[lukenysen]

The first question you must answer when looking for a phone system is how many phones (extensions) will you be setting up. And how many phones do you see yourself needing 1 or 2 years down the road?

Smaller Phone systems typically begin with an 8 phone capacity and expand to a maximum size of approximately 24 extensions (phones) with upgrade modules.

NOTE: Small non-expandable systems are available too. These systems are designed with home-offices in mind and usually allow a max of 6 to 8 phones. An advantage of these non-expanding systems is that they usually come pre-installed with everything you need including voicemail, whereas expanding systems are purchased module by module.

Medium sized systems usually allow a minimum of 8 extensions and expand to a maximum capacity somewhere between 50 and 100 extensions. Usually these solutions allow modular upgrades that add 8 to 16 extensions at a time by inserting a new card.

Large scale solutions similarly expand in a modular manner just as the small and medium sized solutions do, however, maximum capacities on large scale solutions range from 300 to 1000 plus extensions.

So, step 1: decide how many phones you need now, and estimate an upper limit your company realistically will need in the future.

Step 2: How many incoming phone lines does your company use (or will it use) and how many will you need in the future?

Incoming phone lines determine how many people can actually be on different calls at the SAME time. This is different from figuring out how many extensions (or phones) your company will be using.

Step 1 talks about how many 'extensions' your company needs, while step 2 talks about how many 'lines'. The standard ratio of lines to extensions is 1 line to every 3 extensions. This means if you have 9 phones in your office, you would have 3 lines. Call centers who live by the phone may have 2 lines to every 3 extensions or even a 3 to 3 ratio.


Step 3: Once you have a capacity in mind (number of extensions and lines) start by comparing systems in your capacity range. Here's a page on my site eValueZone.com comparing 8 different PBX Phone Systems of varying sizes and manufacturers. This page also compares a few non-PBX 4-line phone options.

NOTE: Consider Voicemail >>
An important consideration when comparing these systems is their voicemail options (and price of voicemail modules).

Voicemail is usually offered as an add-on feature. Why? Every manufacturer offers an entire line of voicemail options that range in message capacities and how many people can use the voicemail at once. Most phone systems also give you the choice of using voicemail through your phone company (this is known as Centrex).

Centrex offers an easy and cheap solution, however, a phone system's Voicemail Expansion Cards not ONLY provide the most integrated solutions but also enable the use of auto-attendants.

The auto-attendent is the touch-tone directory tree that directs callers to the right departments or personnel in your company. So definately take into consideration a phone system's voicemail options (and costs) when comparing systems.

If you have any questions, post them below.