psydii Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 Just looking at some options. Given the state of our wiring VOIP is the only solution... but the details.... well.. that's where the devil lies. So may I ask how you do it? Manufacturer/model: How many handsets/endpoints: Installation cost: Maintenance cost: POE Switch/rackmount inline injectors or Desk PSU's?: Business Hours only, or 24/7?: TIA.
6Foot2 Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 We are in the same position as you. We will be deploying VOIP soon. However I don't have any details as senior staff are making all the decisions. Wish me luck?
Domino Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) Considered MS Lync? If you've an EES agreement should be relatively cheap. We use an Asterisk server with a Digium ISDN card in, that does the format conversion for the phone lines. that then plugs into lync mediation/front end servers. Provides lync client softphones for most users, with some having Polycom handsets either PoE or USB connected. Also provides video conferencing and remote usage (which is handy for remote users or when on the road - a laptop with an internet connection gets you your land line). also user presence persists across MS products (outlook, sharepoint, etc) So: Manufacturer/model:Microsoft/HP/Digium How many handsets/endpoints:over 3500 (across 10 geographic sites) Installation cost: installed by us Maintenance cost: maintained by us POE Switch/rackmount inline injectors or Desk PSU's?: PoE switching where neccessary Business Hours only, or 24/7?: 24/7 there's also third parties which will offer install/maintenance. Edited February 20, 2014 by Domino 1
Asgard Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) We put in a mitel system over the summer - was about 28k inc vat . 80 handsets all running from our Poe Switches - plus 7 WiFi handsets also included Oak call reporting Controller has a resiliency package in it too (dual PSU/ raid hard disks ). We pay about £2,300 a year in maintenance Had it installed by Lloyd's IP after a very comprehensive tender - drop them an email . Edited February 20, 2014 by Asgard 1
Ric_ Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) Lync! (Domino's numbers give the full details). I also deployed it in the school I used to work in... licensing is pennies and it is relatively easy to deploy yourself. I also looked at Mitel and upgrading the Avaya system in the school and neither was as cost effective or feature rich as Lync. My only mistake was the PSTN gateway I chose was rubbish - the Asterisk boxes we use are far better. Where we required 'common room phones' (basically MS speak for a phone in a room rather than on someone's desk) I used Snom 300 handsets - excellent build quality and cheap as chips. Edited February 20, 2014 by Ric_ 1
john Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 Another for Lync using the stats provided by @Domino Where I was before I had a Avaya BCM with about 70 endpoints, including some IP ones. (Before someone goes that is a Nortel product it was originally a BCM but a F/W upgrade kit turned it into Avaya system and thus was badged that and supported with Avaya kit) Manufacturer/model: Avaya/Nortel BCM 450 How many handsets/endpoints: ~75 Mix of digital, IP and some analogue for Fax and Door Controller Installation cost: Original price for the kit was about £17K, we internally replaced about 80% of the existing wiring for phones (was not installed as part of the system was re-used) Maintenance cost: ~£3K a year including a range of handsets and different levels of support on different parts EG priority care on the main system and IP modules (as our 2nd site would be cut off without it) but other parts standard care. POE Switch/rackmount inline injectors or Desk PSU's?: PoE Switches for the IP Phones, Analogue adapters were by PSU with them and Digital phones from the system. Business Hours only, or 24/7?: Answered in maintenance bit. However if doing it again now, I'd go for Lync without a doubt its perfect 1
localzuk Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 (edited) Manufacturer/model: Asterisk and FreePBX running on Ubuntu. With Grandstream handsets. How many handsets/endpoints: 40ish Installation cost: About £3k Maintenance cost: None. POE Switch/rackmount inline injectors or Desk PSU's?: A mix of PoE switches and desktop PSUs Business Hours only, or 24/7?: don't know what you're asking here. Edited February 20, 2014 by localzuk 1
MatthewL Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 If I put a phone system in again I would go down the Avaya route, put several systems in at sites over the years and cannot fault the stuff. I have a good working relationship with the company I use and at the place I am at now the use Avaya, would not go anything else personally.
MattGreaves Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 Have you considered 3CX? From previous experience it works out cheaper than most systems and works with a variety of handset manufacturers/models. Some of the other systems lack choice when it comes to handsets unfortunately
MatthewL Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 3CX is good, had a quick look at the software, for some of the features I needed you need to purchase a license to use it.
bclarke Posted February 20, 2014 Posted February 20, 2014 3CX here. We use a company called Tri-LAN for support. It is saving us a fortune as we are also using a SIP trunk. Has a heap of features which come as standard that most premium systems charge the earth for.
manc_techie Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Manufacturer/model: Mitel How many handsets/endpoints: 47 Installation cost: £3100 for the ICP, around £1000 for licences and £600 for SIP provisioning (did the instal and config myself as I've worked on Mitel before) Maintenance cost: £1500 for 3rd party support. POE Switch/rackmount inline injectors or Desk PSU's?: POE Switch with the PC's patched into the handset. Business Hours only, or 24/7?: Business only with a night service setup After installation I have been playing with Lync, installed this 2 summers ago and was impressed. As much as I like the Mitel platform I'd go down the Lync route now. Seen it working with Polycom and was impressed at how great a unified comms package it is. 1
Meldrew Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 3CX here. We use a company called Tri-LAN for support. It is saving us a fortune as we are also using a SIP trunk. Has a heap of features which come as standard that most premium systems charge the earth for. +1 We also use Tri-LAN and 3CX. Both are absolutely brilliant. From memory to replace the whole phone system cost us £10,000. That included the licence for 3CX, 100 phones and the SIP gateway. We did all the wiring ourselves, which wasn't too bad as we have quite alot of copper in place anyway. The system paid itself back in 18 months compared to the maintenance costs of the old system. The 3CX system is just so easy to use - you install it on an existing windows server and then manage it via its web interface. Can't fault it. 1
dave.81 Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 I'm a little new to the looking after our current phone system but it's an Alcatel system thats been in for 7-8 years, works fine just sits and does. Management software is terrible and doesn't come with any default reporting software. Am i right in thinking that a system like 3CX would run over a SIP on our current internet connection meaning we dont need the multiple ISDN lines etc?
Ric_ Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 @dave.81 Destroy the Alcahell with fire!!!!! That is what we are ripping out to replace with Lync. Regarding ditching the ISDN lines, you have options.... the simplest option is to keep your lines and put in a gateway device (either an appliance or an Asterisk box with line cards).
TheScarfedOne Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 Went down the shoretel route here, 60 ish handsets but due to add more when the primary school onsite opens.
bclarke Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 @dave.81 the options are pretty flexible. You could ditch your ISDN lines which are very expensive and use something like BT infinity or you could utilise your current internet connection for the SIP trunks. I decided that as the cost saving was so huge anyway that I would install a separate BT infinity line for the phone system. I could have used my existing connection, and the Smoothwall device can cope with this too, but this puts all your eggs in one basket. For example, if I need to restart the Smoothwall for any reason, this knocks out the phone system too. I thought this would be too risky and I would become less popular each time that happened and I still need phones if I need support for the smoothwall. For the sake of £40 per month on BT Infinity, I thought it best to keep it separate. It is a great system. The reporting is standard and is really detailed. There are new features coming out all the time and one that looks interesting is the web conferencing solution. 1
FragglePete Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 We installed Splicecom a couple of years back now. Great system and staff love it. Check my blog about the install I did: VOIP'd up! - Blogs - EduGeek.net Company that did it was Intech Telecoms based down in Chandlers Ford. They've been fantastic on support. Pete 1
enjay Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 We'll looking at this later this year too. I like the VOIP idea, as it would allow us to get phones in places that we currently don't have them. SIP e.g. 3CX also interesting, as it would allow people to turn their mobiles into school telephones, which would be particularly useful for IT, Site Team, etc.
IWDave Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 We were looking at the UC560 from CISCO early last year, until of course the pulled the entire range. We're now looking and very interested in the IPCortex system. Had a local demonstration last week.
alttab Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 going with something like the infinity product, even if your not utilising it for general internet traffic, how are you finding the service deals with QoS requirements for voip calls ? with such high speed but shared services you might have sufficient bandwidth to for enough voip calls using G.711/G.729, but just interested to know how these types of services fare if they don't offer QoS or prioritisation for voice calls through the provider network.
dave.81 Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 Thanks @bclarke No chance of infinity where we are so using our leased line makes a lot of sense after we had to invest heavily to get it installed anyway.
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