VOIP System Recommendations

[BKGarry]

Hello All,

 

In a bit of a tricky situation at the moment with a BSF legacy, at present we have a VOIP system (CISCO based) that has a router onsite with the ISDN-30 line in it, but all internal calls and voicemail are run through a central data centre (which controls all users, extensions, routing rules etc) but we have received a letter from the company that runs the support and the data centre saying that they will be withdrawing their services from the data centre and that alternative provisions will have to be made.

 

Now I did look into this before and I know with the CISCO equipment we have, we would need additional hardware and licenses purchased again. Although it is our understanding that the LEP should be making sure we have a suitable phone system we are getting issues like this each year (they removed the ICT contractor and we had to make our own arrangements and the contractor was originally the ones subcontracted by another part of the partnership to run the VOIP)

 

I am thinking about going to the LEP to get the money that would be spent and get our own system which we can manage and would not be reliant on a data centre.

 

Does anyone have any views on where to take this, and also any recommendations of VOIP systems and suppliers (I did go out for quotes before in Jan 2012 but stuff changes)

 

Thank you all in advance,

 

BKGarry :-)

[VeryPC_Ed]

Hey BKGarry,

 

If you are looking at an internal system that you are going to manage yourself, you could use something like 3CX which is a windows based PBX and will run on consumer hardware.

 

We've used it for years and it's been really good and easy to manage.

 

Depending on your exact equipment, some Cisco VoIP phones are supported.

 

let me know if you want any more information, we can supply licenses and hardware if required.

 

Thanks,

 

Ed

[glennda]

I've just started working with IPCortex which is asterisk based and seems pretty good. pretty much License free so you just have to buy the box and phones.

 

I can PM you some details of the companies who i know have installed them and done good jobs on it if required

 

(I am not connected with IPcortex and am not a reseller of it, I have just done the networking and integration piece of these kits.)

[BKGarry]

Thank you Glennda, the standard one looks good, but I will need to see phones etc, if you could PM me the companies then I can keep them just in case

[Millgate]

We're a comms company as well as IT so I can get one of our guys to come out and see you if you like? Have a talk through possible options, pros & cons etc. Then give you a price for whichever you choose, if any

 

Let me know if you want me to get it sorted

 

Luke

[BKGarry]

That's very kind Luke, and I will add you to the growing list I have, as we are awaiting a response from the LEP about what their lines are, but I really do feel it would be better all equipment being here with our own team managing it and a good support contract (for piece of mind)

[FN-GM]

We have dumped our Cisco call manager and switched it with Asterisk. We still use all our existing Cisco Handsets (mainly 7911, 7941, 7961 and a colour one i cant remember the modal). Its much easier to use and isn't a bottomless pit for licences like Cisco is. We use the Freepbx GUI. You can get FreePBX Distro that installs a linux distro, with asterisk and FreePBX installed.

 

For External lines with use SIP trunks. The server is virtual so we don't need all the hardware required with Cisco.

[BKGarry]

thank you @FN-GM now that it is something to look at (and those are our exact phone models)

[FN-GM]

Converting the phones was a pain, you need to use config files and SIP Frimware but now i have all the stuff to do it. Give us a shout if you need help.