New Phone Line System Help

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aguarino
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Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:38 pm

New Phone Line System Help

Post by aguarino »

I need to get another business phone system for my insurance agency. It needs to be capable of having at least 10 phone lines...preferably up to 15 so i dont need to buy another one in 5 years. Capable of having indivudial voice mail for everyone. Anyone have something their business uses that is similar that works well?
yoyowordup
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Posts: 184
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:43 pm
Location: The Valley of the Sun - AZ

Re: New Phone Line System Help

Post by yoyowordup »

Last time I shopped for a phone, I had 3 different reps come in and give me their proposals.

It's like buying an insurance program. You want to build a relationship so they are there in the future if you need them. And you need them to explain the industry changes. You also want someone that matches your personality.

There are so many different technologies and options that you want to get someone that really knows what they are doing and stays on top of it. Many agents/agencies are moving to VOIP due to flexibility.

Good luck!
beyert1
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Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:42 am

Re: New Phone Line System Help

Post by beyert1 »

I moved over to VoIP years ago and do not regret it one bit. The flexibility is fantastic in regards to working from home, being out on the road or out of the office. I really like that my voice mails are emailed to me so I can put them into the clients records, I use electronic filing, and can refer back to them if I need to. Also, the call tracking ability is a great thing to have. I have clients who said they called and talked to me on a specific date. I normally makes notes and if I don't see them I check my electronic call logs. I asked what number they called me from and about what time, then I can check to make sure. I would say 90% off the time I catch the client trying to play with my memory. So, big E&O saver there.

The initial cost of the equipment is far less than a full phone and voice mail system, you don't have to keep up with the upgrades. If you need to add lines it is just a phone call away. And best of all, it gives you the ability to control how calls are routed and handled. I would say look into VoIP and see what it can do for you.

But when you choose a company make sure they have a monthly plan set up. Some have great pricing if you pay for the full year in advance but you don't know if they are going to be around in the future. I use itpvoip (www.itpvoip.com) but I am not sure if they can handle the number of lines you are looking for. I think someone like 8x 8 (http://www.8x8.com/Home.aspx) would be best.
jcardrant
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Location: Left Coast

Re: New Phone Line System Help

Post by jcardrant »

We've been using VOIP for several years and it has real benefits if you want something that scales well, and allows remote access, call recording etc. Make sure whichever service you choose will support remote users that may be working from out of the country, some don't. Just make a list of needs for now and anything you can think of if you grow:

http://www.convergence.com/
http://www.megapath.com/voice/hosted/
http://www.business.att.com/enterprise/ ... ip/hosted/
http://www.adcapnet.com/services/premie ... ted-voice/

Or search for yourself, keywords: hosted voip providers, hosted voip

~Cheers!
Smalltownagent
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Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:23 pm

Re: New Phone Line System Help

Post by Smalltownagent »

As someone who has been on the traditional PBX system, to VOIP (to another VOIP) and then finally moved back to a traditional PBX.

I was on VOIP for about 4-5 years. When it worked great, it was fantastic. In addition to the other's comments, I liked the flexibility to go in and change greetings remotely very simply. For example, if we were closed because of bad weather...I was able to change the greeting from my house so customers would know why we weren't answering. Our traditional PBX system lets us do it, but it is more of a headache. The dial-plan system was very cool to use. However, I switched back and I'll detail why. If you decide to go with VOIP, here are two big important things to consider:

1) Go with a reputable company. We used Nextiva the first time around, and I think that company is run by a few teenagers out in the Southwest or something. Every tech support guy sounded like he was 18 and the support there was terrible. When we started having call quality issues, they could not get it figured out. We were with Jive the past few years and they were miles better. www.getjive.com. If I was going back to VOIP, I would go with Jive without question. Great support staff. Very slick software. Only had 3-4 total outages the 4 years we were with them.

2) Make sure your internet is capable and consistent enough to handle it. No internet, no phone. If you are in a large city with upgraded internet...then this probably isn't a worry for you. However, I would make absolutely sure your internet could handle it. We are in a rural area, but still have high speed AT&T DSL (15MB).

3) Make sure your modem/router is compatible with the specific phones and company you will be using.

Sometimes during high traffic times (if a lot of bandwidth was being used at once), our customers might say that we sounded choppy. The tipping point was when AT&T forced us to switch to UVerse. It was still a DSL line, but a different technology. We had to get a new modem/router, etc. It didn't "jive" with our VOIP phones. We went through tech support after tech support and could not get it to work correctly. Customers would constantly say that they couldn't hear us, or that we were very choppy sounding like we were on a cell phone in a bad reception area.

So I finally bit the bullet and went back to a traditional PBX system and I don't regret it.
mhutch69
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Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:26 pm

MegaPath - VOIP Option

Post by mhutch69 »

I highly suggest you RUN AWAY from any VOIP proposal from Megapath.

I just recently went through HELL with this terrible company and being "small" hurt me a lot.
FROM day one, I had a 1-2 second VOICE DELAY on my phone calls.
FIVE (5) months of "escalating" my issue upward and it went no where!

The company could NOT remove the delay. If I was talking to Spain, I would understand.

I tried to cancel but was told I had to use a specific link via their site to cancel but it did not work!!!
So, they chased me for money long after I had switched back to Cox and got different phones as well.

mega does not give a crap about their customers unless you are large enough and even then, I would be careful.

My phone person tried and tried and got lied to, switched around, 'escalated" to no where and mainly
just JERKED around.

I am in the insurance business. I understand getting jerked around.

I have had great experience going back to landlines without ANY disadvantages that I can see so far.

My phone guy got paid nicely to stuff me with Mega and I got totally SCREWED!!!!

Run to any other company but them.
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