CHOOSING YOUR NEW CARRIER

Telephone service is a very substantial operating cost for businesses. Today, most employees make and receive phone calls that total well over $1,000 annually, and for high volume users that amount can balloon to several thousand dollars.

THE COST TREND IS ON YOUR SIDE
Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce the cost of this service. In the past few years, the market has continued to become more competitive. Excess network capacity has allowed smaller carriers to lease high quality long distance lines at low rates. This has placed downward pressure on rates offered by all the carriers, particularly for smaller businesses. Thus, rates have steadily dropped sharply over the past 15 years. If you haven't re-negotiated your rates in the past two years, you should easily be able to save anywhere from 15 to 40%.

WHAT'S THE GOING PRICE?
The highly competitive nature of this industry ensures that better rates can almost always be found. Unfortunately, the carriers do not make it all that easy to compare offerings. Although carriers work on a basic per minute rate charge, each tinkers with how they are billed. Monthly charges, varying minimum call lengths and volume discounts can increase or decrease your final bill fairly significantly.

In the end, though, service can be fairly cheap. Almost any business should be able to obtain domestic rates of roughly .035¢ per minute or better. Firms that regularly call more than 20,000+ minutes per month should be able to find rates of .03¢ per minute. And if decide to choose a SIP provider, per minute charges can drop to as low at 1.9¢.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Although some customers choose their carrier solely based on price, the service element plays a major factor in selecting the proper carrier. That extra couple of tenths of a cent in savings will seem trivial in relation to the impact to the company of downed lines, consistently incorrect billing and lackadaisical customer service.

So, what should you look for in service? First, a good indicator may be your salesperson. Are they responsive and knowledgeable? If not, what's the chance that company has great service? Great people work for great companies.

One key factor is the business hours of technical support. Generally, carriers will offer either 24-hour or 9 to 5 service. With carriers offering 9 to 5 service, any after-hour calling problems will need to wait to the next day to be resolved. As a result, these carriers may be a poor choice for businesses that make calls after hours or on weekends.

A second area to investigate is operator availability. Not all carriers offer operator service. If you typically use services such as operator-assisted international dialing, you should make sure the carrier you choose offers operator service. However, if you seldom need this assistance, you can gain additional savings by choosing a carrier that does not offer this service.

IS AT&T SUPERIOR?
Frankly, AT&T is slightly above average in keeping your service working, but below average in customer service. They have been a bumbling bureaucracy for decades and no change is foreseen. As many people have come to learn, "AT&T's service is poor but at least it's consistent". Something can be said for that after seeing so many smaller carriers come and go in the past.

However, the predicted shakeout has happened and there are now only a handful of carriers to choose from. Most of the weak ones have died or been acquired and the remaining carriers have learned that the sustaining business model is to provide superior customer service in conjunction with a lower price than AT&T.

WHY DO I LOSE SERVICE
The vast majority of outages are caused by damage to the cable that delivers the circuit to your building. Each and every carrier faces this same service-disrupting problem. So, whether it's AT&T or another carrier, the chance of this problem is the same.

SO HOW DO I PROTECT AGAINST LOSING SERVICE
If failure is an important concern, you are better off using two or more carriers and splitting your traffic. While this solution may reduce the volume discounts you receive from either carrier, it will be far more secure than using any single carrier.

WILL MY CARRIER GO OUT OF BUSINESS
In the dotcom days there were many companies who entered the marketplace and promptly went out of business. Today, the craziness has subsided and the main players are stable and solid. There are still a few bit players who are more risky, but they have very little market share. The three dominant players in California are AT&T, TelePacific and XO Communications.

BUYING CONSIDERATIONS:
Before you start comparing programs, you need to understand your company's calling profile. The best way to do so is to examine a recent phone bill. Break out where the calls went, when they were made, and how long they lasted. Use this analysis and information about your total call volume to direct your comparison of programs, focusing on rates that apply to the majority of your calls.

RATES ARE FREQUENTLY NEGOTIABLE
Once you have determined the best program for your company, it is time to make a deal. Depending on the size of your account, you will have varying leverage to negotiate below the published rates. Often, it is simplest to agree upon specific discounts, such as calls to a branch office or within your state. Any adjustments you agree upon should be made in writing to avoid annoying fights down the road.

CONTRACTS
Providers offer lower rates to entice customers to sign up for a multiple-year contract. While signing up for long terms of service can also help you obtain low rates, we recommend that you avoid plans that lock you in for more than 24 months. Because the industry is changing rapidly, you will want to keep your options open to take advantage of lower rates and new technologies in the future.

MONTHLY MINIMUM CHARGES
Make sure to build in a cushion when signing up for service that requires a monthly call minimum. If you fail to meet this minimum, most programs will simply bill your company the difference. To be safe, your calling volume should be at least 15% above a given threshold.

PERIODIC REVIEW
As rates change like the weather, it's a good idea to review your long distance situation on a yearly basis.

TURN THE PROJECT OVER TO US:
We've been in the business of telecommunications for over 20 years. We have excellent relationships with best-of-breed providers. We can help negotiate very competitive prices, while offering solutions with superior customer service. Typically we can help you save 15 - 40% and with VOIP even more and vastly improve customer service.