The usual break even point is around 10 to 12 lines, so if you do use a lot of long distance that may be good for you.
Many providers will be able to install a "channel bank" for you. That takes the T1 and gives you regular POTS type of dial tone on a regular wire pair for each line. When they do it this way, they can also split the T1 and give you data and voice on the same T1. That depends on the deal they give. For your situation, a channel bank is a good way to go. When you put the T1 card onto the KSU, you will feed the whole T1 into the phone system. It works well but requires a lot of understanding of what's going on - both in the T1 and in the ksu. You should have a certified technician helping you with this. Why? tech support. All phone traffic in your business will depend on that card being programmed right and working properly. If something goes wrong you will not want your boss waiting for you to get some emails back with suggestions on what to do... :) When it is a channel bank, you just put your test set on the pair of wires for each co. If you don't have dial tone you call the T1 provider and tell them. They fix it. If a co port goes bad in the ksu you can swap it with another. (If the T1 card goes bad- first you gotta know that's what happened, then you gotta find another and plop down a thousand bucks or so while the business stops and waits.) YES keep some lines (at least one) off of the T1. They may be able to offer the same rates to you for that line. If the T1 goes down, they can forward all calls to the copper line in a matter of minutes. Faxes can work through the system. You can either send them via the voicemail (fax detection) on regular lines or just set up dil 1:1 (or d.i.d.) to point their lines to the proper extension. The fax machine will need to dial 9 for outgoing calls (or pick-up dialing, but that isn't always fast enough). Or just run the lines direct to the fax machines (if they are copper or come out of a channel bank...). good luck! Charles ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim McAtee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2003 4:29 PM Subject: KX-T: KX-TD T1 Integration > The boss was speaking with our sales rep from our telephone line provider > (McCloud) today. The rep is pushing the benefits of T1 service. Given our > current number of lines (eight into the KX-T, one for our FAX) the monthly costs > are pretty much a wash, but apparently the long distance savings are > considerable. We use a _lot_ of long distance minutes. > > Anyone care to clue in the (truly) clueless regarding what switching to T1 will > entail. Just a few questions off the top of my head: > > 1. Looks like I need a KX-TD187 T1 module. Not cheap. Is there any additional > hardware required? > > 2. We've got a -4 system. It appears to be the earliest rev compatible with the > above T1 module. Any shortcomings or problems for a -4 with T1 service vs. > later revisions? > > 3. The rep said something in regard to keeping one standard line in case the T1 > goes down. Does this make any sense? Is this merely protection against having > all your eggs in one basket - one line failure causing all of the phone lines to > go down? > > 4. How easily can the FAX be integrated or split off? I'm guessing that the > easiest thing might be to send incoming FAX calls to an XDP port on a digital > set. Is it relatively simple to disable access to one line from all (7230) sets > so that someone doesn't mistakenly tie up the line for an outgoing call? > > Thanks, > Jim > > > _________________________________________________________________ > KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ > Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt > _________________________________________________________________ KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt
