School & College Phone Systems From Southern Communications Sales, installation and support for the UK's leading school telephone system manufacturers.

School Absentee, Emergency / Information & Bullying Lines
Automated answering and messaging services can improve services to staff and parents, and reduce school telephone and telephonist workload.

Filter absentee calls away from busy school receptionists. Parents and staff can report absentees via an automated service with pre-recorded greetings and voice prompts.

The absentee messages can then be sent to an administrator via flashing LED lights on the handset and/or via email messages.

Emergency, School Trip & Information Services

Using direct-dial technology, pre-recorded messages can be played to parents who call the "Information" number.

A minibus information service can be used to update callers on anticipated time of return, useful when trips are delayed.

Free & Best Advice for Schools

We make it our business to keep you informed and up-to-date with School & College phone systems technology. Our product range covers all areas and forms of telephony in education, and therefore we have nothing to hide and no "axe to grind" when it comes to recommending new school phone systems and solutions to you. We make sure you get best advice, always.

This initially involves explaining phone system and telecoms technology to you in plain English, usually over a cup of coffee or two! We also cover your current school phone system equipment and architecture, and focus on how you want your school or college to communicate in the future.

After our initial meeting, you have a good basic understanding of what can (and can't) be achieved with the telecoms technology available for schools. You will have an overview of the phone system market and will be ready to make informed decisions on what aspects you need for your next telephone system.

NEC's state-of-the-art SV8100 Telephone System can operate with both TDM and VoIP architectures, but which is best for your school or college? We provide free, unbiased advice on which phone system architecture for schools and the education sector, and you will decide what's best for your school.

Your initial advisory meeting, consultancy, site surveys and reports / proposals are provided to you FREE OF CHARGE.

Get the best advice on school & college phone systems, the telecoms marketplace and telecoms technology.

Free School Phone System Consultancy and Design

We begin with taking a close look at your current school telecoms set-up. We provide full site service audits to design the best telephone line structure, and free engineering surveys to ascertain how your new system will be connected. Cabling in schools and colleges can be complex, widespread and confusing - we are highly experienced with school cabling projects.

With a detailed knowledge of your current arrangements and how your school or college needs to communicate, we can then decide whether to use ISDN or SIP, whether your phone system architecture will be VoIP or TDM, or perhaps even a combination.

All of our findings and recommendations are presented in a full written report, which includes costs for implementing the changes and, very frequently, the ongoing cost savings you're likely to make. More often than not, older school telephone systems operate with too many lines and are costly to maintain. Revised phone line structures combined with new school phone systems often justify themselves with lower running costs.

Our design and consultancy service is free of charge, and is part of the sales and evaluation service we provide to all of our schools, colleges and education sector customers.

Phone System Evaluation

If you decide to shortlist us as a potential supplier of the new phone system for your school, it's likely that you'll want to see the system before you make your final decision.

Mobile Demonstration Kits
Make your decision and involve key team members without needing to arrange costly days out. We can visit you in school and demonstrate telephone systems to you. We simulate phone calls, call holding/transfer, voicemail and many other useful features that you may not have thought about.

On Site Loan / Trials
We can leave a demo system at your school or college to help you show the system to a larger number of staff.

Sometimes customers have in-house integration expertise and like to "play" with the system to see what can be achieved.

We bring demo telephone systems to you at your school.

Local Reference Sites
We can arrange a reference site visit for you to view a school phone system in action. You can talk to and ask questions of other school telephone users directly. If you prefer, we can provide you with telephone numbers if you would like to simply call them and talk over the telephone.

Manufacturers Visits
NEC, Avaya and Splicecom all have on-site phone system demonstration suites, fully equipped to display any aspect of telecoms for schools. Let us know and we'll make all the arrangements for you to attend a phone system demonstration at any or all of them.

To book a demonstration, call us on 0845 634 4008 or email sales@southern-comms.co.uk

School Phone System Installation and User Training

All telephone systems installed into Schools and Colleges are via our fully trained and accredited telephone system engineers.

Step 1 - Planning / Programming Meeting
We begin the installation process by holding a detailed meeting at your School with you to discuss and confirm the requirements of the new school telephone system.
A telephone system configuration is agreed upon, and dates/timings are set for the staff training and system swap-over.

Step 2 - Phone System Installation
Your new school telephone system is installed and tested. Our systems can be wall, floor or rack-mounted, the location of which would have been discussed during the sales process.

Step 3 - Staff Training
A number of temporary telephones will be installed in a meeting room or temporary training area which you designate. All of the telephone users will be fully trained, and we issue phone system training notes and phone manuals as required.

Step 4 - Phone System Swap-Over
We usually swap to your new phone system out of school hours, during the course of an evening or weekend, often during end-of-school-term breaks. All crucial aspects of the system will be operational and tested before we leave site.

All of our phone system engineers have completed and passed the full training and accreditation courses provided by our manufacturers and hold the necessary certification to install, configure and maintain business telephone systems.


Step 5 - Hand-holding
We return to school on the day after phone system swap-over to ensure everything is well, make changes if requested, and complete any non-essential configuration or installation work.

School & College Phone System Support & Add-Ons

When your school phone system installation is complete and operating to your satisfaction, your details are passed from the phone system installation team to our in-house support department.

We use remote diagnostics for a speedy response, and our field-based phone system support engineers are fully equipped. The phone system support team provides you with:

• System fault diagnosis and rectification.
  This is achieved by connecting to your telephone system with remote diagnostics and/or sending a field-based phone system engineer to your school site. We keep telephone system equipment in stock and supply and installation of replacement phone system equipment is free for all schools / colleges with maintenance in place.
  
  
• System Programming / Alterations
  Minor alterations to your telephone system can be carried out remotely, and these are provided free of charge. If you prefer to use your phone system's own in-house programming tool, we can provide you with support over the telephone while you make your own changes.
  
  
• Phone System Peripherals and Add-Ons
  Our post-sales department provide quotations for additional telephones and ancilliary items to be added to your phone system, should your school expand or require them.
  

Need a new phone system for your School, College or University?
Use our easy Phone system enquiry form.
Or simply call us on 0845 634 4008 or email sales@southern-comms.co.uk