atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Best system for a teaching environment?

I was acually going to suggest the STSE, It has a lot for the money and the price is great. Different systems may make it a bit more difficult to teach since you will have a lot more to cover...though getting students familier in multiple systems us a major plus IMHO.

That is a very good point, although in our area the branding is quite the opposite. The only Merlins and Partners I've dealt with around here were at drug stores. Most everything here (Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada) is Nortel, Mitel, Toshiba, Panasonic, NEC, Nitsuko, and recently Samsung.

Initially I really did want to use systems that they were most likely to deal with locally. On the other hand there are some politics involved in choosing a product affiliated with one of our local interconnect companies. I do want our graduates to have the fundamental skills and concepts so they can go to work for any of these interconnects. I don't want to see a graduate go out, work as a trunk slammer, and pass himself off as an NEC tech with just my course under his belt. That hurts the local NEC dealer and makes the grad and our program look bad.

But still, training them to work with something that has a large install base locally does give them the best opportunities. I clearly haven't made up my mind yet.

That would be the best for the students. It will make the Instructor's job a little more difficult because he or she will have to know the different systems very well in order to be able to help a student regardless of where the student is in the process of programming.

I will gather up the stuff I have and try to sort it out and get it to you. It will take a little time because I must make sure none of the information is proprietary to anyone.

I don't think you need multiple telephone systems.

You should be focusing on telephony concepts... Hunt groups, pick up groups, line pools etc, telco features and proper trouble shooting proceedures. To create a well round telecom tech, teach terminology and how to read and find the info in the manuals :read: . You can use any brand of telephone system for the hands on experience. I suggest one that uses both telephone and terminal interface.

If you want one that lets everyone access programming at the same time use a Nortel BCM, but it is only a computer programming interface. It's also expensive.

The advantage of multiple systems is that it will show the students that although most of the basics in telephony remain the same in each system, the systems are different when it comes to programming. And they will not get too comfortable with just one system and expect them all to be the same.

It will also show them that each manufacturer has their own lingo and terminology in the manuals.

I've worked with three technicians who admitted that when they first started working in the industry, they honestly expected everyone to be using the same system they learned on in school.

We actually do have a BCM that our students use in 4th semester. They learn about unified messaging, VoIP packets, etc. The problem is, they don't have the fundamental concepts at that point, and everything they're doing is higher level. They need to learn the basics on a small key system before they ever touch the BCM.

My wife Crystal is planning on using the Cisco structured cabling course. I haven't seen the material as she just got the ok and its for next years class. At this point I have a Vodavi STS (thanks to Ed :bow: ) and a Panasonic KX-TA1232 with voicemail, if I have enough room I want to add a third system. I am also setting up an Astrisk box that will intergrate with her Cisco lab through a Adtran. I hope to be able to do ISDN, T1 and Voip between systems, this should give them a good idea of how telecom communications work. Lots of this is new to me so its taking time :scratch: .

Wow! The thoughts of being able to learn all of this at a school is a foreign idea to me. There aren't any schools around here that teach telecom.

Have you considered buying a few used systems off of Ebay?

Contact Ottawa , if they are like our federal government . They donate slighty used systems to NFPO'S all the time . Worth a try . All they can say is no or send the Mounties to your home .

As far as I know there aren't any around Dallas anymore. I know there were some years ago but I can't locate any now. I think ITT and Devry teach some telephony classes but I can't seem to get a lot of info from devry, they keep wanting me to visit the campus. As if I'm supposed to fall in love with the place and sign up for classes on the spot. And I can't apply to teach for them because I'm not a college professor.

I have thought of starting my own school for this around Dallas but I have to wonder why the ones that were there years ago are no longer there.

What do you think folks? Would you be willing to pay to send a "green" tech to school to get a boost up in training? Do you think people would be willing to pay for the training themselves?
I know the cost is the big question. I think the ones that were there years ago charged $500 for 2 people for one week of training. I personally do not think one week is enough. Two weeks would be full at the very least.

Please let me know what your opinions are.