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TVI 420-i      

• Expandable up to 12 Stations - Our 420 Series system phones are all compatible and can accommodate up to 4 lines and 12 stations.

• Call Waiting Caller ID* - 200 of your most recent Caller ID names and numbers are stored and can be dialed with the touch of a button.

• 200 Name & Number Directory - Store frequently dialed numbers in an alphabetically sorted database for easy, one-touch dialing.

• 2-Way Speakerphone - Allows the convenience of answering calls and working while talking, hands free.

• One Station / All Station Page - Make paging announcements to one station or all stations with the push of a button.

• Station-to-Station Intercom - Make station-to-station intercom calls, up to two simultaneously, without tying up telephone lines.

• Call Transfer - Transfer a call from one handset to another.

• Privacy Protection - All calls are private unless the talking station releases privacy protection.

• Power Failure Protection - In the event of a power failure, vital information is retained & telephone calls can be made and received on line.

• 20 Name / Number Autodial - Conveniently store up to 20 names and numbers.

• 3-Way Call Conferencing (with 2 Lines) - 1 incoming line can conference with 2 stations, or 2 incoming lines can conference with 1 station.

• Hold with Reminder - Allows you to place a call on-hold and audibly alerts you if you leave a call on-hold for an extended period of time.

• Line Status Indicator - The LCD allows you to visually confirm the status mode of each phone line.

• Voice Mail Indicator ** - LED flashes when new voice mail is received. LCD indicates which lines have new voice mail.

• Automatic Line Selection - Simply lift the handset and you are instantly connected to the next available line.

• Do Not Disturb (DND) - Silence the phone so you can work without distractions.

• Headset Jack - Connect any standard telephone headset for hands-free calling.

• Auto Redial - Automatically redials a busy or unanswered phone call on demand.

• 2 Data / Fax Ports - Allows easy connection of a personal computer, notebook computer, or fax machine.

• Call Waiting Caller ID* - This valuable feature displays the name and number of the caller in call waiting, even while you're on the phone.

• Station-to-Station ID - The LCD displays intercomming station's ID.

• Complete compatibility with the Uniden model 420i.

* A subscription to a Caller ID, Call Waiting, and/or Call Waiting/Caller ID combined service is required for this function to be operational
** A subscription to your local telephone company's voice mail service is required for this function to be operational

Q: Can the TV-420i handle more than 4 lines?

A: By the time your business has a requirement for more than 4 phone lines, you really should begin looking at lower-end phone systems, especially solutions such as Bizphone or Talkswitch. We don't believe anyone makes a non-KSU solution for more than 4 lines. We'll let you know if/when that changes.

If you'd like to "push" the 420i, you can give your office the flexibility to handle more than 4 total incoming lines. Each phone physically accommodates 4 lines; however, each phone can have a line NOT shared with selected other phones. Line 1 must all be shared with all phones on the network. This is in order for the phones to communicate to each other i.e. call transfer, intercom etc. Then you can have each phone with its OWN 3 lines; or share any combination of lines.

Say you have 6 phones in your office. You can each share line 1, 2, and 3; and everyone has their own private line. Thus, the total number of lines = 3 shared lines + 6 (one dedicated line per phone x 6 phones) = 9 separate lines.

Here's another way many doctors and other offices configure their TV-420i

1) All phones share line 1
2) The doctor has his/her line 4 as his / her private line
3) Nurses or clinical staff share their lines 2, 3 and 4
4) The receptionist / non-technical staff share their 3 lines 2,3,4

So in the above case regardless of how many phones you have, you have 1 line shared by all, the doctor has his/her own private line, and 3 lines each for the nurses/clinical staff and receptionist, for a total number of lines = 1 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 8 lines. Each station can transfer a call to any other phone in the office. Many physicians, dentists, and other providers use the system precisely as above (utilizing anywhere from 1 - 8 lines depending on your staffing/call volume), thus avoiding the considerable costs of a PBX or KSU phone system and professional installation;  however, we restate:  If you're moving beyond 4 lines, you may wish to bite the bullet and consider the cost/benefit ratios of going with a PBX or KSU phone system.

Q: What is Centrex?

A: Centrex is a service provided by your local phone company. There are several things about Centrex you should understand before buying phones to use with Centrex services.

Centrex is a service originally intended to provide multi-location businesses with the ability to tie their locations together as though (from a telephone standpoint) they were in one location. Universities with large campuses (and multiple campuses), chain stores, and other multi-location organizations have benefited from Centrex.

The big benefit is that phones in the same Centrex group can put callers on hold, transfer calls to other phones in the organization, hold conference calls across multiple locations, and even page from one location to another (with appropriate paging hardware).

Accessing these Centrex features usually involves "flashing" the line and dialing Centrex access codes and/or the extension number of a destination phone (usually the last 3 or 4 digits of their telephone number). "Flashing" simply means depressing the hookswitch briefly, which signals the Centrex central office that you want to put the caller on-hold and access Centrex features. To make line flashing easier, any phone used with Centrex should have a FLASH KEY.

In addition, if you have regular destinations that you send a lot of calls to, you will probably want some one-touch memory buttons to store those destination extensions numbers. And, if you use any Centrex feature access codes, you may want to store these in one-touch memory buttons as well.

Finally, to make call transfers easier, you may wish to store frequently transferred-to destinations with a flash, a pause, and the number, all under one memory button; to accomplish this, your phone must have a programmable flash and pause capability.

Q. Is the 420 compatible with Centrex?

A. Yes. The 420 supports the programming of Centrex Features in the programmable 1-touch autodial/feature keys. Flash duration can also be adjusted to support older central office switches.

Q: What is a PBX?

A: A PBX (private branch exchange) is a telephone system within an enterprise that switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone lines. The main purpose of a PBX is to save the cost of requiring a line for each user to the telephone company's central office.

Q. Are 420 phones DSL compatible?

A. The 420 is compatible with DSL lines equipped with splitters and a filter installed at the demarcation point. Filters must not be installed between phones. If a filter is installed at the wall jack for each phone (only line one is affected), it will not only block interference from the DSL signal, but it will also block the networking signal that the 420 system uses.

Q. Is the 420 compatible with both Digital and Analog lines?

A. No, the 420 phones work with analog lines only.

Q. Is the 420 compatible with KSU systems?

A. No, proprietary station sets are required for KSU systems.

Q. Are the 420 telephones compatible with plain old telephones (POTs)?

A. In most cases, yes. POTs will activate the line-in-use indicators on the 420 telephones. However, calls cannot be transferred to POTs, nor can intercom calls be made. Some inexpensive telephones may interfere with the 420 system communication. A filter (Radio Shack part number 43-150) may be required if a POT is connected to the system and system functions do not seem to be working properly.

Q. Can I connect another manufacturer’s KSU-less telephones to a 420 system?

A. It is not recommended. Other manufacturer’s KSU-less telephones may interfere with the 420 communication over line one.

Q: What is a reliable FKS?

A: FKS is an acroynom for Frequency Key Shifting.. FKS is the technology that all telephone servce providers in the U.S. use to send a signal down the phone line to indicate to your phone (lights your voice mail indication light) that a message is waiting on your service provider's voicemail system (assuming you have subscribed to this service). The 420i has the industry's leading FKS chip! However, since the FKS signal sent by your service provider fades over distance, depending on their local network design, the voicemail indication light may on rare occasions, have a slight delay in activation.