In the baseball world, pitchers and catchers began reporting for spring training. So that means Spring ( while in its infancy) has begun. this is the time of year when most companies really begin to think about opening a new office or moving to a new space. I've worked on hundreds of these types of moves over the last decade and I have noticed there are several items that are often overlooked or assumed by the business that can cause real headaches and worse, can delay moving in and The Grand Opening.
First: keeping you phone number. You can always keep your phone number, it just depends how much you want to pay to keep it. In very simple terms every phone number is associated with a specific geographic location served by a building known as a Central Office (or C/O). Lets take 410-848-XXXX as an example. 410 indicates this is a Maryland phone number and the 848 indicates service in the Westminster area. So there is a Verizon Central Office building in Westminster that handles all calls for numbers that begin 410-848. Let's say this business owner decides to move from Westminster to a nearby town like Finksburg. Finksburg has its own Central Office building and its own numbers that it supports. This customer has 3 options, change all their numbers (which most don't want to do), create a Remote Call Forward (RCF)service, or set up a foreign exchange service. With an RCF, you take the Westminster number and set it to "point" to a Finksburg number. To the outside world (your customers) there is no difference. For you as the business owner this RCF generates a local phone call charge every time someone calls you. Most companies will set this up for their main phone number and their fax number, since they are the 2 publicized numbers for the company. A "foreign exchange" is a programming feature that has your Wesminter numbers route all calls through the Finksburg central office. Because of this arrangement you pay a premium for every foreign exchange line and it is "all or nothing" if you have 5 phone lines you pay this feature on all 5. Meeting with your local rep can help determine which way is best for your company
Second: moving your service. You cannot assume that your service can be moved with yout company, no matter how close the move my be. If you move 1 block down the street, you may move out of the Central Office service area, you may move out of DSL range, you may move out of the service area for cable or fiber. Making such a change may force you to switch providers and may result in purchasing more expensive products to get comparable service. Call your provider, speak to your rep or a manager and verify the new address can be serviced THE EXACT SAME WAY you are currently. This is an ideal team to evaluate other providers to take advantage of newer technology and better pricing.
Third: office cabling. NEVER assume you can re-use the cabling in the office. My experience says about 20% of cabling can be re-used without significant expense. The most common issue is the previous tenant will often chop off all of their network gear in such a manner that all the cables need to be re-terminated, and possibly spliced and extended. At that point re-cabling will only cost you about 15% more and will give you the piece of mind to know it all works. The other common issue is the cable grade. Cat3 is still considered industry standard for traditional voice cabling. Many companies now opt for Cat5 or Cat6 which can be used for voice or data. If you are using VOIP telephones you cannot use Cat3 for voice. Which leads to my next subject
Fourth: there are many kinds of VOIP. Most service providers are delivering VOIP today and you as the customer may not even be aware of it. There is PURE IP service which requires IP phones to operate. Most VOIP uses an access device on the customers premise that breaks the service out in a manner that the customers phone equipment can support. When you are ready to move, evaluating which works best for you can help your new office get off to a fast start
Fifth: Moving The Phone System. As a general guideline your phone system has a life expectancy of about 10 years. While you certainly can keep them longer it is important to consider ft moving an 8 or 9 year old system is in your companies best interest. Can that system be upgraded to support the latest features? Can you get a low cost maintenance agreement to cover it in the event of failure? Does the system fit your needs currently? What is the cost difference between moving this system and purchasing a new one? All good questions. The bottom line is to meet with someone you trust and evaluate your needs.
In summary review all these topics for your office move. The most important item is to start this process at least 90 days before moving. Setting up telephone and Internet service can sometimes take 60 days or longer. Don't get caught and then have what could have been an avoidable delay.
Thanks For Reading
Mike
BTW, follow me on twitter @mistertelecom
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