auto attendant/voicemail

[lyle]

I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which has auto attendant and and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.

I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).

Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the
auto-attendant the others to the regular answering machine so when the
auto attendant phone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.

Which one would you suggest?

I apologize for ignorance but if someone can enlighten me it would be
much appreciated. If this not option for this vp206, I'll take
suggestions.

Thanks in advance

lyle

[Rich Piehl]

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which has auto attendant and and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the
auto-attendant the others to the regular answering machine so when the
auto attendant phone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.
Which one would you suggest?
I apologize for ignorance but if someone can enlighten me it would be
much appreciated. If this not option for this vp206, I'll take
suggestions.
Thanks in advance
lyle

Consider and ESI C or S class. Fairly inexpensive and, from my
experience, very reliable.

Take care,
Rich

God bless the USA

[Carl Navarro]

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which has auto attendant and and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the
auto-attendant the others to the regular answering machine so when the
auto attendant phone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.
Which one would you suggest?

For the sake of an argument, you're trying to do a $1000 job with a
$200 box. What is your budget?

For the $1K, you can get a Venture IP system, or a Panasonic TA-824
with BV and Auto Attendant.

Both of these systems are pretty simple to install and configure and
don't have a ton of bells and whistles.

Clearly, the more money you spend, the more features you'll gain. Keep
that in mind if you plan to expand either employees or phone system
functions.

Carl Navarro

[lyle]

On Mar 21, 8:04 am, Rich Piehl

Post by Rich Piehl
Consider and ESI C or S class. Fairly inexpensive and, from my
experience, very reliable.
Take care,
Rich

Thank you for the suggestion.

Post by Rich Piehl
For the sake of an argument, you're trying to do a $1000 job with a
$200 box. What is your budget?
For the $1K, you can get a Venture IP system, or a Panasonic TA-824
with BV and Auto Attendant.
Both of these systems are pretty simple to install and configure and
don't have a ton of bells and whistles.
Clearly, the more money you spend, the more features you'll gain. Keep
that in mind if you plan to expand either employees or phone system
functions.

Obviously I am not looking to spend a 1k or else I would not have
asked about vp206. I appreciate the suggestion but thats not
in my budget. Maybe someone can answer if the vp206 does what I asked
about?

[Carl Navarro]

Post by lyle
On Mar 21, 8:04 am, Rich Piehl

Post by Rich Piehl
Consider and ESI C or S class. Fairly inexpensive and, from my
experience, very reliable.
Take care,
Rich

Thank you for the suggestion.

Post by Rich Piehl
For the sake of an argument, you're trying to do a $1000 job with a
$200 box. What is your budget?
For the $1K, you can get a Venture IP system, or a Panasonic TA-824
with BV and Auto Attendant.
Both of these systems are pretty simple to install and configure and
don't have a ton of bells and whistles.
Clearly, the more money you spend, the more features you'll gain. Keep
that in mind if you plan to expand either employees or phone system
functions.

Obviously I am not looking to spend a 1k or else I would not have
asked about vp206. I appreciate the suggestion but thats not
in my budget. Maybe someone can answer if the vp206 does what I asked
about?

Well, you seem to have a handle on it all by yourself. I sold my VP
to David Lesher who hangs out here. Maybe he'll jump in and give his
unbiased opinion on what a piece of crap the system was. I bought it
about 3 or 4 years ago to answer the phone of a large retail store,
and play a "we are opening in the future call our other stores until
then" message and then allow the caller to press zero to reach someone
in this store.

It required a Standby Power Supply because the internal battery, even
after it was replaced, kept dropping out and losing the programming.
The version of software was barely upgradeable and it would not detect
fax tones. Id dit light Vodavi message waiting lights on the single
line sets, and it did allow you to leave a message if the single line
ports were unanswered. Yes, the phones had to be connected to the
ports on the system, it's a PBX.

Carl

[T]

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which has auto attendant and and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the
auto-attendant the others to the regular answering machine so when the
auto attendant phone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.
Which one would you suggest?
I apologize for ignorance but if someone can enlighten me it would be
much appreciated. If this not option for this vp206, I'll take
suggestions.
Thanks in advance
lyle

Open source is your friend. Asterisk!

[Alphamacaroon]

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which hasauto attendantand and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the
auto-attendantthe others to the regular answering machine so when the
auto attendantphone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.
Which one would you suggest?
I apologize for ignorance but if someone can enlighten me it would be
much appreciated. If this not option for this vp206, I'll take
suggestions.
Thanks in advance
lyle

Open source is your friend. Asterisk!- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

http://www.callbutler.com

[Jonathan Roberts]

Post by Alphamacaroon
http://www.callbutler.com

What do you think of callbutler? I have been looking into this. The
only downside is 100% voip.

Thanks,

Jonathan

[Rod Dorman]

Post by T

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
...

Open source is your friend. Asterisk!

I'll second this suggestion. If you've got a spare box around you can
try it out for just the cost of a card for interfacing to your PSTN.

The downside is there could be a bit of a learning curve.

[David Lesher]

Post by lyle
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the

As Carl said; I bought {or my client did..} a VP206. It now has the
Stak improved ROMs.

It's working, but it's no Jack Kennedy.

a) The station ports are not balanced. What that means is -- don't
put the unit 170 ft away in the phone room or you'll get lots of
crosstalk between stations. I moved it into the office itself & that
problem is gone. Yes, the phones plug into the unit; it plugs into
the wall & the incoming lines.

b) There's some griping that you can't play back VM messages in LIFO
order, just FIFO. My response is such discourages VM message hoarding.
There IS a "skip-ahead" function while playing messages.

c) VM audio quality is OK - not broadcast perfect but not robot-ish.

d) Finding phones with 90V message-waiting lights that the customer
liked was a minor PITA. We settled on a Panasonic model.

e) Our fax detection did not work at all, but Stak told me our box
was the oldest hardware version. Instead, I used ""Ringmaster"" aka
another DN from Verizontal; the fax machine had a detector. I set
that trunk to need 5-6 rings before the VP206 picks up; that gives
the fax enough time to snatch the call.

f) Yes, each station has its own OGM, so people call in & hear the
main greeting:

You've reached XYZ,
for Abbot, dial 12
for Costello, 14

and if he does not pick up:

Hi, this is Abbot, and
I'm not here....


g) I assume the transfer function works, because I'd hear about it
otherwise..

h) I've had some complaints that the Message Waiting lamp does not
come on until hours after the message was left.

i) There have been some griping from callers that the VM cut them
off, and sometimes it's done that more than once.


h) & i) may cause us to replace it in the mid-term future.

[s***@sellcom.com]

Post by lyle
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.

Sounds like the TMC EV4500 phone system would be a perfect
solution. We have the user manual available for free download at
www.ev4500.com so you can check it out completely in advance.

Steve
--
www.sellcom.com for firewood splitters, ergonomic chairs,
office phone systems, "non-mov" surge protection, Exabyte,
CA, Minuteman, Brave Products, Fisch, TMC, Panasonic and more
http://www.phonelabs.biz cellphone docking now here!

[Etop Udoh]

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which has auto attendant and and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as the
auto-attendant the others to the regular answering machine so when the
auto attendant phone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.
Which one would you suggest?
I apologize for ignorance but if someone can enlighten me it would be
much appreciated. If this not option for this vp206, I'll take
suggestions.
Thanks in advance
lyle

A Lucent Partner system could be setup to do just that. An ACS 308 (3
lines - 8 extensions) processor (all in one unit - except for voicemail)
could do just that if don't mind investing in a pcmcia voicemail card
for it. The latest versions of the processor have more lines and more
extensions in the unit.
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[Alphamacaroon]

Post by lyle
I know this is the newsgroup for technical aspects of telephony but I
am trying to get a handle on this.
I am setting up a new office with three employees. I have two lines
and data line. Each wants its own phone and voicemail/answering
machine for their own private messages. There is no secretary. So I am
looking for when a person calls the main number it gets the main
announcement -"if you want to reach so and so, press one", etc. It
then transfers to that phone extension and if the person doesnt pick
up his personal voicemail/announcment plays and accepts a message in
his own mailbox.
I was interested in the AT&T 984 which hasauto attendantand and a
digital answering machine but apparently from what I can read in the
manual while it does transfer the call to the employees phone, if no
one picks up it drops the call. There is no option for leaving a
message for the employee and creating his own greeting.
I see on ebay that there is a VP206 which appears to due both. Is this
true? Does it need to be physically connected to all phones? Are you
able to the transfer to the extension, and when it occurs, allow for
personal greeting for each of the extensions (i.e. you have reached
the desk of....).
Alternatively, i guess I could buy 4 att phones. Set one up as theauto-attendantthe others to the regular answering machine so when theauto attendantphone transfers it to other phones-each phone's
answering machine picks up after a number of rings.
Which one would you suggest?
I apologize for ignorance but if someone can enlighten me it would be
much appreciated. If this not option for this vp206, I'll take
suggestions.
Thanks in advance
lyle

I would check out http://www.callbutler.com. Very easy and very
inexpensive and does most everything you're looking for.