I haven't dealt with Centrex for a long time, and one of my customers is being courted heavily by a Sprint salesperson. Am I not correct in assuming that each "line" of Centrex corresponds to an "extension" in the PBX world? This site has 2 POTS lines and 5 extensions, and they told me that for the same thing they're paying right now (~$40/POTS line) they will be getting two Centrex "lines" that will do the same thing. The way I understood it, each of those two Centrex lines is an extension. In general, would they still be paying their POTS fees, too? Sorry for the noise, but I can't discuss this intelligently with them, and that's hurting me. Thanks. B.
> I haven't dealt with Centrex for a long time, and one of my customers is > being courted heavily by a Sprint salesperson. > > Am I not correct in assuming that each "line" of Centrex corresponds to > an "extension" in the PBX world?This is straight out of my "Switching to VoIP" book (sorry if there will be mistakes in the writing...im gonna type & post...Im not an editor :-) Centrex Centrex is POTS enhanced with business-grade telephony features like call conferencing, four-digit dialing, and per-call billing rather than per-minute billing. It was designed to curb the need for small businesses to invest in PBX equipment in order to get modern telephony features. A single Centrex customer ca use many Centrex lines, collectively called a Centrex group. Within the group, each line can be called using four-digit dialing instead of the usual 7-digit dialing (i.e., the caller can omit the prefix when placing calls within her Centrex group). Some other PBX-like features include the ability to easily transfer calls between lines in the same group, or enable and disable call forwarding for a given line by dialing a special sequence of DTMF digits. Normally, users of Centrex have to dial an 8 or 9 at the beginning of each call that is destined for a receiver outside their Centrext group. Dont know if this exactly answers your question...but it seems you still need to pay for each line/extension in a Centrext group. Its just a way to get PBX-like features without having to buy a PBX. So if your customer is only buying two Centrext lines, they will only have two lines therefore two extensions. Corrections anyone? - Gabe (ouch, my hands hurt)
> I haven't dealt with Centrex for a long time, and one of my customers is > being courted heavily by a Sprint salesperson. > > Am I not correct in assuming that each "line" of Centrex corresponds to > an "extension" in the PBX world? > > This site has 2 POTS lines and 5 extensions, and they told me that for > the same thing they're paying right now (~$40/POTS line) they will be > getting two Centrex "lines" that will do the same thing. > > The way I understood it, each of those two Centrex lines is an extension. > > In general, would they still be paying their POTS fees, too?Hmm, I read a little more (checked the index) about Centrex and I found this as well: Centrex phone lines are POTS lines with special, business-releated calling features like four-digit private endpoint dialing. These are the lines on which you have to dial a 9 to get out. Centrex has the same economics of POTS - you generally pay a monthly fee that covers a certain amount of utilization on the line; after that, you pay by the minute. Centrex is less widely available than POTS. It's often absent from residential and rural areas. Like POTS, each Centrex line can support one phone call at a time. Seems the Centrex lines are exactly like regular POTS, you just get some added features. So I am not 100% sure how they have it worked out because I would think each POTS line which have a number (555-1111 and 555-1112 would be extenion 1111 and 1112 within the Centrex group). However, you say they have two lines but 5 extensions. The only thing I can think is they have two POTS which give them only two simultaneous calls at any given time, but have 5 telephone numbers assigned to this Centrex and just have the two Centrex lines in hunts group...but then again this would imply that if two extensions are talking directly to eachother, this would be utilizing the only two POTS available (since its Centrex and has to go all the way to the CO), leaving no available lines for incoming calls.....no? - Gabe
With strange promos and tariffs, it is possible that Centrex 'lines' offer a larger Caller area and may in fact be cheaper than standard POTS when other services are added. For example I need a bunch of POTS lines for our ISP a few, more than 10!, years ago. We ended up going with Centrex lines as they were cheaper than standard a 1FB (1 Fixed-rate Business). We ended up saving about 20% when we went with Centrex, Obviously, NOT the intended application, but that is what I call 'creative tariff interpretation':-)>>-----Original Message----- >>From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com >>[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of >>Brian Capouch >>Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 11:04 PM >>To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion >>Subject: [Asterisk-Users] [OT] Centrex Question >> >>I haven't dealt with Centrex for a long time, and one of my >>customers is being courted heavily by a Sprint salesperson. >> >>Am I not correct in assuming that each "line" of Centrex >>corresponds to an "extension" in the PBX world? >> >>This site has 2 POTS lines and 5 extensions, and they told me >>that for the same thing they're paying right now (~$40/POTS >>line) they will be getting two Centrex "lines" that will do >>the same thing. >> >>The way I understood it, each of those two Centrex lines is >>an extension. >> >>In general, would they still be paying their POTS fees, too? >> >>Sorry for the noise, but I can't discuss this intelligently >>with them, and that's hurting me. >> >>Thanks. >> >>B. >>_______________________________________________ >>--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com -- >> >>Asterisk-Users mailing list >>To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: >> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users >>
Brian Capouch wrote:> I haven't dealt with Centrex for a long time, and one of my customers is > being courted heavily by a Sprint salesperson. > > Am I not correct in assuming that each "line" of Centrex corresponds to > an "extension" in the PBX world? > > This site has 2 POTS lines and 5 extensions, and they told me that for > the same thing they're paying right now (~$40/POTS line) they will be > getting two Centrex "lines" that will do the same thing. > > The way I understood it, each of those two Centrex lines is an extension. > > In general, would they still be paying their POTS fees, too? > > Sorry for the noise, but I can't discuss this intelligently with them, > and that's hurting me.Historically, there were two forms of Centrex provided by US telcos. Centrex, which was based on a shared pbx typically located on the telco promises, and, CO Centrex which was based on the Central Office switch with added software features. I'd have to guess the majority of the current Centrex implementations are actually CO Centrex now, however I did run into a recent case (a college) where Qwest was still using a CO based pbx. Both were tariffed by the telcos with rates that were different then normal central office business lines, presumably due to shared maintenance costs (and features). (Eg, smoke and mirrors.) Regardless of which implementation Sprint might be using, from the central office perspective, a Centrex line is the same physical thing as a pots business line. If your customer has been quoted two Centrex lines, its two physical connections (or max two simultaneous calls). It is possible they might also be providing more then two extension numbers using something like distinctive ringing, or, some form of subscriber carrier system to mux two extensions over a single line (doubt that), or mapping five extension numbers at the CO onto two physical Centrex lines. The more likely case is Sprint is simply displacing your customer's on site equipment (presumably a key system) with two lines (with different numbers or extensions) and five phones. Nothing more, nothing less. A Centrex line is the same thing as a pots line from a customer's bill perspective. In your case, the bill will only have two Centrex line charges (no pots charges), plus any features they happen to be selling as optional items. (Optional items are typically voicemail services, voicemail LED on their phones, possibly custom calling features, etc, etc.) Without more info, that's about the best guess you're going to get.
Hi gang: Regarding the Centrex, I have digital centrex and joined this group to see if I could learn a bit more about VOIP (as my PBX died unexpectedly and I'm moving towards a hosted PBX over VOIP). Here's how Centrex works. You get a number of Centrex lines and then run your extensions as you would with a standard POTS system. Each Centrex line has its' own number, so in a large business, you would use each line as a unique extension giving a direct dial capability to an individual extension. You're describing a small business. If they have 2 Centrex lines, they can be on 2 simultaneous calls. Those calls can be incoming, outgoing, conference, fax, etc. However, you cannot be on more calls at the same time than the number of lines that you have, other than conference or switching between calls (as the switching is done central office). In my office, we have 3 Centrex voice lines (1 dedicated fax), 6 extensions and 5 employees. It's rare that we have 5 employees in at the same time and even more unlikely that 3 people are on the phone at the same time, so the combination of a PBX with Centrex was to our advantage. Why Centrex for us? Because when I locked into it, 11 years ago, I locked my telephone pricing for 7 years. It was a time of uncertainty due to deregulation and I stuck with Verizon (then NY Telephone?) and reduced my then current costs by 35%. The features of Centrex were not of much value to my employees (as they don't think outside of the box), but the cost savings were of instant value. Some years later, I installed an inexpensive PBX which gave me voicemail and better internal call handling. The cost savings from that came a bit later. Utility that I discovered, was the ability to make 1 of my 3 Centrex lines (the last line in the ring pattern) an unlimited outgoing line. Having done that, I made that the line that was picked up when somebody lifted a receiver to make an outgoing call. Our primary number was still advertised for incoming calls. That tactic reduced my local, long distance and regional calling costs by approximately $30 per month. So, what's the advantage of Centrex for a 2 line business? The package of call forwarding, call waiting, etc. and perhaps some cost. They can transfer between the phones, however, I assume if it's a 2 line business, they are too small for that to be of much value. The utility provided by VOIP PBX is much greater (if they can take advantage). Voicemail emailed, transfer to outside phones, ringblasts, ext. Now for the cost implications: My current 4 lines cost me $160/mo. Going to VOIP hosted PBX, I will pay approx. $50/mo each for unlimited outgoing lines. (That get's me 3 for the same price, however, I will still have to maintain a dedicated fax line which will be POTS for the moment). What I can't get my head around, is how to increase my total quantity of VOIP extensions for the same price as I'm currently paying. It's not that I use more than 3 phones at 1 time, it's that I would like to be able to pick one up on the front counter as a convenience, or if my installer has calls to make, he can make them from his desk, rather than passing a phone back and forth. It appears that your client, may be in a similar quandry without understanding the value of the technology. Remember, for a geek it's the coolness of the stuff, however for the rest of the world, it's about what will it do for me. Not that you can transfer a call to a cell phone and then back to the office, but that you can be more accessible to your client which will make you more important to them. Now, if any of you experts have thoughts on how I can make this work better for me, I'm all ears. At the moment I have Packet 8 (on a trial basis) but am heading towards Aptela because it appears that their system is more flexible and business oriented. The one thing I need to get away from is maintaining a system myself, which is why I haven't put in a server with Asterisk on it. Rick Rick Smith JDR Windows Inc Providing quality window treatments throughout North America 914-666-5777 x.13 914-666-5796 (fax) In a message dated 4/8/2006 3:57:43 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, asterisk-users-request@lists.digium.com writes: Message: 7 Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:04:09 -0400 From: Brian Capouch <brianc@palaver.net> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] [OT] Centrex Question To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion <asterisk-users@lists.digium.com> Message-ID: <44372829.1050006@palaver.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed I haven't dealt with Centrex for a long time, and one of my customers is being courted heavily by a Sprint salesperson. Am I not correct in assuming that each "line" of Centrex corresponds to an "extension" in the PBX world? This site has 2 POTS lines and 5 extensions, and they told me that for the same thing they're paying right now (~$40/POTS line) they will be getting two Centrex "lines" that will do the same thing. The way I understood it, each of those two Centrex lines is an extension. In general, would they still be paying their POTS fees, too? Sorry for the noise, but I can't discuss this intelligently with them, and that's hurting me. Thanks. B. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20060408/56502f3e/attachment.htm