Need suggestion for small office phone system

[Irvineguy]

A friend of mine is shopping for a phone system for 3-5 employees. Any suggestions? The less costly possible is preferred, thanks!

 

[ravnz5]

It depends what features are required to suit his needs. You will probably get a hundred suggestions or more once it is known what is needed.

We all need a little help once in awhile. Tony the Phoneman..

 

[LkEErie]

I'm a Panasonic man myself, but your friend has to ask himself what his budget is, what features he wants, and what future growth is required. If he plans on staying at 5 phones maximum and a little inconvenience is allowed, then even some of the new 4-line phones from RCA or some other brand where they all plug into an AC outlet is acceptable. At 16 phones, it's pricey. In Panasonic, a 3 line by 8 phone system has a street price of about $700 with 3 phones and your expansion is less expensive if you're within the system size breaks.

LkEErie

 

[Dexman]

Today's commercial telephone systems do their job quite well.

Where you might see the biggest differences is in the quality and number of local installers who are trained to install particular systems. When you purchase a system (Panasonic, Avaya, Nortel etc...) you enter into a relationship with a vendor. If there are a dozen or so for a particular manufacturer nearby, you can be choosier than if there were only 1 or 2 in the area.

I'm more of an Avaya Partner ACS person (Partner ACS & Merlin Magix), but Panasonic, Nortel and others put out great products as well.

 

[donb01]

I'll recommend Panasonic as well. I have had excellent experience with their small systems, and if you can get your hands on the programming manual and are reasonably adept you can even take care of everything yourself.

 

[DigitelD]

I recommend the BCM50. We have a few that only have around 6 phones. The system is dependable and expandable.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)

 

[jml2665]

ok, don't shoot me y'all, I am not drinking the Cisco koolaid, I'm an old Avaya tech,
but I jsut installed a UC500 from Cisco and it worked out great for a customer at this same user range. They needed LAN, WAN, Security, VPN, Firewall and phones, and this solution worked perfectly. I know other manufacturers make all in one boxes too,

IrvineGuy, something to consider if they want more then just phones

 

[phoneguy55]

Avaya Partner works well. Just don't buy the R7. R6 and below is a great choice and used by many small businesses.

 

[Irvineguy]

Seems like I should look at the major players only?

What about the little guys's phone system? Should I even suggest a VOIP solution to my friend?

 

[jneiberger]

What about Shoretel? They are insanely easy to use compared to the competition.

And is there a hosted solution that might work for them?

 

[Dexman]

I'm not sure what is meant by "Little guy's phone system". Are you referring to a "NOKSU" setup?

 

[Irvineguy]

More like off the shelf stuff.

 

[busster]

The Avaya One-X is a nice product. If you are a bit braver, Asterisk is a good solution as well. Partner systems are work horses, but will not allow the cheap sip trunking.
One-X and Asterisk will give vmail and autoattendant. Asterisk also will give queues and more high end features plus the added benefit of accessing the phone from home or anywhere with a high speed internet connection.