Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: John Higdon Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Are You Using Centron or a Similar Service? Message-ID: <9667@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 12 Jul 90 17:46:57 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 31 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 478, Message 11 of 13 Mark McWiggins writes: > Am I missing something? I'd be interested in hearing from anyone > who's using a similar system. Also, we're expecting significant > growth over the next couple of years. What else should I be looking > out for? Centron sounds like Pac*Bell's Commstar. These "mini" Centrex offerings offer some of the features of Centrex and have the advantage of being tariffed for residential service as well as business. The major disadvantage (if you can bear the cost) is that all features are activated by a hookswitch flash. This means that your people will have to become adept at flashing the hookswitch or pushing the "flash" button if your phones are so equipped. It has been my experience from years in the interconnect business that there are some who simply cannot deal with this form of feature activation. If they don't see a light or some other form of instant feedback, they get lost and lose calls. We sold many feature phones after the fact to customers who originally thought that they were "manly" enough to use the hookswitch. Also, price others' voice mail and the cost of a small electronic key system. Don't just flop over to the arms of the telephone company because it "won't cost any more". You may be able to satisfy your needs for less. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !