Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

Having been charged with the upkeep of the website, I’ve been trying to fix inconsistencies with the navigation. Sometimes it works. Sometimes not.

Take for example, Meridian Phones. There were pages to help one navigate through the T and M series of Norstar phones but there wasn’t one master page to send people to so they could easily get to the Meridian M2000 and M3000 phone pages.

Well, that’s changed. Here’s the updated link to Meridian Phones:

http://www.telephonemagic.com/meridian-1-phone-system.htm

You can find Meridian M3000 and M2000 phone as well as cards for the Meridian 1 PBX systems that these phones run on.

Oh, all at wholesale prices too, I might add.

I hope you enjoy the update.

One thing I’ve noticed as a newcomer to the telecom industry is that lots of companies like to make their stuff proprietary – only working with other products that they make.

Headsets are a prime example of this.

First of all, headsets have to adapt to the phone. Plantronics gets around this by creating two different lines of headsets – Polaris and H-series – to connect to different types of phones either directly, or through an amplifier.

Of course, you can’t use a Plantronics amplifier with a GN Netcom headset – and the opposite is true as well.

Then you get a subversive product like the Chameleon 3007 universal phone headset amplifier.

Yeah – subversive. You read correctly.

This product is truly universal – accepting headsets from Plantronics and GN Netcom – and pretty much any other major headset manufacturer. It also connects to virtually any business phone.

Compare that to the “universal” headset amplifiers from Plantronics, which connect to virtually any business phone but only accept headsets within the Plantronics universe. I guess that’s how they can call it “universal” – referring only to the phones it can connect to.

One of the neat features about the Chameleon is a “magic switch” as they call it, which eliminates the “speaking into a tin can sound” that can sometimes happen when used with high transmit application. One flick of the switch and the call clarity is boosted tremendously. It’s amazing nobody else has thought of this before.

So, if you have a Plantronics of GN Netcom headset and need a new amplifier, I strongly suggest you look into the Chameleon 3007. It works great and will probably make your existing headset work even better than with its former amplifier. It’s also the best looking of the bunch, in my opinion.

Do you know what makes a Polaris-series Plantronics headset different from an H-series headset?

They look the same.

They feel the same.

They smell the same.

The difference is . . . impedance.

????

Impedance is “resistance to alternating current” and is measured in ohms.

A Polaris headset has different impedance than an H-series headset.

This is why a Polaris headset can be plugged directly into a telephone that has an amplifier, but an H-series headset requires an external amplifier to work.

This is also why Polaris headsets cost more.

Interestingly, Chameleon call center headsets can be plugged directly into a telephone with a built-in amplifier (like the Norstar T-series of phone) AND it can also be used with an external amplifier.

I learn something new every day.

If you’re in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area, Canada, eh?), Telephone Magic’s running a special promotion for phone systems.

If you purchase or lease a new Norstar CICS Digital Phone System with voicemail and 4 T7316e phones, you’ll receive a free USB digital message on-hold announcer and a professional generic message production!

The cost of this on a lease is $66 / month (O.A.C., plus taxes, first and last in advance, buy-out at end of term – installation extra).

This is a limited time offer, so call Jim Mucciarone at 905-356-9199 x 3006 for more details.

My boss took a look at this product and started humming the theme to the original Casper cartoons. “Casper – the Friendly Ghost, the Friendly Ghost…”

This is a friendly product – both for use and on the bank account.

The Casper USB call recorder is a full line-tap device that records all conversations on the line to computer through a USB connection. It can be installed before the phone system on each line to capture all calls made on that line, thus eliminating the need to have one unit per PHONE, which is how a lot of other systems work. Because of this, it can be a less expensive way to record all the calls in your call center or business.

For more information on the Casper and other USB call recording devices, click here.

Yet another friendly product available wholesale through Telephone Magic.