Re: Phone Line Review

[John Sowden <jsowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A school district in my area (SF Bay Area) advises the phone company to
cancel all phone lines in a building when they are doing a remodel.
They don't deal with phone numbers.  They learned this from doing what
your customers were doing.

John




On 01/21/2015 04:04 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
> On 1/21/2015 5:24 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>> Recently, I got a call to move a phone system for a customer.  It amazed
>> me how nobody had a clue what they even had or what they were paying
>> for.  I knew more from memory than anybody in the business.  Ok, to be
>> fair I installed their phone system, but still.
>>
>> They had a 4 line hunt group (rotary group for you old school types), a
>> dedicated fax line, and 3 additional lines they weren't using for
>> anything. One of those additional lines had DSL service on it they were
>> not using either.  They had business cable for Internet service.  Three
>> commercial phone lines with high cap commercial DSL was over $200 per
>> month they were just throwing away.  No, none of them were dedicated
>> alarm lines.  The alarm panels are on alternate communications.
>>
>> This is a service you can offer your customers if you have the know
>> how.  I know a lot of us saw fly by night business consultants get
>> customers to cancel phone lines they thought they weren't using a few
>> years ago.  Shortly thereafter their fire alarms (if they were setup
>> right) and their burglar alarms quit reporting, and started displaying
>> trouble conditions. Realistically with a commercial pots line running
>> 40-60 per month there is not much reason to have an alarm system on one
>> if the local AHJ approves other methods for fire and you have service in
>> the location.  Our local AHJ just says as long as it's a listed device
>> for the use.
>>
>> So, do a phone line review with your customer instead of letting some
>> fly by night consultant do it and leave your alarm panels beeping.  If
>> you do it, you know your panel won't be left voiceless, you can save
>> your customer some more money, and you may even be able to make a small
>> up sell for alternate communication.  The best part is if you do it then
>> you know your alarm will still be working when you leave.
>>
>>
>
> Excellent point Bob.  I have found some of the same in the past.  Had
> one that was paying for two POTS lines for over 10 years that were never
> connected to the elevator call box.  YES NEVER CONNECTED.
>
>  From your suggestion I can see a small stuffer in the annual billing
> envelope with a little hint.  I don't see a lot of response but you
> never know, one call could more than pay for the time to write and stuff
> the envelope.
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Have a good rest of the week.
>
> Les
>