New Office
If you are moving your current telephone system to your new office then you may wish to use the same type of telephone lines you currently have in order to avoid any costs associated with upgrading.
If you are installing a new telephone system then you should consider which of the below types of telephone line would be best for your organisation:-
There are three main types of telephone line you can consider. There is little difference between the call tariffs and call rental per line charges, but there is a big difference in terms of functionality and reliability. You will most likely need to use all three or at least two of the line types for your business requirements and we have summarised the key points for consideration below:
PSTN telephone lines…
This is the most basic type of telephone line available. You will need a PSTN line to support any of the following devices or services:
- Fax machine connection
- Intruder or fire alarm systems
- Emergency lift telephones
- Analogue dial up modems
- Remote access for maintenance support
- Franking machines.
With a PSTN line it is only possible to have a single telephone number per line. This can be restrictive if you are planning to have multiple incoming call numbers for departments, or want individual direct dial numbers to increase the efficiency of your incoming call handling.
ISDN telephone lines…
ISDN lines offer the very highest level of resilience and quality available for connection to the telephone network.
With ISDN lines you can take advantage of supplementary features such as the ability to transfer incoming calls back out from your site to any external telephone number along with the ability to have additional numbering options for incoming calls known as DDI (direct dialling inwards) ranges.
There are two types of ISDN line available:
ISDN2… These are generally connected to phone systems with less than 8 external lines. ISDN2 lines are delivered in pairs so you can only operate with an even number of individual line rentals. They are powered from the local exchange with no power connection “on premises” required to operate them.
ISDN30… This option is available if you have a requirement for 8 telephone lines or more. ISDN30 lines are presented on a single connection which can be upgraded to provide up to 30 telephone lines without the need for any additional cabling or engineering site visits. ISDN30 lines require power to be provided locally “on premises”.
VOIP…
A VOIP service connection allows you to make and receive telephone calls via the Internet as opposed to the telephone network. It offers a very high degree of flexibility with regards to numbering options. You can choose to have any UK STD code as your incoming number irrespective of your geographic location. This can prove very useful for some businesses when relocating “out of area” as you can take your fixed line telephone with you anywhere.
The voice quality of speech via SIP trunks is very slightly lower than with ISDN lines and is a similar quality to a UK mobile telephone call. The quality of service level is also slightly lower because the response options to faults are traditionally slower with Internet providers than with telephone line providers.
We hope the above information is useful to you, if you would like assistance in understanding your best options when moving into a new office then please contact us on 0800 505 3350. Alternatively you can visit our Moving Office service page for morel advice and useful information to help you make the right decisions for your business.
You can also download our telephone systems buyers guide as useful reference material or even run a Quick Quote to obtain a budget cost for a new telephone system in less than 60 seconds.
