We probably can, we have 10 years selling, operating and supporting hosted switchboards, give us a call.

It can be very helpful to write down what your needs are. The more you can give clear examples of what you want to happen, the easier it is for us to help you. Doubts as to the suitability of dmSwitchboard12 to particular cases usuallt arise for 2 reasons:

• Our product has a lot of flexible and useful features "under the bonnet", which are not obvious from first glance (also we want our product to look simple and non intimidating)
• We have other ways of achieving the same objective, and the customer's previous experience has taught them another way of doing it

YES, you can. We do not sell physical handsets, but we are in the process of building a relationship with some consultants who can advise you on the purchase, and set the handsets up, and help with getting your LAN and ADSL "SIP Ready". If you have in-house expertise you can do it yourself. We have some notes on how to set up certain handsets in our help system's notes.

Then you will be relieved that you bought from us, as we have 2 very useful features for this situation:

• We have a disaster recovery plan built into our plan manager
• Our AnyTalk system allows our system to work extremely well with mobile and landline phones

Why not give our support team a call if you would like to run through a scenario that requires a disaster recovery plan?

There are generally 3 issues that need to be handled:

• Is there enough capacity?
• Can your non-VOIP traffic interfer with your VOIP traffic?
• Is your ISP high enough quality? (that is not the same as theoretical capacity of the links)

Call our support team if you would like to clarify matters.

We do have "SIP Ready LAN" specialists who can help on the teachnical details.

No. Our switchboard gives a top quality service for ordinary phones as well, it's something that we've been particularly keen to ensure (see AnyTalk)

However should you find the need to venture into VOIP you will find our WebPhone a very simple way to get started.

You enable a feature called CLI auto login, in Personal Extension, advanced phones control. Don't worry it has useful tool-tip advice like all our controls. When you have enabled that, just call your extension, either through a reception number, or better still a direct dial to your personal extension.

This feature works best if you have a number that is connected directly to your Personal Extension, that way you can simply dial the memory on your phone, and then dial the destination number. There are apps for the smart phones which can do all the dialling for you, so you do not lose the convenience of the mobile phone'saddress book.

It's a totally new generation of product, our old switchboard has had various upgrades over its 10 years so far, but we decided that we wanted something brand new.

• It does outbound calls (with some really nice CLI management)
• It offers internet phone calls for free (lots of cost savings)
• It offers very powerful hunting and team work
• It's at the start of its life, and we have some interesting innovations planned for it over the next 10 years.

That's a few of the major features, why not have all look at the features page?

The calling system (dmCalls12) has slightly cheaper calls.

It is slightly more expensive per month for the base system, but it does come with VOIP and the WebPhone, which should save most customers quite a lot of money.

There is a monthly fee for the 4th+ personal extensions, however there is a low usage mode for occasional users available on request.

We would be amazed if the extra features did not earn their way in your company.

They will be billed at the end of the month to your account. If you think that an additional personal extension is going to be used less than 400 minutes a month, then call support, and they can put it onto a pay by the minute tariff (with a friendly bill cap of 600 minutes). If you use any additional extension for less than 60 seconds in a month we won't charge you anyway.

First time buyers often go for the cheapest option and don't realise the value of high quality support, and features for long term use (like a good plan system), general usability, and true hybrid telephony. Initially they might regard a switchboard as "a phone system with several people on it", but usually there is more to it that than, it's a piece of business process.

Do compare products on price, but we suggest that you ensure that you're not making false economies that may come back to haunt you later! What might seem attractive now, may not suit your needs going forward.

When we did our last market survey there were no options that had all the features that we felt were essential for what we felt were reasonable, and we have been using these products for a long time. Have a look at our features and buyers guide which may help, it includes the pitfalls that "second time around" purchasers have told us about!

There is no catch designed into our offering. We have tried to make this site clear and ethical, however switchboards can be deceptively complex.

In general we would recommend drawing up a list of requirements or examples of how you would like to use a switchboard in your organisation.

Why not write it into a short email/memo and pass it around? If you would like to copy us in, we can comment on it.

Frequently one only knows what one wants when one tries it!! So why not purchase a "dmSwitchboard12 starter pack 1", and actually get it running in your company? It comes with a no-hassle money-back promise for 14 days, as well as your normal rights. It also comes with a ProTime consultancy session. This way you can really try something out - you will probably discover quite a lot about your needs.

You might also discover that you really like some of our unique world first features!