Integrated Access

[easpengren]

I'm in the process of putting together a proposal for call center based on vicidial and I'm talking to Qwest.

They want to sell me Integrated Access. Does this seem like a good idea? Or should I steer clear?

[mflorell]

How exactly are they defining Integrated Access?

The devil is in the details.

[easpengren]

PRI trunks for VOIP along with the T1. They're also offering some free long distance, free static IPs, free DIDs, free router.

We're starting small, so this might be a very good solution to start.

[mflorell]

That's a lot of freebees, must be expensive

What's the cost on this?

How many concurrent calls?

Do they have a minimum ASR to avoid additional fees?

Do they know you will be doing predictive dialing on these lines?

[easpengren]

I don't think I can post the cost here.

It strikes me as being relatively inexpensive, though. It's in line with typical deals in the area.

They know we're running a call center, with predictive dialers.

The bandwidth is actually high for the early traffic and the deal includes possibility of scaling up at a decent price.

They really want my business. If it works out they could make some decent money and sell it as a good case to other clients.

Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by "Minimum ASR"?

Thanks for the help.

[mflorell]

ASR is the percent of answered calls out of placed calls. If it is too low, or you have too many less-than-6-second calls then they may levy fees to your account. We have clients that have had thisdone to them by Qwest.

[williamconley]

A rule for Qwest: Always ask "What is the MINIMUM I will be paying you every month?" (get that in writing! on the contract! final version!)

Free Minutes = You are being charged for X minutes whether you use them or not. They say "Free", then up the bill to cover them, and forget to mention that was part of it. I have personally watched it go from "proposal" at $800/mo to "contract signed" requiring $2000/mo with lots of "free minutes". That one ended up in court, because the final contract (after being faxed 6 times back and forth for signatures) was unreadable. Of course that particular one was XO, not Qwest, but I have had similar experiences with Qwest.

A standard T1 (data) should be about $400/mo max for a metro area. If it changes to Voice or PRI (Data AND Voice) it can go up 20% and then add minutes and hold up to 23 lines as a rule. Be sure your per minute charge is not over 1 cent or is "tiered" between half a cent and 1.5 cents for all but a few (choice) calling zones (I think there are some NY call zones that are stupidly expensive on all tiered systems).

Remember that "free minutes" ARE included in your invoice, but you're going to be charged for them whether you use them or not so 10,000 free minutes at 1c per minute should only add $100 to your monthly.

And most importantly (with a T1 PRI) remember that you are signing a multi-year contract which will commit you to a total dollar amount to spend ($2000 * 24 months is $48000) and you CANNOT "back out" when they decide that you cannot use your dialer on their service because of a fine print you (and your salesman) overlooked. Exercise caution, be OPEN and HONEST that you'll be using a dialer and highlight any requirements for successfull calls or average call times. Also make note of any "we can change this contract any time we want to" notices. Those can hurt.

OK, tirade over. (have you considered DATA T1 and SIP service? I have walked many clients through the process including colo options and various provider options ... read your fine print!)

[easpengren]

Wow, I just now saw this reply. This is good stuff.

Thank-you.

Eric