VOIP procurement - questions to ak?

[mrssevage]

Hi,

 

We are in process of getting new voip system for our school. What questions do I need to ask potential sellers? I don't know an awful lot about voip at the moment and want to make sure I dont look like total newbie.

 

Thank you

[mavhc]

Do you want to outsource the whole thing, they provide handsets and config everything in a cloud? Or buy/install something locally to run it? Main question to ask between the two is what's the ratio of calls to phones you want.

 

Cloud hosted you're looking at paying as if you bought lines and handsets together, and often call packages too. Locally you can split those two things apart, 100 handsets and 4 lines if most of your calls are internal.

 

So your first question is how many lines, how many calls, and how many handsets do you want. The ratio of those then alters which solution is more cost effective.

 

I'm paying £8/line, with 15000 free minutes for each £8, so it's almost free. Run my own server, buy my own handsets, £40ish each.

[Edu-IT]

If you are looking to run it in house, you need to question whether you have the knowledge to set it up in the first place and also whether you can support it ongoing (even if it is just applying updates etc.) or deal with any issues that arise. If not, you may need to buy in that support. Your telephone system will be critical to the school and you won't be thanked for saving a few pound if it goes wrong.

 

How many handsets are you looking at?

 

If onsite, are you running it over your existing broadband connection or a new one?

 

What redundancy is there in any system you choose - or how easy is it to direct your numbers to a mobile?

[mrssevage]

Do you want to outsource the whole thing, they provide handsets and config everything in a cloud? Or buy/install something locally to run it? Main question to ask between the two is what's the ratio of calls to phones you want.

 

Cloud hosted you're looking at paying as if you bought lines and handsets together, and often call packages too. Locally you can split those two things apart, 100 handsets and 4 lines if most of your calls are internal.

 

So your first question is how many lines, how many calls, and how many handsets do you want. The ratio of those then alters which solution is more cost effective.

 

I'm paying £8/line, with 15000 free minutes for each £8, so it's almost free. Run my own server, buy my own handsets, £40ish each.

 

Hi,

 

So...

 

We have a choice:

1. Go with borough solution. We will be attached to the borough systems (thats how it is now). I am yet to find out price of that. I guess that's easy solution as they will maintain everything for me but at the same time i wont have any control over it and wont be able to customise it. It can take them ages to fix an issue sometimes.

 

2. 3cx put in by our IT support company. They are really good and will train me so i don't have to rely on others. We can customise whole think and shop around for handsets.

 

We may need 6 lines. Its a big school.

 

 

 

Thanks

[mrssevage]

If you are looking to run it in house, you need to question whether you have the knowledge to set it up in the first place and also whether you can support it ongoing (even if it is just applying updates etc.) or deal with any issues that arise. If not, you may need to buy in that support. Your telephone system will be critical to the school and you won't be thanked for saving a few pound if it goes wrong.

 

How many handsets are you looking at?

 

If onsite, are you running it over your existing broadband connection or a new one?

 

What redundancy is there in any system you choose - or how easy is it to direct your numbers to a mobile?

 

Yes you are right. I definitely don't have the knowledge at the moment that's why its ether outsourcing or getting my IT support company involved. See post above

 

Thank you

 

Learning all the time

[Steve21]

I mean a big question is why does the school want voip and what are they expecting from it before choosing a solution really. If for argument sake they're hoping to get full soft-phones installed is that something those 2 options are offering?

 

Everyone is going to tell you their solution is better, but if you have a list of requirements from the school it'll help narrow it down

 

Steve

[Edu-IT]

We may need 6 lines. Its a big school.

Do you regularly make 6 concurrent calls?

 

If not, it might be worth starting with less with the option to expand as you go when you work out what you need.

[mavhc]

2 in and 4 out isn't that many calls, and lines are pretty cheap. Search the forums for Gamma.

 

I've had no problems with freepbx, it updates itself, and it's a vm, so if it goes wrong, just roll back to a checkpoint, it never has, usually I forget it's there.

 

3cx has a linux version so you can just run that as a VM easily

[VeryPC]

Yes you are right. I definitely don't have the knowledge at the moment that's why its ether outsourcing or getting my IT support company involved. See post above

 

Thank you

 

Learning all the time

Hi @mrssevage - I've replied to you in another thread but keep an eye out for a message from our 3CX/VoIP fountain of knowledge, John Levis. He'll be in touch this morning. In the mean time though our dedicated web page has all the information you need!

 

Speak soon

 

- Ryan