New Town Hall Phone System to cost $65K, too much?

In the Cape Cod community of Falmouth, MA. Their committee just voted in favor of upgrading their old, outdated town hall phone system that they are currently using.

Well, using is stretching it a bit. They've been having some issues with the phone system over the past year. Over the last few months they haven't be able to receive any voicemails and the calls are then disconnected after a few rings.

Finance Director Jennifer Petit said because of the failing state of the town hall phone system, the town opted to bring an article to Town Meeting in April instead of waiting to fund the upgrades in November.

“The voicemail isn’t working, so we need to get this done right away,” she said.

Committee member Susan Smith suggested that the new system could be installed even sooner if the project were paid for with reserve funds. Ms. Petit said that would not expedite the installation, however, as a plan is still being worked out for how to switch out the existing system.

Committee member Peter J. Hargraves asked if the new system will be compatible with phone systems in other town buildings. Mr. Lowell said that it will, thanks to town buildings’ connection to the OpenCape network. The fiber optic network has enabled high-speed Internet connectivity. Voice-over IP operates over the Internet.

Source: New Phone System To Cost $65,000

The town hall manager, Julian M. Suso, felt that repairing the current phone system would have been "poorly spent" to try to fix the almost extinct phone system. The parts to fix the current system are not available anymore and any new parts would have to be installed.

They initially estimated funds to replace the old system be around $30,000 to $50,000. But the new number of $65,000 will cover the purchase of 90 phones and software for a VoIP system, at $45,000 and then the remaining $20,000 would cover the cost of wiring and installing the new system.

Their police and fire departments have already went through some upgrades to their phone systems, with the library slated for next on their list.



A VoIP system that costs $65,000 installed, is it worth it? Well. according to the people in Falmouth, absolutely! One of my favorite quotes from committee member Susan Smith was

“Ninety-year-old people don’t go to the website”

Source: Committee Insists On Fixes To Town Hall Phone System

No mention of the current system they were replacing after 15 years. What's your best guess?

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