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Maximize Your Monitoring Budget: Strategic Buying Tips from DPS Telecom

By Andrew Erickson

June 25, 2025

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Managing a modern telecom or utility network can feel like a complicated mess. Remote sites keep popping onto the board, each one demanding its own remote telemetry unit (RTU), sensors, and power supplies. Missing an important event means your uptime - and reputation - can take a hit. However, every new piece of monitoring gear chips away at your capital budget. You have to spend (but not waste!) your CAPEX budget.

So the million‑dollar question becomes: How do you stay fully monitored  and  stay on budget?

With DPS, there's a deceptively simple answer: treat purchasing the same way you treat network design - strategically, proactively, and with hard data. By understanding exactly how DPS's two‑part discount program works, our clients are stretching every purchasing dollar while still deploying the same rock‑solid, mission‑critical equipment.

In this article, you'll see how others have done it, why it works, and - most importantly - how you can replicate the process for your own organization.

Budgeting schedule

DPS Telecom Has a Two‑Tiered Discount Engine

DPS doesn't hide its pricing logic behind "secret handshake" negotiations. You earn discounts in two transparent ways:

  1. Unit‑Quantity Discount
  2. Annual Dollar Volume Schedule (ADVS)

Let's break each one down.

1. Unit‑Quantity Discount (Save More Each Time You Order)

For a single purchase order, the math is simple:

Units on PO Discount
1‑10 0%
11‑25 ______*
26‑99 ______*
100‑499 ______*
500‑999 ______*
1,000+ Call DPS

*The complete discount schedule is always available in any proposal from DPS. It is not included here to avoid any surprises between what is posted here in 2025 and what is current when you receive your proposal.

One of our clients re‑ran their rollout schedule and discovered they would need 26 NetGuardian 832A G5 units over the next four months. One consolidated purchase earned an instant savings.

2. Annual Dollar Volume Schedule (Rewarding Loyalty All Year)

DPS also tracks your total number of dollars spent over a rolling 12‑month window:

Annual Spend Discount
$0‑99 K ______*
$100‑249 K ______*
$250‑499 K ______*
$500‑999 K ______*
$1‑2.49 M ______*
$2.5 M+ ______*

*The complete discount schedule is always available in any proposal from DPS. It is not included here to avoid any surprises between what is posted here in 2025 and what is current when you receive your proposal.

Every dollar you invest nudges your next order's price lower.

In one standout example, the client had accrued $475 K in purchases by May. Their next $35 K requisition jumped from the on discount tier to the next, shaving several percentage-points from the next transaction.

This accumulated discounting is very useful for any DPS Telecom reseller bidding a project, since it can create margin for you that is higher than what other resellers with less purchase volume can achieve for the same parts list.

Turbocharge Savings With Fast‑Payment Incentives

DPS piles on two optional discounts if you can pay quickly:

  • ___% off - Net 10
  • ___% off - Prepay

*Contact your DPS sales rep or check your invoice for the discount amounts.

Because these stack after quantity or ADVS adjustments, your effective percentage off of list price climbs rapidly.

Small Orders Can Still Play the Game

Not every department can dump 100 RTUs into inventory on Day 1 - and that's okay. Here's how smaller operations still leverage the discount engine:

  • Bundle internal needs. If Engineering needs 12 units and Field Ops needs 15, place one 27‑unit order and unlock a larger discount.
  • Quarterly "shopping lists." Collect all anticipated gear for the next 90 days, then release a consolidated PO instead of three separate ones.
  • Track your ADVS climb. Even a $15k maintenance‑spares order moves you closer to the next annual tier. Don't leave that money on the table.

A little inter‑departmental planning - often a shared spreadsheet and a 15‑minute stand‑up meeting - goes a long way.

Budget cycle

Why DPS Built a Stable Two‑Part Model (and Not Flash‑Sale Gimmicks)

You've seen vendors dangle "End‑of‑Quarter Blowouts!" that mysteriously return every other week. DPS took the opposite approach for three reasons:

  1. Fairness. Discounts are earned on measurable volume, not your skill at haggling.
  2. Partnership. Long‑term customers who standardize on DPS gear make DPS's R&D roadmap stronger - so everyone wins.
  3. Simplicity. You always know where you stand. You won't get unclear pricing or surprise resets, just predictability that your finance team will love.

As a result, you and your procurement team can forecast with confidence. This way, DPS can focus on what it does best - building bulletproof monitoring hardware.

Avoid the Hidden Costs of "Wait and See"

Delaying purchases to "let the budget firm up" feels prudent until you zoom out and see:

  • Missed quantity tiers. A 9‑unit order today and a 9‑unit order next month never hit the 11‑unit threshold for a discount.
  • Project slowdowns. If the RTUs aren't on the shelf, your field techs burn hours (and overtime) waiting.
  • ADVS stagnation. Every postponed PO means you reach the next annual tier later - or not at all.

Counter‑intuitively, ordering slightly earlier often saves more than the finance charges of holding inventory for a few extra weeks.

Dodge "Surprise Fees" That Erase Your Discount

Plenty of suppliers hand you a 10% discount, then re‑inflate the invoice with "processing," "handling," or random line items that mysteriously aren't discount‑eligible.

DPS is explicit about what's excluded so you can budget accurately:

  • Non‑recurring engineering (NRE) - which is usually not charged for semi-custom orders of Qty 11+ units.
  • Consulting services - most typical pre-sales engineering is included for $0
  • Maintenance agreements
  • On‑site training, taxes, & travel

Hardware, software licenses, standard accessories, and shipping qualify for discounts. When you work with DPS, there are no shell games or last‑minute "gotchas".

Five Steps to Engineer Your Own Savings

Ready to put this into action? Follow this repeatable framework:

  1. Audit Upcoming Projects:
    List every site build, upgrade, or life‑cycle replacement due in the next 12-18 months.
  2. Group by Quarter:
    Consolidate those needs into logical quarterly bundles.
  3. Check Quantity & ADVS Thresholds:
    Does bringing one project forward bump you to the next tier? If yes, pull the trigger.
  4. Coordinate Payment Timing:
    Talk to finance about Net‑10 or prepay capabilities to capture an extra percent-off discount.
  5. Track Progress Monthly:
    A simple dashboard (even a Google Sheet) showing "dollars to next tier" keeps everyone aligned.

What Makes a DPS RTU Worth the Effort?

Discounts only matter if the hardware delivers. The NetGuardian product family has racked up three decades of field time, countless firmware revisions, and a famously brutal in‑house test regimen:

In short, these are RTUs you won't be replacing every five years. Combine that longevity with the discount strategy above, and your total cost of ownership drops even further.

Let's Map Out Your Purchasing Plan

Reading about savings is great. Capturing them is even better.

If you have an active project - or even a napkin sketch - let's run the numbers together:

In 10 minutes, we can forecast your unit‑quantity break, estimate your ADVS trajectory, and lock in a payment timeline that makes sense.

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Andrew Erickson

Andrew Erickson

Andrew Erickson is an Application Engineer at DPS Telecom, a manufacturer of semi-custom remote alarm monitoring systems based in Fresno, California. Andrew brings more than 18 years of experience building site monitoring solutions, developing intuitive user interfaces and documentation, and opt...