Can buying a TOO USED phone system actually cost you MORE money? We think it can!

When searching for a phone system for your business or home, you probably already know that the world of phone systems is not only confusing but CONFUSING!

Not only is the phone market being flooded with all sorts of new VOIP systems from some odd manufacturers (which don't work very well, we thought it would be cool to warn you) you will also find a host of used phone systems.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you that buying a used phone system is bad. You CAN save money buying used phone equipment (albeit not a ton.. if it IS a ton.. that's a problem)

My point more over is in the finer details of buying used equipment that is not going to bite you in the **ehem* wallet later. And YES, this can and does happen.

I do not expect you, as a business owner and a customer to know everything there is to know about phone systems. Matter of fact, you probably DON't want to know everything about phone systems. What you want is to get the right phone system for the right money and for it to do it's job so you can concentrate on business! (that for the right money part is important! If you don't know better, you will be oversold on price)

So that being said (and probably already on your mind) you have to be very careful and informed when looking for your bargain. You will find to your surprise that a lot of new equipment can sometimes cost less than used... and yes I will cite some examples.

Let's start with a brand. The one that I KNOW you have seen everywhere is Norstar from Nortel Networks. I must state, for the record right up front, Nortel has ALWAYS made a wonderful phone system. Period, hands down.

Nortel has been making this line of phone systems since 1989, and from the start, the stuff was good. They have also pioneered a lot of technology as well set a high standard for others to compete against. But whatever you do, get it in your head right away, that there IS equipment out there that people are selling, that WAS made in 1989! That's 16 years old.

What's your point! I hear in your head

The Phone System Babyboom! That's what's in my head. But how does this relate to costing you more money long term?

It really boils down to scruples and the fact that it is hard to determine the real cost of ownership for everything you will end up wanting.

Here's an example. You look around online and you find yourself what looks to be like a good deal. You find a Norstar (or meridian... which means it's even older) 824 cabinet and say 6 or 8 accompanying telephones. No voicemail, which is fine for you at the moment and this seems like a great deal! Price is cheap!

Let me first educate you to the fact that the Norstar 824 went out of production in 1995, replaced by the Modular ICS. So no matter what, this cabinet is at least 10 years old. Which in my opinion is a far cry from anything called "Like New". Those old M series phones might be just as old or older.. could be newer. You don't know. The person selling them probably doesn't know.

Unfortunately, you really are about to walk into a mess and pay for the privilege of doing so. Now mind you, this is my opinion, before you hang me or laugh at me, let me further educate you to what you are not being or may not be told.

First be wary of anyone who does explicitly tell you what software is in the phone system you are being sold. They made 5 or so over the years and some without Disconnect Supervision (DS). Without DS, the phone system has know way of knowing to disconnect a call if someone hangs up while leaving a voicemail message or if you had them on hold and they hung up. OR if you looped yourself out of a conference call.

All older Norstar cabinets should be bought with DR 5.1 DS. That was the latest release and anything else will give you headaches.

Also, the older Meridian 824 phone systems had two batteries inside them. Those batteries are not exactly readily available and it's a very easy step to .. uhmm.. overlook the replacement of when getting this cabinet ready for sale. If either of these batteries goes dead, the first time you lose power, you also lose allllllll of the programming in your phone system as well. When you come in Monday after that stormy weekend, you're in for a big surprise, a tech on site reprogramming so you can get back to work, the sourcing of the new batteries, removal and replacement of the batteries (solder) and RE-reprograming your system. Terrible way to go! Happens ALL the time, you'd be shocked.

Ok, so your ticking right along with your superb "too old" phone system and you decide you want to add voicemail to it.

"Oh, when you bought it, they didn't tell you that the only voicemail you can put on it was a Flash 2 or Flash 4?"
"Yes, we have them, the Flash 2 is about $1250 and the Flash 4 is about $1400"
"Yes it's expensive!, Yes it's even more expensive than a brand new Call Pilot 100" ($850 brand new)
"No, you can't make a CP100 work on the 824 or 616 phone systems, they require a CICS or MICS 4.1 and above"
"Well the reason they are so expensive is they were expensive to begin with, a little tough to find really good ones these days and when people bought them to warehouse them, they paid good money for them"

You're inexpensive phone system just got more expensive that it should have, but you buy the flash anyway (of which the quality was good for it's day, but you WILL be disappointed). You'll spend a bit of time finding a tech that remembers how to install that old stuff. Same goes for pretty much any of the other "expansions" to these old phone systems.

The end points are these.

• If anybody tells you that an 824 or 616 or Flash 2 or Flash 4 is "Like New", keep in mind it's no where near new.
• If you want to buy one anyway, ask about the software revision and the batteries, and when y ou get it, inspect the software cartridge for a sticker that looks like it may have been placed over an old one. That's an old trick to take the sticker off of a broken SW cart and apply to an older but working one.
• You will get what you pay for!
• The older a system gets, the more unpredictable it becomes. I don't know about you, but I'm here to do business, not be phone system fixer upper of my office. If it crashes, you lose money, period
• Be educated as to the total cost of ownership by the time you get all the components you really want as well as tech costs involved.

My personal recommendations are these.

• If you want to buy a used phone system, no problem.
• If you have decided to buy used, stick to the newer used systems like a refurbished Compact ICS, rls 4.0, 4.1 at the minimum.
• Same on the Modular ICS, 4.1 and up is the way to go.
• Stay away from release 5.1's. Well known to be buggy.
• Stick to major brand names with newer releases. Norstar, Toshiba, Avaya Partner ACS
• Stay away from the old old Norstar Cabinets, old AT&T Merlin and Partner, old comdial, old vodavi, asuzi and other smaller off brands.
• Take the time to educate yourself and only buy from person who are willing to take the time to find out your needs and give you the information you need to make your own decision.