Voice Pri - Is It Right For My Business?

For midsize businesses, a time will come when they will be asked about interesting to a Voice Pri with their next assistance supplier turn or phone ideas change. How does a firm decree if a Voice Pri is right for them? Let's take a look at some of the unique benefits of Pri, and what they can mean to your business.

Let's get technical for just a occasion to define Pri:

3000 Psi

The traditional rate interface (Pri) is a telecommunications thorough for carrying complicated Ds0 voice and data transmissions in the middle of two bodily locations. All data and voice channels are Isdn and control at 64 kbit/s. North America and Japan use a T1 of 23 B channels and one D channel which corresponds to a T1 line. Europe, Australia and most of the rest of the world use the slightly higher capacity E1, which is composed of 30 B channels and one D channel. Fewer active B channels (also called user channels) can be used for a fractional T1. More channels can be used with more T1s, or with a fractional or full T3 or E3.

Each B-channel carries data, voice, and other services. The D-channel carries control and signaling information. The traditional Rate Interface consists of 23 B-channels and one 64 kbit/s D-channel using a T1 line or 30 B-channels and 1 D-channel using an E1 line. Thus, a traditional Rate Interface user on a T1 line can have up to 1.544 Mbit/s assistance or up to 2.048 Mbit/s assistance on an E1 line. Pri uses the Q.931 protocol over the D-channel. The B and D channel sizes are dependent on the Framing format of the T1 circuit. Ie. Super Frame (Sf) is a 56kb channel and the Extended Super Frame (Esf) is a 64kb channel. Nearly all Us carriers provide Pri via Esf format and B8Zs line coding.

In English?

The Voice Pri is a high capacity communications line designed to give the firm user more features at a more competing price with greater flexibility. The assistance is carried via T-1 line, and gives the user calling capacity of 23 simultaneous calls for each T-1 Pri line. This assistance is approximately a must now for any firm with 20 users or more depending on call volume.

Are there costs connected with a Pri?

Yes. In order for your phone ideas to interface or "talk" to the Pri circuit from your T-1 carrier, your phone ideas must have a digital Pri card. Not all systems have the potential to deal with a Pri card, but most do. Pri card prices can range in any place from 0 to upwards of ,000 depending on the age of the ideas and who the builder is. Add installation costs, and it's a decision that is carefully weighed against the benefits.

What are the benefits of a Pri?

In comparison to an analog environment, the benefits of a Pri are many. Hunting groups, Did's, call tracking and call reporting, Cti, out of rate town Did's, pulsed digits, call routing, less taxes and reduced costs are all chief reasons to consider Voice Pri.

1. Hunt Groups: In an analog environment, it is typical to have a linear or circular hunt group for all incoming calls, and maybe for outgoing calls. All incoming calls start from the top of the "hunt group" and work their way down to the bottom. A ten (10) phone line hunt group would allow an society to have 10 simultaneous incoming calls with a single main number. Outgoing calls would then pick up the last of the ten (10) lines in the "hunt group" and work their way up towards the main or first line in the hunt group. The goal obviously is to have a large adequate hunt group so that the incoming calls and outgoing calls never cause you to use all of your capacity. This is called "line pooling" in an analog environment.

If you have complicated businesses or departments, you will often have cut off "line pooling" hunt groups. Changes in configuration and capacity have to be made straight through your carrier. Secret lines are typically left off the "hunt groups" at added costs. With a Pri, you can have complicated hunt groups all programmed from your phone system. Your basic rule is that you can make or receive a total of 23 simultaneous calls in anything configuration you want per Pri, and they can be bonded. Do you want 10 different hunt groups for 10 different departments? No problem. Need a dozen Secret numbers? No problem. You don't even have to call the carrier, as the programming is done at the Pbx level.

2. Did's: Direct Inward Dial numbers are key for any growing organization. Direct Inward Dial numbers are typically assigned in blocks of 20, and are designed exclusively to work with digital voice circuits like Pri. Most carriers limit the amount of Did's per Pri circuit to 200, but we've seen some rare cases where 400-600 have been allowed. Did you catch that?

"I have 23 channels on a Pri for simultaneous phone calls, but you can give me 200 phone numbers?"

Yes, that's right. You assuredly can assign everyone in your society their own phone amount And their own fax amount if you want. Phone numbers run nearby a month per block of 20.

"Why would I want all those numbers?"

Do you consider assistance a priority? Then maybe you insist on your clients not having to deal with self-operating attendants. With Did numbers, your incoming caller can bypass the self-operating attendant and have their call routed directly to your representative of choice. In a world of automation, large associates wouldn't do without it. Is your receptionist inundated with calls and a pro call transferer? Bypass the need by routing the call directly to their party.

With the ever expanding capabilities of desktop fax server applications, it is also potential for every employee to have their own fax amount that delivers .pdf or other coarse format attachments to their desktop via email application. Send and receive faxes from the desktop without getting up, and without paying for added dedicated fax phone lines.

3. Call Tracking and Call Reporting: Along with Did's, the enhanced capabilities of your phone ideas to track your data with a Pri can be vital to your operation. (Software often required) Ever wonder just how many outgoing calls your sales reps are making? Need to know how many incoming calls came in to buyer assistance to support with staffing decisions? How many calls did you get on that last advertising campaign? With Did level call tracking and reporting, you can generate a myriad of tools for your firm to streamline operations like never before.

4. Out of Rate town Did's: Some areas call them transfer numbers, foreign transfer numbers, Remote Call transmit numbers, etc. Essentially they are numbers in neighboring markets outside of your local phone firm office that are forwarded to your location. The local phone firm will often charge a monthly line charge in expanding to any call volume charges and mileage charges connected with the number. Those costs can be tremendous for businesses that need a local "presence" in other markets. Locals in a market prefer to deal with someone who is also local, so having that local amount is essential. With a Pri, you can turn your out of area amount into a Did and avoid mileage and forwarding charges. For the right company, this can mean a distinction of hundreds or thousands per year. It also opens up the potential to go after added markets and have that "local" presence.

For associates that relocate, their local phone firm will often tell them they cannot take their amount with them. By using a Clec, it is often potential to take your amount with you to another market and not incur the high costs formally connected with doing so by forwarding or telebranching. .

5. Cti (Computer Telephony Integration): Many sophisticated firm operations combine their voice and data infrastructures, and they require the potential to route calls based on database lookups. Using Did's and the Caller Id of the incoming caller, your ideas via Pri can assuredly look up in your database which one of your representatives has been dealing with this customer, and route the call directly to their extension in a moment's notice. The user than can see a screen popup on their computer informing them of the status of this buyer or list before they even answer the phone! This feature has limitless applications, but you must first decree if the protocol in the middle of your database and phone ideas is compatible. coarse protocols are Tapi, Tapi 2.x, Tapi 3.x, H.323, and others.

6. Outgoing Caller Id: In large corporations or organizations with any associates under one roof, it is imperative to have cut off outgoing Caller Id appearances. With Pri, you can assign an private firm name and amount pulsed out by phone or phone group level, all while leveraging the same telecommunications Pri circuit.

Do you want all calls to go straight through the switchboard? Then assign the same Caller Id to all phones as the main outgoing Caller Id for your company. All callers returning calls will have the calls routed as you program. With Pri, you say total control, and can make programming changes as often as needed or desired. (Programming typically must be performed by a trained technician)

7. Reduced Cost: Growing businesses select Voice Pri for all of the above reasons, but maybe most importantly for cost reasons. If you have been operating in a similar capacity analog environment, but without the advantage of all of the above features, your scenario would look something like this:

23 analog lines monthly charge each: (23 x = 0)

Service Line charges per line: (23 x = 8)

Features charges: ??? Caller Id is often extra, but comes with Pri

Additional taxes: ??? Depends on carrier and Bell region

Calling charges: ??? Depends on carrier, region, and negotiated rates

0 for 23 analog lines

8 for assistance line charges

8 before features, taxes, and calling charges.

Most T-1 carriers we deal with now offer Pri for nearby 0 a month plus a line charge equal to 5 channels of the Pri. (Around ) Pri has Caller Id included automatically, although some carriers charge an added fee for Caller Id Name and Number. So for 0 per month, you get all of the above mentioned features, typically more competing calling rates, reduced taxes and line charges, and a bottom line distinction of nearby 0 per month. So.....

When should I move my firm to a Voice Pri?

When it costs less to be digital over analog, or whenever the benefits of the added features outweigh any added costs connected with the service. added options are now available with fractional Pri circuits, integrated voice and data Pri circuits, and voice compression high capacity options that have made the assistance affordable for most businesses. Your telecommunications pro can help you decree which option is right for you.

Voice Pri - Is It Right For My Business?

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