Star2Star/Yealink phone system Review and previous thread update

[tdoom15]

First I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the help I received. Here is the original thread:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1701830

Star2Star phone system review:
We've been using this system for about 5 weeks now with Yealink T28p and T38g phones. We operate 8-5pm and are an outbound call center averaging well over 6,000 outbound calls a day, and probably 30-45 inbound calls. We are operating over a T1 with cable as a failover, and so far the reliability has been excellent. We've had zero downtime aside from 10 minutes on the only day I was not present so I'm not entirely sure what the deal was, or even if it was actually out as there is no one else in our office who knows anything about phone systems (not that I do either for the most part), but about 10 minutes later everything was good again.
Call clarity is great, and we've had no complaints of dropped calls or interference on the lines. All the phones work great with head sets, and although there are a few phone UI changes I would make, they have worked great for us so far. Phones feel solid and well made, but I suppose only time will tell how well they hold up. We bought the phones with Star2Star...their original asking price was a bit inflated (though I suspect this was the dealer), but we managed to negotiate a livable price, especially considering that there is a guaranteed 24hr replacement on all equipment.

Cost:
It was right around 13k for 30 phones, install, first year service, and first/last months phone bill. Monthly cost is $10.49/per phone, and 4.95 per outbound DID (we have 18 #s). Total monthly cost with tax, gov surcharge, etc is about $580...much cheaper than most other options we looked at, and less than half of what we were paying for less features with our old analog phone system.

I will try to update this thread every few months as I had a VERY difficult time finding anything on Star2Star when I was searching online, so hopefully this might help someone in the future. If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them with the best of my ability (limited), and as with most phone systems I'm sure, reliability has a lot to do with your ISP and installer/dealer. Thanks again for all the help and education!

 

[jessicaworking]

Thank you for your post.

Our company has just switched over to Star2Star with ..insteresting...results. For now, we have one question that is driving us NUTS that the installer of the phones can't answer. After recording an "unavailable" message, how does one then turn it Off?! I'm thinking to just restart the phone and only record "busy" messages?

Thanks for any help!

 

[tdoom15]

Jessica,

Is it set up through the phones or through the phone system? Have you tried looking in the "Configuration" tab in the Star2Star portal, that would be my guess. We don't use any of the voicemail type features, but all the call routing/hold options/etc are all located in the configuration section of the portal.

Just as an update, our system has still been running great. We haven't had any other down times since the one mentioned above and the phones have worked wonderfully. No real complaints as of this time.

 

[busster]

My experience is that when applications get as large as yours, having your own phone system is more economical. Doing some simple math, 30 yealink T28 phones @ $150.00 per phone = $4500. Phone system 7000.00. Assuming that the cost of your T-1 would essentially be the same regardless of hosted or not, this monthly recurring fee is a wash. VoIP trunking recurring about $2.00 per DID per month and about $0.01 per minute or around $25.00 per month per channel unlimited LD.

Above you said that you paid $13,000 up front.

I just don't think the math works, or is about break even.

Having installed in quite a few outbound call centers, like collection agencies, usually having your own phone system saves money in the long run.

Additionally, in most cases, having your own system on site allows more flexibility, reliability, and features, such as multiple service providers, redundancy, supervisor realtime supervision, wallboard support, ACD group/agent reporting, etc.

 

[SwitchWitch]

Looked for reviews on S2S and found a 50/50 split.
I just installed it at one of my offices and I am very pleased w/ the phones and service.

The phone model is the polycom VVX300, good features and phones has some weight to them (that's important, because the lighter models, you can swing around in you chair and whiplash the phone across the room.
Administrative... Programming easy. The only draw back (not a big one) is after you make a change, you have to wait 15 mins. for the change to take place; so you'll have to make all of your changes at once, then save. Also out of curiosity, I made a change, save it and discovered that the change happened within 1-2 seconds. SO, I'm not sure if this 15 mins is for some changes or what.

Coming from a Nortel Option 11 background, I found I had to get use to the multiple line configuration. Many of my users have other manager's phones lines that they are responsible for answering . S2S uses ring groups to control these, so this is still work in progress.

Voice quality is hollow, so I'm working w/ my IT Department on this (I can only assume its coming from the ISP or the amount of bandwidth I'm getting from my IT Dept).

Other than that, I really like the phones, service and support.


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