Do you need battery backup or UPS for your phone system?
The simple answer is NO, if you don’t need to take or make calls when power is lost, that is. Seriously, how much is a battery backup worth and is it additional cost or recoverable costs?
What is a UPS? An uninterruptible power supply is a neat battery backup for a phone system, PC, or just about anything that needs power. It simply plugs into the mains and runs on the built-in batteries when power is lost. The run time of a UPS depends on how much power it draws, since batteries don’t work forever.
Cost: A battery backup or UPS will cost as low as $99 and the average cost is $300 and up to thousands for serious backup of many, many systems, lights, etc.
So the question was do I need one? I believe that businesses can’t afford to stop making or receiving calls or have no internet when the power goes out, so when it happens, the average $300 upfront cost is nothing compared to the lost productivity, service and sales. Most systems, like LG or Hybrex, support battery backup and UPS connections.
How does it help? You connect your PABX phone system and/or internet modem to it and while the power is off your systems will work normally for the duration of the battery which should be at least 30 minutes in my opinion. I have a small UPS that runs our phones, our internet, our access controls for hours, and a separate one on our business server. When we have run out of power we also run out of PC’s but luckily for us we have a few laptops in the business still running for a few hours and with the phone also running with the UPS and internet it’s business as usual for us in the 2-4 times a year we can have problems.
I believe there is cheap insurance out there, and there are many affordable models out there, so plan for the worst and hope for the best.
happy hunting, sourcing, installing or repairing.
