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  • VOIP phone systems . . . anyone any experience or knowledge?
  • whereisthurso
    Free Member

    We are looking to replace our truly awful office phone system. We are a small company of 5 staff and are not likely to expand greatly. Does anyone have any experience of VOIP systems it seems interesting and furthermore cheaper but do other costs such as internet usage charges outweigh the benefits? Any help would be great. Thanks.

    honeybadgerx
    Full Member

    Can’t comment on the technicalities but we use Cisco VOIP phones and they seem pretty good. Links to your outlook calendar so will automatically divert to your out of office voicemail if marked on your calendar and likewise to your in office but away from desk voicemail. Might be less of an issue for you but when I work from different offices I can just log into whichever phone is on the desk I’m using and all my calls will come through it and I can access my voicemail, etc.

    theprawn
    Free Member

    The benefits of VOIP aren’t so much about call charges in and out of your office, you won’t be making enough calls with five of you for it to be worth investing in a SIP trunk for example.

    However, there’s really cool features of VOIP that can be very useful to small businesses such as extension mobility, softphones, instant messaging with presence etc. etc.

    You’re probably an ideal candidate for a hosted VOIP system, where are you based? I can probably put you in touch with someone who can help you out…

    hora
    Free Member

    OP we went VOIP. The annoyance, hassle, quality, downtime when the internet line crashes in our area etc etc mean its a total PITA for us.

    Shite.

    theprawn
    Free Member

    hora, you need to pay for a decent internet connection. EFM as an absolute minimum.

    lots of firms seem to think you can setup VOIP on an ADSL line and technically you can but it will be rubbish.

    VOIP isn’t rubbish, the people who set you up on it are.

    hora
    Free Member

    VOIP isn’t rubbish, the people who set you up on it are.

    Possibly true.

    Whenever theres an issue….they are automatically on voicemail.

    whereisthurso
    Free Member

    We do have a ‘tricky’ internet connection which means slow speeds at times and the occasional disconnect so that’d be a little worrying. How about the initial costs for buying the system, how do they compare?

    Coyote
    Free Member

    hora, you need to pay for a decent internet connection. EFM as an absolute minimum.

    Depends where you are in relation to the exchange. EFM isn’t available everywhere yet.

    It’s like most things in comms. Do it properly and you’ll see the benefits. Compromise and cut corners and, well you’ve seen what happens.

    Avaya IP Office is a system worth looking at.

    theprawn
    Free Member

    Where are you based? You don’t necessarily have to buy a system these days (in fact I’d recommend you don’t) you can have it hosted. You have to be able to get a good internet connection though or it will be awful.

    theprawn
    Free Member

    if you’re in the middle of nowhere and don’t need anything other than a dial tone, just get a good old fashioned pbx.

    Coyote
    Free Member

    Agreed.

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    I setup and support hosted VoIP systems for the SME market.
    On the whole they work very well, BUT you need to have a good solid internet connection, ideally backboned into the supplier.
    If you’re out in the the styx then its unlikely to be reliable.
    We’ve got loads of VoIP set up on std ADSL and also Fibre and they’re fine.
    Its all about pre-planning and reliable internet connectivity.
    Not sharing with data or setting up QoS & priority is the key.

    piedidiformaggio
    Free Member

    My system has 6500 ish extensions on it in 10 countries.

    On the whole it is very, very good, but as others have said you really need a reliable QoS’d network underpinning it, other wise it all starts to go base over apex quite quickly!

    Oh, and what out for asymetric routing and firewalls – they can make your life difficult

    hora
    Free Member

    We do have a ‘tricky’ internet connection which means slow speeds at times and the occasional disconnect

    We have this. Our area has a planned roll out of fibre optic but thats a way off.

    If the phones are essential to your business and you think a customer or client might not appreciate you ‘hanging up’ on them mid conversation….

    monkey_boy
    Free Member

    i wouldnt bother if there is only 5 of you, we had a trial and our internet was crap and the line was fekin terrible.

    Liftman
    Full Member

    From experience (read bad) dont use Gradwell as the voip service supplier

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Avaya IP Office is a system worth looking at.

    The company I work for is, I think, the biggest Avaya partner in the UK. We also do Mitel and Cisco and probably a bunch of others. Yell if you want me to find you a salesman account manager.

    rossendalelemming
    Free Member

    Used Asterisk and then moved on to Trixbox (Asterisk with a pretty front end the CE edition). Various Voip handsets and softphone into the PBX, one was a wifi phone in France. It started off breaking out onto POTS, then ISDN Bri then ISDN Pri as we expanded. Never had an issue with it and it’s been running 6 years ish. If your internet connect is rubbish, stick to real phone lines.

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