IndustryManufacturing
The gate phone still has to work.
So does the horn over the line, the phone by the loading dock, and whatever is mounted next to the press that nobody can identify. Most cloud phone vendors will hand you an app and change the subject. Tell us what is actually on your walls and we will tell you what happens to each one.
§What usually starts this
Plants do not replace phone systems for fun. Something starts it.
Which one brought you here?
The maintenance quote arrived
The old PBX works until it does not, the vendor is done investing in it, and the refresh is a capital event.
The PRI costs more every year
You are paying more each year for lines into a box nobody wants to spend another dollar on.
The last quote fell apart
A cloud vendor offered an app and had no answer for the gate phone, the paging or the analog on the walls.
You were quoted for the payroll
Per seat pricing for everyone who works at the plant, when most of them never touch a phone.
Nobody answers at night
Second and third shift calls land in a voicemail box that nobody checks until 7.
§Not desk phones
This is the part that decides whether a vendor is serious.
Every plant has a list like this, and the list is why the last quote fell apart. A gate or door phone that dials the office. An emergency or courtesy phone somewhere loud. Overhead paging, usually zoned, usually older than the ERP. A fax line that somebody swears a customer still uses. An elevator or lift phone. Cordless handsets that have to survive being dropped. A ring that has to be heard over the line, or a strobe because it cannot be.
Some of it connects through an adapter. And keeps working the way it does now.
Some of it integrates properly. Paging zones included. How it connects depends on what you have overhead.
Some of it should be replaced. We will say so, and say why.
None of it waits until week three. Walk the building with us on the first call and list what is mounted where. You get a specific answer for each device, not an optimistic one.
§Plant and office
One system across the buildings.
HQ, the plant, the warehouse across town. One system, four digit dialing between them, and one pool of simultaneous calls shared across the lot.
Each site keeps its own main number and its own hours. Calls can roll between sites when one is unstaffed. Adding a site is an extension range and a number, not a second phone system.
§Shifts
Who answers at 2am, and what happens to the office number.
If you run second and third shift, the phone system has to know that.
After the office goes home. Calls follow different routing, set by your hours, not by whoever remembered to switch it over.
The supervisor on duty. An extension that follows the rotation, so the call reaches whoever is in charge tonight.
A number that reaches the floor. Not a voicemail box that nobody checks until 7.
Our side. After hours, call (918) 608-8888 for 24 hour emergency support. That matters more when your operation does not stop at five.
§Your network
If the plant network is the problem, we will say so before you buy.
Plants are hard on networks. Long runs, older switches, a wireless network built for scanners, sometimes a single connection doing everything.
Hosted phones ride on that. If your network cannot carry voice properly, a new phone system will sound worse than the copper you are replacing, and everyone will blame the phones.
So we ask about it on the first call, and if the honest answer is that the network needs work first, that is what you will hear. Network work is not part of the standard install. It is $125 an hour, quoted before we start, or we work with whoever already handles it for you.
We would rather lose the sale than sell you a system that is going to sound bad.
§The price
Your license follows your phones. Your monthly bill follows your trunks.
You might have two hundred people on the payroll and twenty five phones: office, scheduling, quality, purchasing, the plant manager, a couple on the floor, the guard shack. Per seat pricing charges you for the payroll. We do not.
The 3CX license is annual, sold separately, and has to carry every extension, so it follows your phones. The monthly bill is $30 per simultaneous call, which means per SIP trunk, and trunks follow your calls. A plant has far more phones than people on calls, so we can often run fewer trunks than the license size.
Worked example: 25 phones fit the 8 SC license, which holds up to 40 extensions, on eight trunks. That is $240 a month, plus an 8 SC license. Count the gate, the dock, the break room and the floor and you might be at 50 extensions. That moves the license to 16 SC. The calls can often still fit on eight trunks, so the monthly bill can stay at $240, plus a 16 SC license. Adding a shift of operators changes neither number. Adding phones can.
§Changing systems
Your old system stays live until your numbers have landed.
A PBX or key system, a PRI that costs more every year, and a vendor who is done investing in it. The box works until it does not.
Your numbers come with you. We port every number you keep. We set your go-live date. The port date belongs to the carrier you are leaving, and it does not move your go-live.
Standard remote install is free. Provisioning the handsets, building your routing and setting up 911 location data for every site.
Custom work is quoted first. Anything beyond the standard install is $125 an hour, and you see the quote before we start.
§When something breaks
What happens on a bad day, said plainly.
If the plant loses internet or power. The phone system is not in your building, so it keeps running. Your staff keep working on their mobile phones with the 3CX app.
Our side. The hosted system runs at 99.9 percent uptime.
Who you get. A real person answers. If they can fix it on the call, they do. If not, they open a ticket and tell you what happens next. Tickets by phone, email or text. After hours, call (918) 608-8888 for 24 hour emergency support.
§Questions
What people ask before they call.
Can we keep our analog devices?
Often yes, behind an adapter. Tell us what they are and we will be specific rather than optimistic.
Can we page over the floor?
Yes, including zones. How it connects depends on what you have overhead.
What happens if the plant loses internet or power?
The phone system is not in your building, so it keeps running. Your staff keep working on their mobile phones with the 3CX app.
Do operators need an account?
Only if they need an extension. People without a phone add nothing to the license or the monthly bill. Every phone does count, including the gate and the dock, and if the count passes the license’s extension limit the license steps up. We tell you before it does.
We have two sites on different carriers.
Normal. One system, one pool of calls, and both sets of numbers kept.
How do we check that 911 sends the right location?
Dial 933, not 911. It is a test line that reads back the address and callback number your phone would send to dispatch, without reaching a 911 center. We advise doing it once a quarter.
Are we locked in?
Month to month on our side. The 3CX license is annual.
Tell us what is on the walls.
Your sites, your headcount, how many phones, what is mounted in the plant, which numbers you need to keep, and what you are running now. You will get your size, your monthly rate, your license line, and a straight answer about your analog and your network.
Or call (888) 223-1094