Every business is looking at every way to reduce expenses without cutting staff. Why not consider your telephone and internet services? The fact is that in many markets across the country there are viable alternatives to the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC). Here in Illinois, many companies have AT&T for their telephone service and are paying more than they need to each and every month. As an alternative to AT&T, I'll often recommend Cbeyond or Firstcomm. There are other choices as well to help you reduce telephone expense. Every situation is a little different, but this is the typical process:
Examine existing telephone and internet services for sizing
Examine existing telephone and internet services to determine current pricing
Work with a variety of carriers to gain competitive quotes
Determine if telephone and internet service costs could be reduced
Present findings to client
At the end of the precess we will recommend a solution to save on your telecommunications services or perhaps upgrade. We'll take into account what equipment you have in place so that we don't recommend something that you cannot use. Here are some frequently asked questions or concerns that we see:
Q. We have AT&T today and we don't want to sacrifice call quality. Can we still reduce our phone services costs?
A. Most likley the answer is Yes! In many cases we will recommend the same or better technology for to help reduce costs. If there is some sacrifice that you will be making in order to save, we will highlight the change so that you are well informed.
Q. Isn't AT&T the best my business can have?
A. From some perspectives, the answer can be yes. They are the standard by which the other carriers are judged because they are so large. Many companies can deliver the same quality of circuits to you because they are essentially the same circuits because AT&T (and other ILECs) are contracted to provide the "last mile" of the connection.
Q. If I'm still using AT&T for the "last mile", why not just use them for everything.
A. Some other carriers will be more responsive to your request for service changes. While the physical connection to the phone network is the same connection, the programming of your lines is handled by your carrier, not the ILEC. That means that if you are changing your service at all, other companies have full access to making the changes that they need. Additionally, any of the competitive carrriers are a larger customer to AT&T than you could be. Because of this they have relationships in place to get the right changes done as quickly as they can be. Additionally, other carriers can typically reduce the cost of telecommunications services over AT&T.
Q. Will my phone lines be down when I go through a change?
A. Not for long if at all typically. We plan the change to take place at a slower time for your business. You'll have plenty of time to send out an email to your customers as well letting them know that there may be a disruption at a particular time as well. Most of the time the change takes place without anyone realizing any down time at all.
Q. Can I keep my numbers if I switch services?
A. Yes in most cases. We can evaluate that before we initiate any orders to change service.
Q. Is reducing telecommunications expenses the only reason to consider changing carriers?
A. No. Many carriers have different features and abilities. For instance, if you are moving to another building, AT&T will typically not let you move your phone number. They like to have you 'remote call forward' the number in order to keep it. This increases your telephone costs. Other carriers will lower your costs by letting your number be moved.
I hope this information is helpful. Please contact Bob Langys at 630-734-7328 if you have any questions at all!
