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Selkowitz Technology | Seattle’s small business network and telecom consultant

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You may not know we actually use Talkswitch for our company’s phone system, for quite some time we’d been trying to figure out how to route calls to everyone in the field, avoid large long distance bills, and handle our clients calls generally in a better manner.

For the longest time I figured we’d do a pure VoiP solution, but in 2006 I saw too many failed VoiP phone systems get sold to small businesses. Not a single VoiP system I saw like Avaya, Aptela, Packet8, Speakeasy, etc could deliver reliable call quality, call routing, or a decent return on investment.

I began looking at Virtual PBX Packages like Accessline, VirtualPBX, etc. The problem they won’t port numbers, so you have to get a new number - not an easy task for a business. Plus in most cases they own the number meaning the number you use and advertise belongs to another company which you can’t port! Worst of all most bill per minute, even when they claim “no usage fees” check the fine print - 2000 minutes was one company’s cap on no usage fees, anything more is billed per minute!

I turned back to look at non-VoiP “traditional” phone systems and found most weren’t really designed for the small business. We wanted a system which was feature rich, easy to configure and maintain, and had a reasonable cost - Talkswitch clearly fit the bill.

Talkswitch Features
The Talkswitch features fit exactly what we needed - an auto-attendant to route calls, remote extensions meaning calls could transfer to cell phones, voicemail to email for easier management of our voicemail load, auto mode switching so we could have weekends off, and call cascade to ensure someone can always be reached in case of emergency.

Talkswitch Configuration and Maintenance
Sure, we’re geeks, but we didn’t start out as phone geeks - we wanted something easy to configure. Every Talkswitch feature is just a matter of a few clicks in their easy to use configuration software - included with each system. This means you won’t be tied to anyone for minor changes. Talkswitch also offers free phone support meaning the answers you need are always close at hand without more cost.

Talkswitch Pricing
Our Talkswitch cost just $1334 - in other terms if we keep it for five years it costs just $22/month. When you consider I was looking at a VirtualPBX for $100/mo, its easy to see the value of a Talkswitch.

Even better Talkswitch wasn’t going to cost us more for new features - every Talkswitch update is free! That means everything from the recently Daylights Savings Time change to the addition of new features are all free.

Needless to say we were so wowed by our Talkswitch we decided to sell it as well - any small business looking at a phone system should consider Talkswitch.

“As a small but growing non-profit organization, the Bellevue Philharmonic needs to employ the newest technology while still controlling expenses. The TalkSwitch phone system we purchased solves all of our communications needs and easily fit our budget. I am pleased to recommend the TalkSwitch system to any small business. It provides trouble-free service at an affordable price.”
Lawrence J. Fried
Executive Director
Bellevue Philharmonic

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