We currently have an Asterisk box on the internal network, going out through our PRI T1.
Would it be possible to hookup one of our Polycom 501’s via a remote office (Oregon to Utah) and be virtually ‘right in the office’ and take advantage of the call queues, dialing extensions, etc? Any special hardware needed at the remote office? Any quality issues?
No replies, but I will give some more information.
I was brainstorming how the phone will be hooked up. I will need to use a hardware based VPN router in order to connect the PC AND the Polycom, correct?
Will there be any issues with NAT? Currently the Asterisk box is behind our firewall. Can I open a single port for SIP traffic to originate?
Would you consider running a Softphone instead of your IP Phone?
Possible…Would it be better to? I would assume alot easier.
yes you can do this. A VPN would definitely work for you.
Though you may run into quality issues. Unless you have some type of Quality of Service ALL THE WAY between sites and all networks in between you cannot guarantee call quality ever… end of story.
I personally use 501s/601s for my personal use at home VPNed to my main site, but I only use that for personal use. “Business sites” are interconnected via private MPLS based networks from a single provider with strict priority queing for VoIP traffic. some may say it’s overkill… but if you don’t do it that way… wait till people start smacking the network or your internet providers network gets hammered… and then people start losing quality or dropping calls… it’s not a pretty situation especially if you have to support it… for some reason people expect voice traffic to be 100% 
still going over arbitrary internet lines is generally fine for personal use, or even small scale business use… as long as the people “buying into” the service understand the limitations and possible quality issues upfront, and it doesn’t come as a surprise to them later when they get stuttering on calls or even dropped calls.
-brian
Would it matter what connection is on the remote end? Say I got a beefier than usual internet connection, no change?
I am assuming I would still run into problems once my traffic goes from the office to the cloud since I have no control. Im assuming it would be rather expensive to get a QOS line all the way from location>location.
well the better the connection the less the chance of incoming congestion on the one end (for outgoing you can help avoid congestion by prioritizing your voice traffic), but your still at the mercy of the networks in between regardless.
Regarding QoS from end to end many Telco Providers do private connections that will support QoS at reasonable fees, with many selling “private” network connection using MPLS to provide a private network across their coulds. (in fact my internal MPLS based connections are about 1/2 the price of “Internet” circuits of the same speed) (though you will still need an internet connection to get off the internal networks.)
These can be used nicely especialy if you have data needs and need to connect offices together anyway.
-brian