Building a VoIP system

[HodgeHi]

Hi all,

 

I am looking at VoIP in our new school which should be built ready for the new academic year.

 

I know very little about how to set up a VoIP system and what hardware is needed. Searching for information is pretty hard when you don't really know what you are searching for and where VoIP is at the moment.

 

I was wondering if someone who has gone through this could give me a couple of pointers as to what hardware is needed to get this off the ground and where to go for more advice on what is needed.

 

The system we are looking at initially is for internal calls only, with a view to extend this to some sort of internal exchange leading finally onto external communication.

 

What sort of costs are involved in doing something like this and are there any per annum costs involved.

[matt40k]

Look at Asterisk :: The Open Source PBX & Telephony Platform |

 

You can either get some hardware to "upgrade" your current telephone line to support your VOIP infrastructure. Gradwell can provide a virtual telephone line(s) which you can link into the asterisk server VOIP gateway.

 

Business VoIP - Gradwell

 

You WILL really need QOS on your switches and ideally POE.

[localzuk]

Equipment needed:

 

Server

If you are using PSTN lines (ie. analogue lines), you'll need an analogue interface of some form

If you are using BRI/PRI lines (ie. ISDN), you'll need an appropriate interface of some form

If you are using internet VOIP services, you'll need a reliable internet connection.

 

Handsets - if you want to reduce cables on the desk, get PoE enabled phones, and a PoE switch or injector for them.

 

Have a look around the forum, there are a few similar questions from other posters with detailed answers.

[HodgeHi]

Thanks for the offer. We have now though decided to just send the voice data over the cat 6 cabling and terminate at the switchbox. The guy called it sending voice over data rather than voice over IP since the IP protocol isn't going to be used.

 

The rj45 at the user end will be converted to a standard phone socket. Thi sis how i understood it anyhow.

[powdarrmonkey]

Thanks for the offer. We have now though decided to just send the voice data over the cat 6 cabling and terminate at the switchbox. The guy called it sending voice over data rather than voice over IP since the IP protocol isn't going to be used.

 

The rj45 at the user end will be converted to a standard phone socket. Thi sis how i understood it anyhow.

 

Hmm, voice-over-copper is what I'd call it, all you're doing is re-using your existing cable instead of laying new.

 

Think of it like putting in an extension at home, you're just using a different type of cable to meet the same end.

[john]

Thanks for the offer. We have now though decided to just send the voice data over the cat 6 cabling and terminate at the switchbox. The guy called it sending voice over data rather than voice over IP since the IP protocol isn't going to be used.

 

The rj45 at the user end will be converted to a standard phone socket. Thi sis how i understood it anyhow.

Structured Cabling is the term, its what modern installs should be (looks at my place and shakes head that we still run seperate phone points but not any more )

[featured_spectre]

you could always get skype and have it on the PCs/Laptop that requires it?

[capesteve]

Hi HodgeHi

 

If you change your mind and want to look at a VoIP PBX I can build one for you. I build these for a few IT companies around the south/south east. There are so many ways to do this you may find its better to get some help. It can take up a lot of your time to study all the practical problems and security issues.

 

Regards

Steve

[Willott]

HodgeHi,

 

I'm currently implementing an Asterisk VoIP system within our school. There are several bits you will need to consider:

 

Outbound connectivity (as previously mentioned) - we're looking at using an IAX2 trunk to gradwell, which will fail over to a single analogue line in reception if the Net connection/PBX goes down - could do a single analogue line into PBX, but if PBX goes down, then all phone lines lost. Remember to consider the bandwidth implication of VoIP and the other internet usage (maybe an onsite proxy with limited bandwidth - limit to say 2Mb under your net connection), and remember QoS

 

Phones - Are you going to be purely using wired phones? An idea we have here is for our site manager, myself, my tech, first aid, and senior management to have wireless phones (for several reasons, one of which being an "emergency line" to senior management to deal with classroom issues). We're also looking at soft phones on teacher's laptops so that they can phone this emergency line if they need it.

 

Internal network - QoS, bandwidth, PoE, physical ports available, wireless?

 

Although there seem to be a lot of points there, it's quite easy to setup these things. There are a few ready to run Asterisk distributions, which may help you evaluate asterisk a litte (just using soft phones for it here atm until I've tested some inbound calls). Check out Trixbox and AsteriskNow.

 

Any questions and I'll do my best to answer them, or google them, there's plenty of info on asterisk about!

[Nick_Parker]

I have a questions and maybe the answer is obvious...

 

We've run a single network point to every single classroom and office in our school.

Is there no way we can use that single point for data and voice?

I don't mean using skype, I mean, is there a way to connect an IP Phone and a network cable to the same point, or will be need to either run a second line to every class/office or put a switch/hub at the end of every line?

[localzuk]

I have a questions and maybe the answer is obvious...

 

We've run a single network point to every single classroom and office in our school.

Is there no way we can use that single point for data and voice?

I don't mean using skype, I mean, is there a way to connect an IP Phone and a network cable to the same point, or will be need to either run a second line to every class/office or put a switch/hub at the end of every line?

 

If it is a VOIP phone, as in true VOIP then yes - depending on the phone. Grandstream GXP-2000 phones, for example, have a built in switch - ie. one port in, one port out.

[dirtydog]

If it is a VOIP phone, as in true VOIP then yes - depending on the phone. Grandstream GXP-2000 phones, for example, have a built in switch - ie. one port in, one port out.

 

yep most of our Avayas do this so you dont need extra sockets, instead you go Socket -> Phone -> PC

great idea.

[Sirbendy]

same with our Cisco 7912s. My PC runs off mine.

[localzuk]

yep most of our Avayas do this so you dont need extra sockets, instead you go Socket -> Phone -> PC

great idea.

 

It isn't that good an idea... As it means you end up having to share a single port - which, depending on how you have implemented QoS, could affect that. If you use mac based authentication, it can also cause issues with that...

[Soulfish]

It isn't that good an idea... As it means you end up having to share a single port - which, depending on how you have implemented QoS, could affect that. If you use mac based authentication, it can also cause issues with that...

 

I think that the high end Cisco phones have built in QoS tagging so you can tag the phone and data traffic separately.

[funkymunky]

Even cheap VoIP phones tend to be VLAN and/or QoS aware these days. In most cases there's no issue with using the phone's switch port, that's what it's there for If you're auth'ing to the switch on MAC, just auth two MACs. Edited May 14, 2009 by funkymunky

[Acecare]

I don't know how to build voip phone system because I am also a user. My friend told me that you can save money through this service. Butt the standard call that we used is really expensive. Edited August 14, 2010 by Acecare

[tom_newton]

To add to this zombie thread... the "pass thru" on our aastra 53i phones works fine. If anyone tells you you need a load of complicated QoS setups they're pulling your leg. You should have seen the shabby switches I started our voip system on 5 years ago.

 

Only thing i'd add to that is most 'phones only have a 10/100 switch in em, so if you want gig..

[Kamran7860]

I use 3CX free, its windows based SIP server, took me about 1 hour to setup 6 extensions. Free SIP server / VoIP PBX for Windows - 3CX. The free edition is a fully functional product and it supports an unlimited number of extensions and does NOT time out.