Boulder's "One Stop Shop" Communications Shop
Need help in telephone, PBX, cabling, telecom network services, email us at [email protected]
or call anytime 303-442-5500 

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Cabling Critical to Business Survival

When Boulder Phone and BoulderIT bid on the Boulder Jewish Community Center (JCC), it presented a daunting, yet manageable project. Requiring over 300 runs of voice & data cable for VoIP phones, computers, printers, wireless fidelity (WiFi) and internet protocol television (IPTV), the JCC was building a large facility that included a variety of needs.
             The cabling starts at the main distribution frame (MDF) where both Telephone company (Centurylink) and separately from the Cable Company (Comcast) have conduits to the edge of the property for copper wire and/or optic fiber access, depending on the needs of the JCC. The Boulder JCC is segmented into five different areas:
  • Recreation
  • Lobby
  • Education
  • Administration
  • Teens
Main Distribution Frame - MDF Finished            

With the MDF (main wire closet) located in the Recreation area, it was necessary to pull interconnecting cabling between the four other locations. The distance from the MDF to Administration and the Education areas was far enough to require fiber optic cable for the interconnection.  Each area was then cabled from these intermediate distribution frames (IDFs) wire closets for the necessary voice, data, & video cabling as specified.

Over 25 WiFi access points were cabled in anticipation of active wireless use both now and in the future. For proper cable management Boulder Phone identified, established, & routed cable along common, accessible paths taking care not to kink or stress the cable as it was pulled to each outlet, wall mount, or ceiling location. After several walk throughs, and detailed review of blueprints; Boulder Phone amassed over 40,000' of cable along with its arsenal of cabling tools: tie wraps, tape, labels, pushrods, fish tape, carabineers, Velcro, ladders, & scissors lift to execute the art & science of this rough-in cabling phase.     
            Taking each of the five different areas in succession offered an incremental method to establish a comprehensive cable infrastructure. Boulder Phone was one of six cable crews on this job that included
  • Voice & data
  • Audio-visual and paging
  • Fire safety
  • Security and access control
  • Lighting management
  • Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) management
  • Electrical outlets
       Once the cable was roughed-in the next step was to terminate, trim, test, and label the cables at each end. This is detailed, deliberate, and exacting work that ensures once an endpoint is attached it will work as intended. While terminations in the MDF and the IDFs can take place after rough in of walls and other inside building material, the telephone outlet terminations throughout each of the five areas of the JCC have to wait until the construction has advance enough to be nearly complete. Once the paint and carpet were installed Boulder Phone was able to dispatch its crews to complete outlet terminations.

IDF-Intermediate Distribution Frame
With a complete outlet-to-IDF and IDF-to-MDF cabling infrastructure in place the JCC is now ready to install the local area network LAN internet switches, computers, printers, WiFi access points, and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephones across the facility. The equipment in the MDF and IDFs will be protected with uninterruptable power supply (UPS) for battery backup, power sags or brown-outs, lightning and power spikes. The VoIP phones and WiFi access points will use Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switches to eliminate the need for a nearby power source at their installed locations; e.g. a wall mount phone or a ceiling mounted WiFi access point (WAP).
            The Boulder JCC has been built as a state of the art gathering place with a comprehensive cabling architecture that accommodates communication needs for audio, voice, data, and video both now and for years to come.
To get started today email anytime [email protected]
or 303-442-5500.

Making Good Choices for Telephones, Internet Access and Cabling

Yes, Boulder Phone does all three and here are some thoughts on making good choices no matter who you select as your provider for any of these services.

- Telephones - the other day I called a business in Boulder and got the message "the number you called is not in service."  Was the business really not in business?  No, they had selected a VoIP provider from New Jersey and the telephone service was not properly setup and thus received the disconnect message. VoIP is a proven technology and getting better all the time and certainly not all VoIP solutions have these problems.  VoIP is great for multi-office, home office, softphones (PC software telephones) and even smartphone apps to access business telephone services. We can recommend a VoIP provider to you and help you get it installed.

However, real desk phones and an in-house telephone system is still a more cost effective choice for many office situations including small and medium business with individualized needs.  This is not only for employee phones but also mobile integration, conference room, cordless, warehouse, remote locations, emergency, guest and other situations.   Training is key to helping your staff understand all the telephone features and Boulder Phone includes a minimum of six months training and programming (feature, user changes) on all of the telephone systems we sell.

- Internet Access & Telephone Lines - If there is one topic that every talks about but like the weather few understand very little about, is internet access and setting up voice business telephone lines/trunks.  Getting the right internet speed and voice lines/trunks configuration at the right price is something we can help you with today and/or at your next contract renewal.   

- Cabling - Your office is only as good as your wire/cabling infrastructure.  Voice, data, video, audio, security, fire, paging, WiFi and any other wiring system all do best when thoroughly tested and clearly labeled. Yes, we can do WiFi as well. Connecting all the WiFi access points (the hardware and software for WiFi) requires industrial strength cabling and a plan for overlap coverage if one fails and for emergencies such as power failure.   High levels of WiFi security also never hurt because you never know when "war drivers" - people who sit in the parking lot stealing your WiFi, will show up.

Bottom-line - We have a lot of experience doing all of the above very well and also have cleaned up a lot of messes.  The most important point to leave you with, is do not make your "best choices" without giving us and others a call.  Best choices begin with having multiple choices.  And, if it matters, we will meet or beat any other choice.

All the best, David McIntosh - CEO Boulder Phone  

B2B Leads Groups Meeting May 19 - 8AM at Citywide Banks

Boulder Phone is a founding member of a small but growing B2B-business-to-business leads group organized to help those businesses who provide services and solutions to other business including non-profit and government organizations.

Since this is a new group we invite all those who would find this kind of business-to-business sales and networking helpful to attend. As with other leads groups our goal is to build B2B relationships between Chamber members in order to share qualified leads.

We welcome you to visit us and help "lift all boats" in the Boulder Chamber.  CityWide Banks is located at 1611 Canyon Blvd

For more information - call Tom Cross 303-594-1694.


Helping & Serving Boulder 

We back our products with strong customer service. Whether you are moving a phone or moving into a new building, we can support your needs with personalized and professional service including: system design and specification, telephone/telecommunications coordination, installation support, 24 x 7 emergency availability. Our company vehicles are stocked, and we have next day access to materials not in inventory.

 

We provide troubleshooting and triage over the phone before we schedule any service appointment and we have direct access to the help desks and technical support teams at each of our manufacturers and distributors for questions, quotes, and rapid problem resolution.

 

Service to Our Community

Boulder Phone values strong community and to this end we support local charitable, cultural, and philanthropic organizations including a 5% nonprofit discount and a 10% charitable contribution. We are a founding member of Boulder's Culture of Giving. Several times annually we sponsor projects supporting community activities through in-kind or volunteer services.

 

We maintain and service phone, voice mail, and cabling for many community organizations including:

  • Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art: BMoCA 
  • Anthem Branding
  • Temperature Processing
  • Inside Japan Tours

  • Botanical Interests

  • Longs Peak Pub

  • Boulder Jewish Community Center
  • European Auto Body
  • Golden West Manor

  • Davis Phinney Foundation
  • Clean Chemistry
  • Boulder Shelter for the Homeless
  • Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra
  • EcoCycle
  • KGNU
  • IMBA
  • Native American Rights Fund
  • Boulder County AIDS Project

Boulder Phone is a member of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce and the Boulder Independent Business Alliance (BIBA).