| Every company's phone system is dependent on
features such as voice mail, call transfer, conferencing, and
auto-attendant. However, many small companies and branch offices cannot
afford a small PBX, or even a relatively inexpensive key system.
Fortunately, Casio Communications comes to the rescue with their very
inexpensive and feature-rich "KSU-less" (Key Service Unit)
product called the Casio PhoneMate SI-460. Essentially, the PhoneMate
SI-460 is a 4-line telephone system with voice mail stored in non-volatile
memory, caller-ID, auto-attendant, call conferencing, and other PBX-like
features, all self-contained within the phone unit. You can also add up to
12 more SI-460 phones, with the only requirement being that you have each
of the phones connected to a "shared" common line to communicate
with each other using RF/IR technology.
INSTALLATION
Our main problem had little to do with the phone itself. Rather, we had to
figure out how to convert four incoming lines (RJ11 connectors) into two
2-line RJ14 connectors for each phone. Our incoming analog lines were in a
punch down block that eventually had to connect to RJ45 (network)
connectors that ran into the testing area. Once in the testing area, we
had to convert from an RJ45 connector back into two 2-line RJ14 wires,
which connect into the bottom of the SI-460. The local Radio Shack had the
necessary converters to do the job. While we needed several types of
converters, our scenario is probably atypical.
With all the wiring in place, we connected each phone's AC adapter and
the two RJ14 phone wires. When the phone was booted for the first time, a
message came up on the LCD display: "Initial Setup Start -- Press
Start To Setup Station." We clicked on Start and were then prompted
to enter the Station ID (extension), followed by setting the date and
time. "Initial Setup Complete" appeared in the LCD display. We
verified that the phone was working by pressing Line 1 and hearing a dial
tone.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation is well organized. It explains very well how to
configure and setup the SI-460. Every sub-menu is explained in detail
within the manual. Our only complaint was that the documentation did not
stress the fact that you need to perform a system update on one of the
phones any time you remove or add a phone to the system. This fact was
hidden towards the end of the documentation. During our testing, we had
some difficulties adding another phone with an extension that was formerly
used by a different phone. It kept saying "11 not available."
Although solving this issue is listed in the troubleshooting section, we
felt that this information should be listed earlier in the documentation.
FEATURES
The SI-460 allows you to screen voice messages as they are being left.
Also, messages can be retrieved directly or from any touchtone telephone
via a programmable security code. Call transfer and call conferencing are
both standard features. Caller-ID information and the total call time are
displayed on the LCD screen. Users will like the ability to see who is
busy on the phone, since you can identify stations that are available or
in use on the LCD display. Other features include:
- Lifetime memory protection.
- 20 auto-dial names/numbers.
- Hold reminder alert.
- Alternate greetings.
- Intercom paging.
- Auto-attendant.
- Hands-free intercom supports two simultaneous station-to-station
calls.
- All calls are private unless talking station releases privacy
protection.
- Headset jack with headset switch.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
Although we said it was a 4-line system, we should point out that it could
actually support more than that. We configured our four phones for what is
called a "square configuration." That is, all four lines were
shared among all four phones. We could have had some phones using a
separate fifth or sixth incoming line. The drawback of having a phone on a
separate (unshared) line is that you can't transfer a call to another
phone if the call came in on the unshared line. Nevertheless, if we had,
for example, eight phones, then we could have set all eight phones to
share lines 13, and then had each of the eight phones have their own
"private" line for their fourth line.
Now the exciting tests began. Could we perform an intercom call with
another extension? Could we transfer a call, and could we perform a
three-way conference? Our first test was to press the Intercom button and
then enter station ID 11. Immediately, we heard the phone behind us ring
with a special tone. We picked up the handset and were able to communicate
with each other without using one of the four analog lines. The SI-460
also supports automatic hands-free intercom paging. By turning on Auto
Answer, the SI-460 will beep and then automatically enter Speakerphone
mode after answering the intercom call. The SI-460 also features a Page
All button, allowing you to announce a message to all the phones.
We did have one other configuration piece we neglected to mention, and
that's choosing one of the four phones as the auto-attendant. By
traversing the LCD display menu, we found the option to turn on the
auto-attendant on one of the phones, as well as record the auto-attendant
greeting. After pressing Record, we heard a beep and proceeded to record
via the speakerphone. Our recording started something like this:
"Thank you for calling ACME Corp. For John Smith dial *10. For Jane
Doe dial *11."
Each extension needs to be prefaced by the asterisk key. We suspect
that this is needed to interrupt the playback of the auto-attendant
message and to then enter a mode whereby the phone can listen and detect
DTMF tones. We know that each phone has a single DSP used for voice
playback and full-duplex speakerphone functionality, so this requirement
to press the "*" key could be a resource issue.
While the auto-attendant station can perform just about all the
features that the regular stations have, we did encounter some
limitations. For one, the person using the auto-attendant phone cannot use
the speakerphone. If he uses it and an incoming call comes in, then the
auto-attendant will not be able to answer and direct the caller to the
proper extension. A call to Casio Communications revealed that this is a
DSP limitation within the SI-460.
Recording voice mail greetings was nearly the identical procedure as
recording the auto-attendant greeting. Twenty-eight minutes of voice mail
recording per phone in non-volatile memory is adequate storage capacity,
considering the price of each SI-460. Since it is non-volatile memory,
voice mail is not lost during a power outage. We should mention that the
phones do feature a battery backup option for retaining phone
configuration information such as date, time, and station ID.
Our next major test was to see if we could transfer a call and then
perform a 3-way conference. After making a call from an outside line, we
dialed "*10" to direct the call to station 10. After answering,
we transferred the call to station 11. The SI-460 supports both supervised
and blind transfers. We put the first caller on hold, dialed an outside
phone number, pressed the Conference button, and finally pressed the Line
button of the caller on hold. We found this procedure a bit tedious. We'd
like to be able to press the Conference button first, which is more
intuitive. This would automatically put the first caller on hold; then we
could dial an outside number and finally just press the Conference button
again to complete the call. Unfortunately, the SI-460 does not support
conferencing in an internal intercom extension.
One neat feature of the SI-460 is that it supports the transfer of
caller-ID information to another station along with the call. We should
also mention that the SI-460 has a data port for fax/data that can't be
interrupted by other users sharing the same 4 lines.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
We were a bit displeased that we had to record the greetings via the
speakerphone and not the handset. No matter how hard we tried, the
recordings sounded hollow and distant. We would like the ability to record
via the handset in a future version. We'd like to see a higher-end model
with two DSPs, or a single, more powerful one, which would allow the
auto-attendant station to use the speakerphone and play the auto-attendant
message at the same time. Another important feature we'd like to see is
the ability to transfer voice mail messages between phones.
One minor usability suggestion: allow the user to first pick up the
handset and then press the Voice Mail button. Currently, you have to press
the button with the handset in its cradle. The reason why you cannot do
this is that once a user picks up the handset, the phone immediately
seizes an available line and you get a dial tone. In our opinion, pressing
the Voice Mail button at this point should override the line selected
(dial tone) by hanging up and then playing any voice messages. Also, we'd
like to see a simpler, more intuitive conferencing method, which doesn't
require putting the initial caller on hold first.
CONCLUSION
We liked the user-friendly LCD display, which was very easy to navigate
and configure various settings. Feature-wise, you get a lot of bang for
your buck with the Casio PhoneMate SI-460, and with only some minor
reservations we would recommend it for the cost-conscious individual
looking to implement an inexpensive phone system.
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