Finding and Buying a Telepresence Unit

Something’s been bothering me for quite some time now.

Sure, we’ve all seen “Telepresence” on TV now, we’ve read the comic strip and we looked up the word on the Internet. But where the heck do you go when you have a question about purchasing or wanting to see a “Telepresence Unit” in action? Actually having somebody you can speak with directly to get a few questions anwered? It’s not like you can go to Sears and buy a Telepresence Unit (yet anyway).

Sure, I can call Cisco, Tandberg, Lifesize, DVE and a host of others, and they’ll tell me about their systems and what I can do to buy one. But I wanted “layman” info – kinda’ like Joe Plumber wants to be “Telepresent”.

For the last year and a half I’ve been accumulating information on who has what, what’s new and trying to find the 411 on “will it work at my house”? How much? Is my Comcast cable sufficient?

I could never seem to find these simple answers – anywhere. Until now.

I actually found a person that called me back and answered an e-mail request for info – promptly. Not a week later, not a month later. He did it “now”. And he answered every question I put to him. Imagine that!

There’s a lot of people interested in Telepresence, just like me. But they’re not video engineers. They don’t know the difference between H.323, fps and bandwidth. They just want to know “will it work” and “how much”? They want to talk to somebody. Not an e-mail, not a recorded voice. Somebody independent of all and not tied to a specific product line. Somebody who knows their business and can help, not hinder.

Well, here’s my recommendation after 18 months actively “looking” to buy a Telepresence Unit (that’s within my budget).

He’ll answer your calls, he’ll answer your e-mails, and in a worst case scenario – he’ll forward your number, request and pertinent information on to the BT Telepresence and Video Conferencing Expert(s) in your area from around the world that will have the answers you need and he’ll tell you what he’s doing in the meantime to get you satisfied.

Jeff Lindvall
Territory Sales Manager, Video Business Unit
BT Conferencing
Direct: 303-989-0862
Toll Free: 1-800-843-3666, Opt. 5, Ext.7544
Cell: 303-818-0771
E-mail: Jeff.Lindvall @ wireone.com (remove the spaces before and after the “@”)

I can’t speak highly enough of Jeff. He’s answered so many questions over several phone calls now it’s not even funny. He had equipment answers and recomendations for my budget and price range, understood my limitations, he told me about hidden costs, bandwidth specifications, ordering processes plus much more and he did it without any high pressure sales tactics.

So – you’re like me, a simple Joe Plumber kinda’ guy that wants to “Be Telepresent” – make the call. Tell’m L2 Lumpy sent ya’. You’ll learn more in 10 minutes with Jeff than you’ll learn in 18 months stumblin’ and bumblin’ your way through fps, codec, h.323, bandwidth and all this video jargon that only a scientist can understand.

L2 Lumpy