VoIP Providers & Business Phone Companies in Palm Desert, CA

Retrotel, Inc. is a telecommunications firm in Southern California that helps organizations get more years of use from their existing office phone systems. Established in 1998, it operates as an independent, third-party vendor rather than a manufacturer-affiliated dealer. A sizable facility on the West Coast houses its manufacturing, repair and sales operations. Clients include small businesses as well as large government agencies and medical institutions, and the firm reports serving customers at the local, national and international levels.

Retrotel began by concentrating on legacy equipment. An earlier description portrayed it as a supplier of new, used and refurbished Meridian Norstar telephones, business phone systems and voice mail. Its offerings have since broadened considerably. The catalog now spans desk phones, cordless handsets, headsets, speakerphones for meetings, PBX hardware, and networking products such as data switches and routers. It also carries replacement components for aging systems, such as receivers, coiled and line cords, wireless base units, rechargeable batteries and circuit cards. The manufacturers it lists are Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Spectralink and Plantronics, which is now part of Poly.

Repair and support

Fixing equipment and servicing it after the manufacturer's warranty ends sit at the heart of the business. Requests are managed by technicians and customer service staff who work in-house, and the firm states that its refurbished components are tested at its own site. Customers can select from a number of options:

• Quick-turn repairs for office telephones
• Maintenance contracts for continuing upkeep
• Administration of blanket purchase orders for bigger customers
• Programs for equipment beyond its warranty, scaled to the organization's size
• Repairs for phones made by Cisco, Avaya, Nortel and Spectralink, along with Apple iPhone repair

Its website additionally provides a tool for checking warranty status and a page on certified repairs tied to GSA purchasing, a useful feature for public-sector customers.

Cloud and unified communications

Organizations that would rather use a hosted platform can turn to Retrotel UC, the company's cloud offering. It brings together calling, mobile access, texting and chat, user availability status, web and audio meetings, and team collaboration tools. People can stay connected at the office, at home or while traveling, using a desk phone, smartphone, tablet or computer application. According to the company, the service runs on infrastructure spread across multiple geographic locations and is designed to remain available at all times. Listed capabilities include automated receptionists, call queues, call recording, ring groups, schedule-based routing, find me/follow me, transcribed voicemail, and video meetings with screen sharing. Plans come in tiers, and optional extras include an advanced auto attendant, call recording, toll-free numbers and fax delivered to email.

Taken together, these services fit organizations that wish to prolong the life of a current phone system, locate parts that manufacturers no longer make, or shift step by step to a hosted solution. Retrotel's focus on repair, refurbishment and savings compared with buying new hardware distinguishes it from resellers that primarily sell new systems. The company is headquartered in Palm Desert and serves clients far beyond the Coachella Valley.