Avaya 3910 cordless telephone

[mmico]

Can anyone explain what Avaya was thinking when they designed this telephone. I just did a job with 3 lines and 3 phones in an office. The customer wanted a cordless telephone for when she leaves the room. I would have used the 9040 but for this job it was a little to expensive. I installed a 3910. The problem is she has 3 lines and the 3910 only has 2 line buttons. How do I tell the customer you can't get line 3 on the phone system. Actually I did and she said it was ridiculous not to have the 3rd line on the phone.She needed her 3rd line. I agree with her, what if she had all 5 lines on this card how would it work.
I install Avaya phones everyday, it't a great phone system and unless I'm doing something wrong . THIS IS STUPID.

 

[hbiss]

Good question. I haven't had the pleasure of installing one yet or even seeing the specs. What does the documentation say regarding administration? I downloaded the pdf from the Avaya site but the idiots have half the pages missing. It does have the page that mentions that with Magics you can do 4 lines though.

Anybody go to Avaya.com lately? Try to find Partner. All they feature is that dumb a** IP Office junk.


-Hal

 

[itpphoneguy]

Hi All,
I normally go through support.avaya.com. I find the other site confusing for customers.
The iP Office is a cool system, just not for everyone. I wouldn't call it junk. I do worry that it isn't going to be as reliable as the Magix it's priced higher than.
-Chris

 

[telprog]

When you go to avaya.com just click on Documentation in the Get Support link

As for transtalk I won't sell them, I feel they are not worth the price at all.

A trusted source for years.

http://www.tel-programmer.com

 

[hbiss]

Ok, I downloaded the zip file and that copy has all the pages. The bad news is that with Partner the 3910 indeed does only have a two line capacity. You could transfer a call on the third line from another extension but that's probably only a little help. They probably did this so it wouldn't cut into the 9040 sales.

Telprog, if you don't sell the Transtalk how do you handle customers who want a cordless for their Partner systems? I agree that they are expensive but I sell 2 to a customer at times. There isn't anything that equals the functionality. You can of course use any single line cordless but about the only thing you can really do with it is go off hook and make a call or pick up a ringing line. Sure, all the functions are there but anything like picking up a line on hold or making a call on a specific line is impossible for the customer to remember how to do. That's why they probably came out with the 3910. It's cheaper and compatible and aimed at the small system users who won't spend the money for the 9040.

-Hal

 

[telprog]

I send them down and have them pick out the cordless single line set of there choice and use them.


A trusted source for years.

http://www.tel-programmer.com

 

[mmico]

I usually tell people to go out and get a panasonic or any other type of cordless phone. It won't work as good but it works minus some features.You can buy about 10 of these cordless phones for the price of 1 9040. Its a shame that Avaya does not spend more on R/D for an existing product like the Partner. I Install alot of systems in home/offices and it would be nice if they tried to play in this market. There are a few features that would be nice to have. Its a good phone system and it could be alot better if Avaya wanted it to be.

 

[telprog]

We have a printed out user guide we give them, haven't had anybody get confused yet. I've had a few that there transtalk has gone out and they even wanted to go with a single line cordless.

A trusted source for years.

http://www.tel-programmer.com

 

[itpphoneguy]

Oh boy,
We do the same as telprog. They buy 'em, we use 'em. Simple. Transtalks are too expensive for most customers.
We sell them occasionally. They do not bounce too well and the service price runs around 1/2 a new one. Otherwise, they are great phones.
-Chris

 

[mmico]

Can anyone answer the original question. Why did they design a phone that only has 2 lines,but is meant to work with a system that usually has more lines. If you only had 2 lines in the first place you most likely didn't need the phone system.
The idea is good.A cheaper cordless phone with less features is much easier to sell and gives me the opportunity to offer a cordless phone.Even the 905 which was the worst had 3 line capacity.Like I said before,
THIS IS STUPID.

 

[telprog]

Who knows why they do what they do, you guess is as good as ours.

A trusted source for years.

http://www.tel-programmer.com

 

[toolman18]

For customers who dont want to spend the crazy price for a transtalk, I suggest for them to shop for a good quality SL cordless, a 2.4GHz or better yet 5.8GHz for better range. If they buy it, and if you explain to them the limited functions, they wont be callin you to to come and remove it.

 

[1043]

The 9040's are being discontinued.

 

[DWLaurie]

Why not set the ACS to Hybrid(pooled) and pool the lines for the cordless but leave the other stations key?

 

[hbiss]

Good thinking DW, I was going to suggest that but I'm still thinking it through.

1043, where did you hear that the 9040 is being discontinued? Believe it or not it is popular and if anything it will be replaced with an improved version probably at a cheaper price such as what happened when the 9040 replaced the 9031.

-Hal

 

[jlshelton]

See if you can find a Business Cordless 905 phone. It is a 5-line phone that on Partner gives access to 2 intercom lines and 3 CO lines. Described in detail at

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/phonedoctor/bus905.pdf

While discontinued, you may still be able to find these in stock somewhere. I believe these sold for about half the price of the TransTalk phones.

 

[hbiss]

The 905 was a piece of junk. This is what the 3910 replaces and is about half the price of the 9040 also.

Transtalks are too expensive for most customers.

Gee, I dunno. Customer just spent $10K on a new system. If you are any kind of salesman you should be able to get them to spend another $1200 if they are going to need a cordless. I suppose though that if you believe the Transtalk is overpriced and that negitivity comes through to your customer you aren't going to sell too many of them.

I'm always honest with my customers. I won't suggest the Transtalk (or anything else really) unless I see they could use one or they ask about it. I tell them upfront that it is "pricy" but the functionality is the same as an 18D except for the speaker and that comes with a price. You can put a line on hold, pick up up to 8 individual lines, have indications as to what line is on hold, in use etc, transfer, intercom, speed dial, caller ID and so on just like you were at your desk. Plus the range is excellent.

I tell them that the Partner system will support any single line consumer cordless, but unless their needs are limited to simply going off hook and making or receiving calls they will be very disappointed. With a regular cordless the functionality just isn't there to make handling multiple lines convenient or even what you are used to. They just aren't made for it like the Transtalk and that's what you are paying for.

If you honestly make the customer understand the reason for the cost, what they are getting for it and how it will help them you will have a much better chance of them justifying it and you making the sale.

But you have to believe it yourself and I really am not getting that from you guys.

Of all the Transtalk's I sold I can think of only one person who was unhappy with it. This person isn't even legit as he bought the business with the system from my original customer. On the other hand I can think of many customers who are, as expected, unhappy with single line cordlesses on their Partner systems when we went that route, usually because they didn't want to spend the money.

Unfortunately unhappy customers give my company as well as Partner a bad name and that is something I try to avoid.

-Hal

 

[aarenot]

If you can locate a cordless with speed dial buttons, which I did a couple years ago for a non avaya system(toshiba) you can program the speed dial buttons to select a line. If a line is on hold it will retrieve the call I believe. This requires off hook to intercom, which I suggest anyway. Speed dials can also be programmed for paging etc.
If you are looking for a good cordless, although pricey, try engeius phones. 250,000 sq ft coverage, 3,000 acres outside. I have installed some a few years back and they do have incredible range.