Best Multi-Line Phone System for 6 Employee Office To Route Calls

April 13, 2015 4:23 PM

What phone system should I use for a small office (6 employees) that would direct callers to the appropriate department or employee and allow us to transfer calls internally? Open to digital options (grasshopper, ring central) or traditional providers (at&t, charter).

I'm looking for input and advice on which might be the best phone system for the small business where I work.
We have 6 employees broken down into 2 departments. We currently have 3 phone lines (one for each department: operations and donations, with a rollover line for operations when someone's on a call) and a voicemail for each department.
We're currently using cordless phones like one might find in a household. The problem with this 3 line set up is that we can't transfer calls between them and we often have to chase each other down to pass the phone off when callers dial in to the wrong department.
I am interested in a system that will allow for a more efficient way to manage these calls, specifically with some sort of method to route the calls to the correct department or employee.
Our office is located in Los Angeles, California (near Glendale).
We currently have service for both phone and internet through AT&T.
We could stick with them through their Mobile@Hand service.
Other options may include Charter Business Service, TimeWarner Cable Business Class (my last option - I have had terrible service from TimeWarner every time I have contracted with them). I am also considering online services Grasshopper, Ring Central and Vonage.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Good or bad stories about using any of these services?
Suggestions of which features I should consider?

posted by mprove to Technology (3 answers total)

Check out Ooma too.
posted by Brent Parker at 10:59 PM on April 13, 2015

When you've got three phone lines, but 6 phones, you need to have your own internal phone system. Because, let's say you have three incoming phones taking up the incoming lines -- can phone #4 call phone #6? How can phone #3 transfer their incoming line to phone #5 -- since all the lines are used? You want to be able to use all the phones at the same time, without tying up the incoming/outgoing lines -- if Phone #1 calls Phone #2, you don't want to use up two telephone lines (one for #1's outgoing call, one for #2's incoming call), so there has to be a system that is keeping track of your own phone network, routing calls from the outside and calls out from inside to only use those 'trunk' phone lines when necessary.

So, you need a phone system, called a PBX, that handles the routing to the internal extensions -- which is somewhat independent from who you get your phone service from. Phone companies often sell the PBX systems to keep you as a valued customer, plus they can be a bit of work to get set up so it helps to have an expert, but there's nothing forcing you to change phone service just to get a PBX. The incoming phone lines are just phone lines -- they don't know what's on your end actually answering or routing phone calls, so just keep your current phone company if you get good service from them, work on finding a PBX system.

Small businesses I've known have gotten a small Nortel Norstar PBX -- even if they only have one line coming in, they can still dial to the point-of-sale desk from the back office, transfer the one incoming call line to the shipping area, etc.

If you're really technically minded, people would probably advise you to set up your own IP phone PBX with Asterix or some other freeware option, but that's really complicated compared to even setting up a web server. A turnkey Norstar PBX system might cost a couple grand, cheaper options for a bit less*, but any which way you cut it, regardless of what company you get your phone service from, if you want to be able to control phone calls and internal transfers, you need a PBX.

*Not an endorsement; I just googled "small business pbx"
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:05 AM on April 14, 2015

In unusual timing, I just saw a quote for this PBX system, which was about $1,200 for the main system, and $200 per phone; the quote is for a small business with four lines. It's being purchased from a telcom supplier, who is also doing all the installation and setup, and not through the phone company.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:54 PM on April 15, 2015