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  • Going to the NBN

    Going to the NBN can be an experience but will it be good or bad?

    First of all, on Going to the NBN, it is a fixed entity that comes with certain characteristics and regimes and nothing can change them.

    Where the problem comes in is the hundreds of resellers that are tasked to act as resellers to the service.
    Furthermore, in some cases, you may go through several levels of resellers with the product offering.

    Pricing will vary with product and marketing clout.
    Those spending the most on marketing wanting to reclaim the expenditure.

    Telstra, just like Optus and both the M2 and TPG group are demanding a share of the market with a long-term payback.

    What appears to be the case is that they are not getting the returns they require and this will have an eventual impact of some kind.

    We should separate the home and business market because they are quite different. Homeowners are quite willing to roll over to the marketing tactics and sign with one of the large players.

    This is probably a result of marketing tactics when the letterbox is stuffed with offers and threats of losing your service if you don’t act now.

    Business is different going to the NBN

    Business is a bit different when going to the NBN, we have multiple users and many products often based on more than one carrier.
    The original phone line contract that we have had from day dot plus a broadband network, emails and maybe even some backup.

    Changing is a tad more complicated so we often just shelve it for later, but my friends later may just be now.

    You must move your phone plan to an NBN plan within about 18 months of the network coming to you. NBN have started turning off copper networks so plan now on going to the NBN.

    It is interesting, NBN came to my home address and I needed some details about the network.
    I rang Telstra using my home number as that was the only way they would talk to me.
    The nice lady answered my question and the said: ” Telstra are too busy at the moment I suggest you go to one of the other resellers”. I kid you not.

    My point is that when everyone is in a panic it will be congested therefore act early.

    You should use one NBN service for your voice traffic if you need more than a couple of calls at a time.
    Your voice traffic is important and data takes precedence.
    I have a great article with all the ideas at www.fig-solutions.net
    that gives all the options on your phone system and things to look for. We will explain VOIP, SIP Digital connections a whole subject on its own.

    And then comes Data.

    Next is data, Here you have a few choices but probably the cheapest is NBN because you can pay for what you get.
    Chose your speed and data quantity based on needs. There are many other choices Like Fibre, Terrestrial etc to suit a greater need.

    If you have a data feed on your fixed telephone lines then you must change to another method. Telephone lines as we know them will disappear. Note, that is lines, not numbers. You will be able to move or port your numbers to the new network.

    Your telephone lines as you know them will disappear. Note that is lines, not numbers. You will be able to move or port your numbers to the new network.

    One last issue to be addressed by you is fax lines, These will not work on the Data lines so you will need to make alternate choices.

    New fax services with Fax to Email and Email to fax now provide a cheaper and more efficient service to run your faxes.

    Similarly, with Security systems, many of these won’t work on data lines so an alternative method must be found. Considerable effort has been made in this area so check with your security company first

    And in conclusion, EFTPOS if on your telephone lines won’t work on Data. Most are now going wireless so think of upgrading.

    There is a bundle of information around and I hope these few ideas can help in your planning.

    photo of authorPeter Hanley

    www.fig-solutions.net

    select@westnet.com.au

     

     

  • NBN phone systems

    NBN phone systems.

    What phone systems can you use with the NBN to get a maximum return for your business?

    There are some things that you need to know in any conversation with your provider.

    First of all;

    SIP  (Session initiation protocol) is simply a method to connect and run multimedia over your NBN data lines at the same time. Data, voice, video etc.  A SIP device may be a modem or a card inside your digital system.
    Sip connects, monitors and disconnects your Voice calls over the internet.

    ATA (analogue telephone adaptor) This allows your old analogue lines to convert to SIP access.

    VOIP ( Voice over internet protocol) Much the same as SIP really and was the original medium for Voice over the net.

    Now let’s not get hung up on acronyms other than being able to nod your head with some degree of knowledge when they talk about them using NBN phone systems.

    Voice calls over the internet.

    This is part of the NBN plan, all voice calls will now go over the NBN and the copper wire network will disappear. When? Tops a couple of years.

     

    Telephone systems

    With the telephone system you have now, you most likely ordered so many handsets and some Techie guy came and installed them and when they went wrong you called the guy back.
    He put a big box on the wall and told you not to touch it.
    If you require a small change you ring him and he charges a bundle to alter or add a feature.
    That my friend is one of the advantages that the NBN and hosting have introduced. Control.
    Nothing has changed really, work out what you want and get someone to do it for you. If you have an old clunker telephone system it can connect using adaptors and Sip but really give consideration to entering the new age of communications it has a bundle of advantages.

    What phone systems can you have?

    A traditional box on the wall type system that has a digital interface to the VOIP world. It uses all the features and benefits of the telephone system and when you are in trouble call the Techie guy. It might be a Panasonic, LG, NEC Cisco or other common brands that have been around for decades.

    Live in the cloud world.

    Someone somewhere has a great big industrial telephone system that has all the bells and whistles that you need.They then partition off a section just for you. You pick up your handset and over the internet it connects to your Private box and routes to the world.
    If it breaks down you just yell at them to fix it, You will have a dashboard that allows you to make all the changes you can need so wave goodbye to the Techie guy.

    You don’t have to pay out capital to use it as it is mostly for a monthly fee, a fee by the way that will probably include all your phone calls, so a nice fixed monthly cost.

    The Cloud or hosted system is ideal for both the small user 1-15 handsets and the largest organisation.
    You can link to your other offices or outlets anywhere looking like the one business.

    The mid-size business may opt for a traditional system for several reasons, they already have one  is the first up reason
    and over 5 years it may be arguably cheaper in overall cost.

    So what do you do?

    First up I would ditch any old phone system over say 8 years old and consider my options. The reasons I say this are several. The boards in the old system will deteriorate overtime and cause intermittent problems. They will be out of production and hard to come by and probably expensive. Like wise handsets don’t last forever and are also hard to replace.
    Remember the phone system is really a computer and things have changed dramatically over the past decade.

    Your system was designed for either ISDN or PSTN networks that will not exist in a coming couple of years.

    I resisted hosting in the early days based on the ability of the Internet to carry voice traffic and data in slow speed access.The NBN network can be as fast as you want it, at a cost of course.

    Grab a couple of quotes from those companies that have influence in your area. Telstra is a good start and work down from there.
    The critical ingredient is support. I have some horror stories at https://fig-solutions.net/nbn-horror-stories separate Blog.
    Have a look at some chat about your chosen carrier and make your mind based on either data or even a recommendation.
    I use and recommend The Summit group chosen because of the Australian support, The guys tend to know what they are doing and are most helpful.

    Peter Hanley

    Select consulting PtyLtd

  • NBN horror stories.

    NBN horror stories

    A general warning on NBN horror stories and some things to think about.

    The NBN network is active across Australia in many areas and businesses.

    A host of hundreds of providers have access to the network and retail their value proposition to you the customer.
    Offers, Features and prices vary because of this competitive environment however so do services and support.

    My roll as a consultant and advisor in messaging and telephone costs across a broad spectrum of businesses. I certainly have some terrible stories with NBN connectivity.

    we  have all  heard many terrible stories with NBN connectivity.

    Stories that have cost a lot of money in IT support to get up and going. Furthermore  businesses being off the air for weeks at a time and to completely wrong information being provided.

    You can Google countless stories of slow speeds well below that promised by the carriers and poor quality networks and support.

    The Internet is still plagued by a couple of major disruptors.

    To get the NBN rolling corners were cut and some of the old technology was retained to speed up the introduction of the new network.

    The network is based around a Fibre Optic delivery going right to your home or business.

    For expediency in some places they still use the copper network to the local Node or to your premises.

    If you have copper in the link you may have problems.
    In the bad old days, the distance from the exchange could affect your speed, well guess what? It still does.

    Other areas may have either wireless or satellite connectivity.

    How can we impact all this?

    One of the great features of the NBN network is that it is designed as a high-speed network and it is just that.

    It is also designed to carry both Voice and data traffic which becomes a juggling act to obtain the best service quality.
    On the other hand, if you want speed you must pay for it.
    It is really a user pays system, both speed and quantity come at a price. For a basic home service, a basic speed of about 12mbps (megabits per second) should run your emails and downloads plus a voice channel for phone calls.

    You may get away with a nominal 50GB of data all at a nice low price.

    I run a home office and come within these boundaries except when the Kids stay over and take the opportunity to download a bundle of whatever.

    I had to upgrade to a 100 GB data to accommodate their input.

    This is all complicated by the need to mix your Voice traffic with your data over the one channel so everyone competes for bandwidth.

    In many businesses, it may be advisable to have one NBN channel just for your voice and another for data.

    The compensating factor is that calls should be cheaper overall presenting a general saving.

    Picking the right carrier.

    Trusting the big guns to be the best may not be the premium pick.

    Telstra has the name, Optus have a following and TPG have the price but search their support pages before leapfrogging into a mire.

    Making a recommendation without knowing your business is fraught with danger and I certainly won’t stick my neck out.

    You can, however, go to my cheat sheet to work up a profile of your business needs.

    The author is Peter Hanley of Select consulting a pioneer in business communications 1800116116