Hardware Review

Talkswitch Concero Switchboard

By Lowell Conn, Cyberwalker Media Syndicate

Renting equipment from the phone company to provide extra phone extensions is beyond the scope of many small business budgets.

But when a call comes in for you, does your office manager have to cover the receiver and yell for you to get the phone? Do you crave a more professional veneer for your enterprise? What's a small business to do?

You could plunk down $495 US ($745 Canadian) for the Concero Switchboard, which provides much of the efficiency and flexibility of a big phone system at a budget price, while creating the illusion of a full-size corporation with multiple extensions and a secretary.

A quick pre-amble:
The Concero Switchboard has won more awards than most small developers can dream of. Its manufacturer, Centrepoint Technologies, earned venture capital investment based on the product's Best Of showing at Comdex 1998. Most impressive, however, is a 1998 PC Computing Breakthrough Award in which Switchboard was declared a blueprint for the next generation of technology products.

How effective is it? The critics were right. In our test office, the Switchboard converted two telephone lines into a veritable corporate hub in just minutes.

Setup is not difficult. It will take 15 to 30 minutes to install, depending on how handy you are with technology and how easily you take instruction.

Once you have recorded an auto-answer message and plugged your one or two phone lines into the system, connected the output wires to up to five extensions, including data and fax lines, you're ready to go.
This unit will route incoming calls to appropriate extensions with auto-answer acting as a personal receptionist -- in essence, converting one or two lines into what appears to be a central corporate phone line with as many as five extensions.

The auto-answer component can detect fax transmissions and will route a fax call automatically to your designated fax extension. You can access and change options from the road and, in conjunction with two lines, create three-way conference calls.

In addition, the unit is the size of a cable converter or pay-per-view box, is not heavy and would fit on a table, under a table, behind a computer -- in short, almost anywhere without claiming valuable real estate in a small office cramped for space.

Still, two drawbacks leap out.

First of all, the product can link a maximum of only two lines into the system. Considering the Switchboard is a much cheaper alternative to telephone company PBX switchers, it would be nice if it could accommodate more lines and somewhat larger offices.

Also, this system is not as easy to learn as operating a telephone. If your time does not allow you to read instructions and learn how to use your new toy, the Switchboard is not for you.

Nevertheless, the Concero Switchboard is a fine piece of hardware that will prove versatile for a wide range of small business operators.
There's also the fact that some clients equate quality with the size of the enterprise -- and Concero Switchboard provides an interface that can make your enterprise look bigger than it is.

However, caution may be in order. It might be fun to play corporation -- but don't forget to ask yourself whether your customers want you to act any bigger than you are.

Reviewer rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Comments: The Concero Switchboard from Centrepoint Technologies handles many of your telephony needs at low cost. It would benefit from being able to accommodate more than two telephone lines.

More info: http://www.talkswitch.com

Price: $495 US, $745 Canadian