Maintenance contracts what do you have

[Guest_imported]

There seems to be a lot of pro's in here with G3si's and many other switches. Just curious to as your maintenance contract goes. Do you have full maintenance contract as to say for your digital and analog cards being covered so that avaya or your business partner has to come out and replace it if it goes dead or do you not have coverage on it and just replace it yourself if it goes down. Im only talking about the digital and analog circuit paks. I am thinking about removing my digital and analog circuit paks off my maintenance contract so that my bill will be a little lower because as I research a 16 port digital or analog circuit pak does not cost that much and is not hard to replace. Can anyone shine the light on me on how your maintenance contract goes.. Just curious.

 

[Frith]

Maintenance costs (per port) typically cover the cost not only of the card but also the phones at the end of the cabling. On our site, the maintenance cost (per port per month) includes not only all of the cards but all of the phones, too.
Excluding the cards could mean that sets would expire from maintenance, too.
From the customer point of view, that could get expensive and time-consuming. Would someone be available to authorize the expenditure each time a bad card or phone needed to be replaced? Downtime is a cost, too, remember.
From the vendor's point of view, there is no question of who's paying, simply get the problem fixed since costs are all covered under the maintenance agreement.
I think it's a win-win situation. Saving a few bucks on the card (and on the ports on the card) could mean a delay down the road. Would management go for that when someone can't make a phone call?
Doug Frith
Accord Communications

 

[vaoldschl]

I agree with Doug if there is no on-site technician. Personally, I cover processor elements and keep spares for phones and and line cards so that should something go down, I just replace it. My down time is less than it would be should you have to call for support and wait for a tech to show up with parts. Understand, however, I've been doing this for years, am certified on multiple switches and can build a telephone system from the crate so this solution is not for everyone.

 

[Dustinn3]

We personally have full maintenace contract. It's pretty expensive and we hardly use it, but that's what the higher up's wanted. From what I hear, when you switch to per port maintenance you can get it with phones or without, but everything in the cabinet is covered either way you go. I try to keep atleast one spare digital and analog card just in case something happens. Even with support it still takes almost a week to get a new circuit pack. Plus, I really don't need a tech to install a new pack. I typically pick up circuit packs second market because I can save a couple grand and Avaya will certify them for $60.

 

[petefasa]

Maintenance contracts have always been sore spot for me. I hate to cover phones on a contract because a. How often does a phone actually break, and b. Phones aren't really that expensive when compared to the cost of a maintenance contract to cover them. I have a vendor that is AVAYA certified that can get me whatever I want and any site I need in good time. I too use a lot of used or refurbished parts as they are much cheaper and are just as good as new stuff. If I had my way, I would do away with many of my expensive AVAYA maintenance contracts. As it is, now that my remote sites have to pay for their own costs, many of them are looking to get rid of thier contracts. When you get down to it, how often to you have a switch actually go down and have to replace hardware. I honestly can remember the last time I had to replace a broken piece of hardware except for a couple of phones here and there out of maybe 200 sites......