The Telephone Consortium History
The telephone consortium is a good example of intergovernmental cooperation. It can work because the telephone system requirements of the agencies do not differ a great deal; because LCOG is willing to tailor services to meet the unique requirements of each participating agency.
A group of LCOG members leveraged the immense value of the groundbreaking WIX project to be able to build a cost-effective, feature-rich, fully redundant, multi-agency VoIP system utilizing BigLeaf and SIP technology. Specifically, LCOG partnered with two regionally diverse vendors for high availability ISP services. The project decreased carrier costs for participating agencies by over 73%. Members of the new VoIP system share the labor, maintenance and support for enhanced collaboration tools such as call recording, conferencing and desktop sharing, Cloud backup, e911, electronic faxing, extension dialing and instant messaging, mobility, speech-to-text, visual call flow dashboards and reporting, etc.
As more agencies participate in a sharing a state-of-the-art system, the opportunity exists for them to benefit from an established core network infrastructure and project management blueprint. Greater cost savings, high-speed deployments, and less pressure on availability of internal IT department resources to make a smooth transition.
The Consortium's History
The telephone consortium is unique among councils of government. No other COG has a telephone program. Why? Here is the story.
The telephone consortium began in the mid 1980’s when local governments faced rising telephone costs as a result of the breakup of the bell system. The old telephone monopoly’s remaining pieces were unable to provide the unified services previously available. LCOG coordinated an effort to hire a consultant, issue an RFP, arrange financing, select a vendor and install telephone systems. Many of the agencies were used to working together because of involvement in the Regional Information System. During 1986, about 7000 telephones and lines were installed, at an average cost significantly below average unit costs at the time. Today, there are about 9000 phones in the group.
Participating agencies include 4J Schools, Lane Community College, Lane ESD, Benton and Lane counties, and the cities of Corvallis, Eugene and Springfield. Each has a different relationship with the Consortium. Some agencies use LCOG as a complete service provider, while others use us as advisors only.
Large telephone systems differ from small business or residential phone systems. At home, the telephone line arrives from the phone company, and then we plug in our phone, a phone purchased most anywhere, that will work because of established standards. For large telephone systems, the phone companies provide a relatively small number of special lines to a central location, and the actual telephone line is provided by the organization’s system. Many phones are proprietary to a to a particular brand. of telephone system.
Costs saved on using fewer lines pays for the cost to purchase, maintain and manage a system. One of reasons for this is the difference between residential and business telephone rates. While the gap has been narrowed by the Public Utility Commission over time, a business phone line ($40) stills costs two to three times the cost of a residential line ($18).
By comparison, the average phone on a desk at LCOG or Lane County costs $26 per month. These private telephone systems offer many features that make it possible to provide better service at lower cost. The monthly cost includes access to inexpensive long distance, full support from a help desk, and full features including voice mail.
The systems used by the agencies are complex. It is difficult to arrange the level of support required for the systems without creating enough business collectively to interest the private sector in performing this work.. Currently, GTE provides three telephone technicians with full manufacturer support exclusively for the Consortium.
During the transition, decisions to share phone systems between agencies allowed for four digit calling between the City of Eugene, Lane County, LCOG and other agencies. Sharing lowered the cost of the systems; ongoing line charges came down too, because interagency calls no longer require outside lines. LCOG serves as an impartial body that fairly allocates telephone costs.
Some milestones in the history of the telephone consortium:
1985 |
Vendor selected, contract negotiated, financing arranged |
1986 |
Installed 7000 phones in 22 public agencies; began operation of cost allocation system |
1987 |
Completed first competitive long distance procurement |
1991 |
Gained approval for, selected vendor and installed voice mail for the City of Eugene, Lane County and LCOG |
1992 |
Installed voice mail in Corvallis; second long distance procurement; maintenance services procurement |
1993 |
Migrated phones to fiber optic cabling in Corvallis. Installed voice mail at Lane CC |
1994 |
Began replacement of many systems to integrate voice mail features. Added direct inward dialing and voice mail at Lane ESD. Emergency replacement of City of Eugene maintenance system after fire. New systems for 4J high schools. |
1995 | Migrated services to USWEST fiber optic connections |
1996 | Replaced main system at Eugene and Lane County. 2300 telephones transitioned in 24 hours! Moved to 682 prefix from 687,341,683,465,984 prefixes. Installed number identification feature. |
1997 | Long distance and system maintenance procurement. Long distance procurement lowers costs to on third of 1985 rates. Maintenance contract shifts from USWEST to GTE. New system for LCC main campus. |
1998 | Emergency replacement of Corvallis system after leak in roof ruined system |
1999 | New system 4J Education Center; Y2K work on several systems |
2000 | New system for Lane County Youth Services |
Previews of coming attractions:
- Installation of voice mail at City of Springfield and 4J Schools
- Migration to fiber systems for phones and computers for Eugene, Springfield, LTD, Lane County and LCOG locations
- Installation of video conferencing systems
- Improvement of communications with locations in Florence and Oakridge