X Komms ® Fixed Cellular Terminals (FCT or GSM gateway)

FCTs allow clients to reduce the cost of calling mobile telephones from their offices, and by a truly significant amount.

In the UK , calls to mobiles are usually 40-90% of a corporate telephone bill.

How an FCT works

FCTs work on the principle that the least expensive call to a mobile is a mobile2mobile call (subject to the optimum tariff selection). Therefore an outgoing call is directed to a FCT 'black box' if the first digit dialled is '0' and the second digit '7', identifying the call as a call to a mobile phone. This tells the FCT to use its SIM or multiple SIM cards to route the call for least cost via a mobile2mobile c all.

For any organisation with its own mobiles (2+), calls to its own mobiles via the FCT can be FREE (save rental costs), and X- net as low as 6.38pence per minute (peak hours) as opposed to typically 14p by a landline carrier. Hence in a typical configuration, FCTs save a client roughly half the current cost.

 The Return On Investment (ROI) for a FCT can be just a few months, and for large users, just a few weeks.

The number of SIMs in a FCT can vary from 1 upwards, the number is chosen to balance the likely number of callers to mobiles from the office at any one time. Typical numbers of SIMs in a FCT are 2,4,5,6,7,8, 12 etc.

There are numerous makes and models of FCTS with varying numbers of SIM cards, varying degrees of intelligence built in, and differing means of connecting themselves to telephone systems.

Clients should be wary of FCTs that need a 'port' to connect to their telephone system, for if such a port is available, it then becomes non-available for any other later use. It also means any malfunction could drag the PBX down, and older non-intelligent FCTs often didn't release the call quickly, leading to longer incurred costs and frustrated callers.

True SIM management

X Komms' FCTs all feature true sim management.

This means the system watches the minutes as they are used across numerous SIM cards, and evens out the usage so no one SIM becomes stripped of its available minutes prematurely. It then turns off the SIM cards once empty, so that the system doesn't crash through the bundled minute allocation on the SIM cards into the expensive post minute bundle tariffs costs afterwards.

Capex or Leasing

If Capex isn't available or non-preferred, clients can lease the FCT, including maintenance and installation, so that their monthly costs are paid directly from the savings that are made that month. This way, the system immediately pays for itself from day one from the savings it makes.