without proper authority notification. As always, work with your telecommunications professional to conduct a thorough facility audit before converting or disconnecting lines.

Cheap Sollutions for Internet Using T1 Line

Dedicated Voice Services consist of local, long distance like interstate, intrastate and international and toll free services. The cost of these services varies depending on where you are calling and your carrier. Dedicated Broadband Internet Access provides 1.544 Mbps capacity for both uploading and downloading from the Internet.

The cost for integrated service varies with capacity, features and services. This is a great option for typical companies with five to twenty employees. One of the main differences between a T1 line and DSL is the cost. While DSL is not as fast or reliable as a T1 circuit, it is substantially less expensive. The cost of DSL services has gone down due to deregulation, competition and the decreasing costs of equipment and supplying bandwidth, while T1 lines remain in the higher price range because of the robust technology they utilize.

A T1 line is a digital transmission link with a capacity of 1.544 Mbps. T1 lines are used to access voice and data, including the public telephone network and the Internet, and to create private networks. A variety of services can be accessed with a T1 line. You can have a dedicated T1 line for voice services, broadband Internet access, integrated broadband and long distance service.

T1 and DSL are both service access technologies. A T1 primarily is a business product, while DSL can service both business and residential customers. T1 is the best choice if immediate responses and reliability are critical to the applications you use on your connection or if you host an in-house email or web servers.

If this is not the case, DSL may be an option. DSL can run as fast as T1 but speeds are variable depending on load and design factors. T1s are generally more reliable and have a shorter time to repair. A good way to gauge whether or not you should consider T1 service is to evaluate your current usage and telecom expenses. If you meet any of the following criteria, a T1 line may be the best option for your business.

A T1 connection is perfect for small and medium sized businesses needing an internet service provider for 20 to 50 internet users. The line is a twenty four channel circuit providing an internet connection straight from the broadband provider backbone. This makes a T1 connection a stable and reliable broadband connection. 256 kbps to 768 kbps broadband connection. There are several different types of T1 connections that exist.

One is called a fractional T1 line. This is perfect for small and medium size businesses needing internet service for 5 to 30 users. A Fractional T1 line is a portion of a 24-channel circuit providing a connection straight from the providers backbone. For this reason a Fractional T1 line is a very stable and reliable broadband connection. You will also maintain scalability since there is no bandwidth aggregation and the unused channels can be turned up.

Voice T1 For Your Business Communications

A T1 is a digital high-speed circuit designed specifically for business telephony solutions. There are many advantages to using a voice T1 for your company. Consider these advantages when choosing voice T1 service.

How a T1 Works A T1 consists of 24 digital channels. These channels are flexible and can be used by anyone when they are free. A voice T1 can have both incoming and outgoing traffic on it. This means that you can convert your main telephone line to your T1 to provide more availability of incoming calls. The T1 channels are also used for outgoing calls. The next available line is used for making a call. All the telephone users share these lines. This flexibility makes much better utilization of the lines.

Companies can also take advantage of DID (direct inward dial) service. Purchase a bank of DID numbers and you can assign them to specific telephones in your company. For pennies a month your employees can enjoy the benefits of having their own phone number so that clients may reach them directly. This can also take some of the burden off your attendant. The T1 channels are used for both incoming and outgoing calls as needed. When deciding on the amount of T1s needed always allow for 10% growth or more if you are aware of upcoming peaks in your service.

Price Your company can save thousands of dollars per year when you switch from regular voice lines to a T1. The price of a T1 has come down recently partly due to the fact that most central office locations have already converted to digital infrastructure. Pricing is also competitive as more vendors offer T1 products to their customers. Because of its configuration a T1 is much more flexible than standard telephone lines and allows for more usage over the same amount of circuits.

A typical rule of thumb is to allow one T1 for each 50 to 100 employees. This is for standard voice service. If your business is phone intensive or if you operate a customer service center your needs may be increased. To determine the proper amount of T1s for your business you should first find out your current line usage. These reports are often available from your phone vendor. An engineer can often assist you in determining the correct amount of T1s for your specific application. Once the T1 is installed there are usually various usage reports that you can request which will help you to see if you are getting the best use of your T1 and whether you need to add an additional T1.

Speed A voice T1 transmits at a speed of 1.544 Mbps. This large bandwidth allows for instantaneous connections and clear, crisp sound. A T1 can carry more than 190,000 bytes per second making it faster than most standard modems. Any application can be run over a T1. As new applications become available they too can use the T1. Almost all digital data flows over fiber optic cables. The T1 may be brought to the location using copper wires and then put on fiber cables to run to your telephone room. The T1 is terminated onto a smart jack. This in turn is extended into your telephone system where the T1 is configured in routing.

Reliability and Service T1 lines are very reliable. If there is a problem it can often be solved quickly by using remote diagnostics. A CSU (Customer Service Unit) can be used to help provide a test point between your office and the central office of origin. You will typically get standard service during business hours that may include a technician visit to the site to resolve a problem. If your business has non-standard hours or operates 24/7 you will need to discuss service addition to your contract. Additionally, you may be able to use backup service in case of an outage, making the problem transparent to your customers.