Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: coherent!dplatt@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Dave Platt) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Pseudo PBX For the Home? Message-ID: <9981@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 21 Jul 90 18:28:31 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Dave Platt Organization: Coherent Thought Inc., Palo Alto CA Lines: 41 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 503, Message 2 of 8 In article <9952@accuvax.nwu.edu> Martin Ewing writes: > Is there such a thing as a box that takes two normal residential lines > in on one side and six extensions in to the other side? (All our > extensions are radially connected to a central phone block.) The box > would function as a wannabee PBX, giving dialtone, handling intercom > calls, and dealing with incoming and outgoing calls. (I assume a REAL > PBX with trunk lines to SNET would be expensive if possible at all.) One such unit that I've heard about (and researched slightly) is the Panasonic KXT-308 ... a three-trunk-line, eight-extension unit. It does everything you're asking for, and also has music-on-hold if you want to wire it in. It's intended for sale to small businesses, but can be used in the home just as easily. There's a larger unit (the 616) for folks with >>LOTS<< of extensions. Both units work with plain old telephone sets (tone-phones are preferred) as well as with Panasonic's proprietary LCD-display phones. What are the catches? Price and availability, mostly. The 308 lists for $900, and the 616 lists for $1600. If you want to be able to program special features into the system, you must buy one of the top- of-the-line LCD phones for use as your master station, at an additional $300 or so. I've been told that the 308 and 616 are among the models that AT&T complained about in a "dumping" allegation, and that they are [a] subject to a tariff and/or [b] are in short supply. The Northern California sales-rep for this line of equipment told me that Panasonic is shifting production of this line to its facilities in England ... apparently only units manufactured in Japan are subject to the anti-dumping tariff ... but that some equipment in the line is in short supply at the moment. Not many Panasonic dealers carry this line ... it's only sold by those who can do installations and can service the equipment. Normal consumer-type Panasonic dealers cannot special-order it, I'm told. It sounds like nice equipment ... but it's a bit pricier than I want to invest in at the moment.