Using a PDQ Card Terminal on Broadband?

[Sobie]

Hi All,

We are about to renew our card terminal contract (we have shopped arround so please do not contact me to offer a quote as you probably already have)
We only have one phone line into the shop so phone calls interupt the terminal stopping any sales.
Two of the suppliers have told us we can use a different terminal on our current broadband supply thus freeing up our phone line.
Is anyone else using this type of card machine?
Does it free up the phone line?
Are the transaction's quicker?
At the moment we only have a modem, will we need to change this to a router?

Thanks.

 

[kulture]

You will need to change the modem to a router I think. You will also have to ask your provider about PCI security and any potential scan needs if you connect a PDQ to the internet.
It would certainly free up the phone line, and transactions would be quicker.

The other solution is to switch your phones to VOIP and let the internet do the talking! Freeing up the analogue phone line for just the PDQ.

 

[Rudi]

Have you considered a Wireless PDQ Terminal? They generally work over WiFi (thus using your existing broadband connection) with a GPRS backup incase your broadband is down, so you're getting resilience just from using one of these terminals.

I'm sure your provider would be able to give you more information on this.

 

[Sobie]

thanks for your answer. I will do a bit of reseach regarding voip and check with our broadband supplier regarding security.

 

[Sobie]

Have you considered a Wireless PDQ Terminal? They generally work over WiFi (thus using your existing broadband connection) with a GPRS backup incase your broadband is down, so you're getting resilience just from using one of these terminals.

I'm sure your provider would be able to give you more information on this.

thanks for your answer. from what I have seen wireless terminals are more expensive to rent. we do not need to have mobiblity so not sure wireless would be worth the extra expense.

our provider is posting us some information has has a techinical advice line that I will phone in the morning.

 

[Rudi]

thanks for your answer. from what I have seen wireless terminals are more expensive to rent. we do not need to have mobiblity so not sure wireless would be worth the extra expense.

Understood, I was more thinking about the added resilience that you would get from having 2 connections, but I guess if the costs outweigh the benefits then it's really not worth it.

 

[lesliedocherty]

we moved over to a broadband PDQ machine last year, now we only have 1 telephone line, the cost savings alone have been pretty good, the speed at which transactions are processed is also pretty impressive

few things are, if your broadband goes down, you need to connect your machine to the telephone line, so make sure the phone socket is nearby

 

[Sparx]

The terminals we use at CardSave are compatible to be used on either the telephone line or broadband all on one device and the user can flick between the 2 when they decide to.

I always recommend merchants when they ring through if they have broadband to put the card terminal on to it as it saves them line rental, inconvenience when on the phone; especially for taking telephone orders and the machines are a lot faster when dialling out for authorisation - it is pretty much a no brainer! It consumes minimal bandwidth and will not affect your broadband speeds at all as it transmits literally 2/3KB of data per transaction.

Regarding your current broadband modem, is this actually a modem only device or is it an actual router as well with 4 or more ethernet ports on the back of it? If it has more than 1 it is more than likely a modem/router combined and will be fine to use!

Drop me a PM if you have any more queries and I'll be happy to help.

 

[Sobie]

we moved over to a broadband PDQ machine last year, now we only have 1 telephone line, the cost savings alone have been pretty good, the speed at which transactions are processed is also pretty impressive

few things are, if your broadband goes down, you need to connect your machine to the telephone line, so make sure the phone socket is nearby

Thanks Leslie, thats exactly the sort of response I was looking for. Did you have PSI security scan on your phone line?
We have a phone socket dirrectly under the counter (where the current machine is plugged in).

 

[Sobie]

The terminals we use at CardSave are compatible to be used on either the telephone line or broadband all on one device and the user can flick between the 2 when they decide to.

I always recommend merchants when they ring through if they have broadband to put the card terminal on to it as it saves them line rental, inconvenience when on the phone; especially for taking telephone orders and the machines are a lot faster when dialling out for authorisation - it is pretty much a no brainer! It consumes minimal bandwidth and will not affect your broadband speeds at all as it transmits literally 2/3KB of data per transaction.

Regarding your current broadband modem, is this actually a modem only device or is it an actual router as well with 4 or more ethernet ports on the back of it? If it has more than 1 it is more than likely a modem/router combined and will be fine to use!

Drop me a PM if you have any more queries and I'll be happy to help.

Router only has one ethernet port but is also wireless. so was thinking about using it for the terminal and the wifi for our computers. would that work? PM sent too!

 

[Sparx]

Yes it would.

I've responded to your PMs also.

 

[jeducg]

Any of the companies should be able to offer a duel terminal like we do,
the savings on the phone line would only comein if you have a designated line for PDQ, this can be canselled as you can jockey the main phone line as back-up as said before.

dont for get to ask about the Pci compliance fees as this is missed by many people when signing up and also if its a contract or membership...
some companies sign you up under a memebrship and then you have problems if you wish to terminate as they just roll..,,, so read the T&C

why pay a sign up fee when we dont .......

Hope this helps

 

[Sobie]

Any of the companies should be able to offer a duel terminal like we do,
the savings on the phone line would only comein if you have a designated line for PDQ, this can be canselled as you can jockey the main phone line as back-up as said before.

dont for get to ask about the Pci compliance fees as this is missed by many people when signing up and also if its a contract or membership...
some companies sign you up under a memebrship and then you have problems if you wish to terminate as they just roll..,,, so read the T&C

why pay a sign up fee when we dont .......

Hope this helps

Thanks for your answer.
Yes its a Dual Terminal.
Yes we are signed up under membership. we are sticking with our current provider and we are aware of our rolling contract.
No sign up fee as we are sticking with current supplier.
I will check about Pci compliance fees as I have throughly read through all the new paperwork this morning and there is no mention of a fee.

 

[Sparx]

Hi Sobie,

I will reply to your PM regarding PCI Compliance fees when I am back in the office on Monday. I'd like to confirm the correct information before I pass it on as I am not 100%.

I do know that merchant services providers are having to impose PCI compliance fees is a new scheme recently introduced over the last year but at this moment CardSave do not charge for this.

 

[david.duncan]

Its better to go for an integrated card payment solution than a standalone PDQ terminal mainly because, as stated above, broadband is faster than analogue and there is a reduced chance of human error of everything is integrated together. However, with integration you are open to the risk of if the till goes down the card machine goes down

Dave

 

[Sobie]

Its better to go for an integrated card payment solution than a standalone PDQ terminal mainly because, as stated above, broadband is faster than analogue and there is a reduced chance of human error of everything is integrated together. However, with integration you are open to the risk of if the till goes down the card machine goes down

Dave

Thanks for your advice. we've chosen to stick with our current supplier but change to a dual use terminal. its only me and hubby at the shop so any human errors occur I simply shout at him .

 

[Sobie]

just wanted to say thanks again for everyones input, we went onto broadband yesterday and all is working well.