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Telephone System for home use

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3DNet

IS-IT--Management
Apr 28, 2003
153
US
I have a client who wants a telephone system installed in his house. We have shown him several types of systems, but he is uninterested in the 'business looking' phones.

We have also looked and Bang & Olufsen, but these phones don't have many features.

Has anyone used or know of a system that might fit our need?
 
I dont know if I can agree with ease of installation. My first phone system installation was a Merlin 1030. And I had to take two aspirin to keep my head from killing me, it was a pain. Simply because dealing with all 8 wires can be a bit of a challenge. Although, I probably should have done it with punchdowns, instead of trying to crimp modular plugs onto the ends of the incoming cords. But still, I really like the systems, too bad they didn't have caller ID, because people in homes really like that.
 
See....I've been crimping those cables my whole life, and I can crank them out like crazy. So thats not a problem for me, I've installed some of these systems in homes and actually to solve the problem of caller id, in one home once we purchased a talking caller id and connected it to the paging cartridge...so whenever someone would call it would announce it through the home (which actually worked a lot better than I had thought it would)...I've also just ran standard phone lines with the merlin cables and hooked up regular caller id's next to each phone, which also works.

I've installed some in upscale homes and everyone has been really satisified with it, the merlin telephones don't really have a old look but a "classic" look to them.

John
 
Aussie88 is right. The Merlin Legend system is great for home use. Very versatile. For instance, at home I have all of the offices running the MLX sets (so they get caller ID etc from LS ID card). In common spaces, like living room, , where caller id is not as needed, I have the old ATL (Merlin Classic) sets running. And for mobility, I have a Transtalk 9031. Plus, if you really want to keep your old analog phones, you can invest in (a really cheap on eBay) 012 TTR card and have the customer use his old analog phones too!
 
A nice looking phone you might check out is the Norstar 9000 series that plugs directly to a POTS line.
 
how about a newer voip system like Shoretel, fairly inexpensive, nice looking, easy to program, many features.
 
Panasonic KTDA 15, the possibilities with this system are vast & it supports door phone & entry, which most loaded individuals like for their house.
 
basically any system that will support sufficient quantities of standard 2 wire analogue POTs would do the trick. as for functions just get a handset with memories and program the feature codes under the memory buttons normally works.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
umm,it IS supposed to do that, right??
 
One more vote for Avaya Partner. Each extension can be either a standard phone or a system phone. Zillion features. Designed for home use. Cheap voice mail card plugs in if you like. Unlike most systems, the system phones have an illuminated display; helps in home environment in darkened rooms. (Brightness can be set to off or 3 levels of on.) Simple wiring. Lots of used parts available at eBay. Originally, Partner was designed by AT&T, then spun off to Lucent then Avaya. 20 year history of improvements, and new feature releases almost every year. This system has considerable investment and was designed to last.
 
Try the partner, it sells well in upscale homes. The release7 is great, and anything release 3 or later will do a great job. You should be able to get one which is used, or refurbed. E-bay, if you are brave.

I have even sold them pre-programmed, and the customer installed it, with one hour on the phone with me after he mounted it on the wall. Have the wiring done to a stand off style patch panel, and my 8 year old could install it. Actually he installed the one at my home.

 
is your 8 year old looking for employment????????

he or she seems to be 1 step up then the people I hire.....
 
Well, he is looking, but I think he wants to actuallly be allowed to run a lawn mower and get paid for it. He can change the oil on the suburban though, he may want to get a job doing that.

Seriously, other than the programming, for a home install, it is all RJ11's/45's to plug in if the wiring is set up on a stand off style patch panel, and the dmarc has RJ11 jacks like many do for residential. I am a good trainer, I think I could train a monkey to do that if they dont need a punch tool, lol. Give me an hour on the phone with them after the system is mounted and might even be able to train my wife to do it. LOL,
P.S> no forwarding this to my wife!

Hey groundstart, check out my thread today in the IPO forum abaout the ACA certification, and give me some feed back if you would?
 
I am not convinced panasonic is more, in fact, most panasonic systems I have seen, have been to replace them because of an unsatisfied customer. It may be a fine product for the price, if you do not want much. It could have also been the people who installed it lacked skill, but then why did panasonic let them install it? I would stick with a major name, but my panasonic 8 track still runs great, I reccomend them for that.
 
your right about the panasonic, they got a bad rep because they sold them over the counter. at home i use voip, because it;s cheaper and it works. i would perfer an nortel 81c, but if i wanted an out of the box system for home, with analog sets, mitel

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc
 
I would go with a Siemens, Panasonic, Uniden, or other residential unit. Most home users expect a cordless phone for all uses, so why bother with anything but, except for the phone that is connected to the answering machine. All of the residential units are much cheaper and are easier to program. With the cordless of Siemens and most other units U only need to plug the main unit to phone line, and all the others use that so U can locate them without having to bother with phone lines. Just a power cord is needed.
I was working on a customer that wanted to have a answering machine that she could see and check if she had messages without having to pickup the phone. That was easy with a residental unit.
 
Partmer has message waiting lights which can tell you of a new VM. I would check out the Partner SOE small office edition, it is a non -expandable single processor unit, about three lines and 8 exts max., all exts can be analog. It is easy to program, and one hour from a qualified tech can program the system, and VM, and installation is plug and play if the wiring is done to a patch panel, or RJ11 style terminations at the phone system end. Two pairs for system phones(multiline desksets), one pair for analog. It uses pair 4/5 for analog, 3/4/5/6 for partner system phones(multiline). AFter it is programmed you do not need a system phone, programming requires a system phone. Two hours of s tech would install and program the system given they only need to plug in line cords for making exts live.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.
 
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