What's Next for Centrex?

AT&T is phasing out Centrex service. Here's what you need to know.

"AT&T is phasing Centrex service out," according to an AT&T service representative who works with Centrex contracts. He said that he has been given a directive to not sell contracts for terms longer than two years.

Frontier calls Centrex "a network-hosted voice service with no high cost equipment to purchase or maintain with 24/7/365 tech support." That sounds a lot like hosted Voice over IP (VoIP) service. In many ways, Centrex is the original hosted phone service. Centrex service is often less expensive than VoIP, especially for customers with several locations in a small geographic area.

The short answer is "Yes, for now." Although AT&T service representatives may not be actively selling 3-year contracts, 3-year contracts are still available according to the AT&T Illinois Guidebook. (See Sheet 67). Three-year contract rates are lower, offering an advantage over two-year contracts. When requesting a renewal contract recently, we were told that a three-year contract is not available, but when we mentioned that they are available in the guidebook, we were offered a three-year contract.

If you have Centrex service, we can audit your bills and contracts to make sure that you have the lowest costs.

Follow this link for details:  www.wadeconsultants.com/centrex