Newbie... few questions about small office implimentation

I’m just learning about * so please bear with me.

I’d like to use * in a small office environment… 12 people/hard phones & 2 fax lines.

I’m working with the phone company to get the lines setup but they want to know if I want the lines to be brought in via analog or digital.

Can anyone give some advice as to what the best way to bring it in is for the * server and what card(s) are recommended for the config?

I did read the tutorials on *guru but there is no reccomendations… just general info.

thanks!

How many phone lines?

12 total incoming lines from phone company…

there will be 12 hard phones & 2 dedicated fax DIDs

thanks for the help!

I’m just learning about this system too. So here is what I have been suggested.

Get 3 lines from the Phone company. Just basic lines…for inbound
Get a service from a VOIP. Perferably 2 for redundency.
All outbound calls go over the VOIP connection…you can also get a local number with the VOIP company. so you set the system up…

Get two machines and set them up. Both have 1 card in them. One is your live system and one is the backup. You can get basic pentium machines…keep them the same model.

For the Pots lines…if call comes in to line 1 and busy go to 2. if busy go to 3 if busy go to VOIP Extension…

the VOIP will be about 45 a month for unlimited calls. and long distance.

anyways my 2cents worth

[quote=“vastdavidson”]I’m just learning about this system too. So here is what I have been suggested.

Get 3 lines from the Phone company. Just basic lines…for inbound
Get a service from a VOIP. Perferably 2 for redundency.
All outbound calls go over the VOIP connection…you can also get a local number with the VOIP company. so you set the system up…

Get two machines and set them up. Both have 1 card in them. One is your live system and one is the backup. You can get basic pentium machines…keep them the same model.

For the Pots lines…if call comes in to line 1 and busy go to 2. if busy go to 3 if busy go to VOIP Extension…

the VOIP will be about 45 a month for unlimited calls. and long distance.

anyways my 2cents worth[/quote]

I appreciate the info… let me know your opinion on this…

I was looking at getting a huge i-net pipe and going all VOIP at first but… after reading a lot on the forums about the service providers for VOIP. I’m concerned about frequent outages and less then high quality voice transmission. These seem to be pretty constant.

The advice you have gotten was based on what info and experiences?

Did they setup what you are talking about above? Please let me know what setup is like (# of phones, # sim users, etc), equipment (T1 card, server, * version, make/model of phones, etc) and what provider used?

I’m currently looking at getting a DS-1 with 24 lines and a separate i-net pipe for surfing. The LAN will have spearate GigE switches for PCs & IP phones.

thanks for the help!!!

One of the companys owned by our parent is doing just as I described. They use Teliax.com as one of their VOIP service providers. Can’t remember the other one.

While talking to him last night he was on VOIP and never new it. They are using Cisco phones.

Sorry I can’t answer your other ones. we haven’t nailed down exactly how they are doing it since I’m still in the “Search” phase for our company.

I think he has standard Analog lines from the telco with Digium TDM400p.

I’m interested to find out how many users they are supporting. I need 12 simultaneous lines going and support for up to 20.

If you can find out please let me know what his setup is like and his thoughts on the quality.

Seems like they are using VOIP only as backup/failover right?

Sorry for taking so long to reply.
I put a system in our office but went with analog phones i dint want the extra load on the LAN but since you are going to have looks like individual lan for phones that should work great. I have a Pri from a local CLEC for inbound calling and have local area calling on it. Then i use a iax connection to voip provider to terminate my Longdistance. It goes over a 4 meg fiber connection to the net works great

[quote=“rusty”]Sorry for taking so long to reply.
I put a system in our office but went with analog phones i dint want the extra load on the LAN but since you are going to have looks like individual lan for phones that should work great. I have a Pri from a local CLEC for inbound calling and have local area calling on it. Then i use a iax connection to voip provider to terminate my Longdistance. It goes over a 4 meg fiber connection to the net works great[/quote]

This sounds like a near perfect way to save $ on long distance calls!

How do you separate long distance calls from local calls within the * server?
How did you set this up with the VoIP provider (how many #s/lines do I need)?
Which VoIP provider do you use?