New Phone System? - Places to go?!

osaddict · May 2008

OK, so we are moving premises in the near future (2 months or so) and will need to set up our own phone system, i.e it will not be a serviced office with everything provided for us.

Keen to harness the cost savings of VOIP, but also keen to do it properly, and not via skype as we currently are.

I thought you could get some kind of phone server which decided to route the call through voip or traditional pbx etc, I was trying to find a firm in the UK where I could get some information on this, and hopefully see how much it would cost, alas I seem to keep finding these tiny firms which just have almost like 'stock' websites and no real information.

For the record, it would be for 40 users, perhaps 50 by the time we move.

Kwitko · May 2008

Check out Asterisk. You're still going to have to make an investment in hardware, but the software itself is open source. VoIP is definitely the way to go. IP phones are really nice, so much better than hardwired lines. No punchdown blocks to deal with when moving extensions. Just unplug the phone and plug it into its new location. Voila!

Nikolas · May 2011

osaddict wrote:

OK, so we are moving premises in the near future (2 months or so) and will need to set up our own phone system, i.e it will not be a serviced office with everything provided for us.

Keen to harness the cost savings of VOIP, but also keen to do it properly, and not via skype as we currently are.

I thought you could get some kind of phone server which decided to route the call through voip or traditional pbx etc, I was trying to find a firm in the UK where I could get some information on this, and hopefully see how much it would cost, alas I seem to keep finding these tiny firms which just have almost like 'stock' websites and no real information.

For the record, it would be for 40 users, perhaps 50 by the time we move.

As per my information there are many telecommunication service providers who may help you to get the phone systems and services at cheaper rates to suit your needs. I suggest you should try searching out for these service providers online as they may even help you with their on the spot quotes to help you manage the budget of your phone system in advance and plan accordingly.

RootWyrm · May 2011

It comes down to this: how important are phones to your business?
If you can't function without them? Go traditional landline, trunk or PBX. Period. Even done "right" with CCM, having a CCIE do it, etcetera, VoIP is nowhere near as reliable. Asterisk and the like are even worse. I have worked on and been subjected to every single flavor there is, and they still can't get it right.
Another factor is that being in the UK, many ISPs in Europe (not just the US, hooray) are considering or actively clamping down on VoIP - throttling, injecting latency, outright blocking and so on. Not just mobile or residential, either. It's how they're protecting landline revenues. So be aware that you will be at their mercy should they decide to do that.

Tushon · May 2011

Also, 2 year old necro

osaddict · May 2011

Crikey this is a thread from the vaults! If anyone cares we opted for an Avaya IP 500 which was installed and is managed for us. Seems to be working okay

RootWyrm · May 2011

Tushon wrote:

Also, 2 year old necro

I'll take "things RootWyrm doesn't notice at SDFJKLJSDFKLJSKLDF O'Clock."

THIS close to an achievement. ><

Tushon · May 2011

RootWyrm wrote:

I'll take "things RootWyrm doesn't notice at SDFJKLJSDFKLJSKLDF O'Clock."

THIS close to an achievement. ><

Yep. These things happen to us at awful times in the morning.

Shorty · May 2011

But to be fair, it wasn't RootWyrm that brought the thread back to life!

New Phone System? - Places to go?!

Comments