Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: rabbidrabbit on July 09, 2006, 10:21:57 PM

Title: Need VOIP advice.
Post by: rabbidrabbit on July 09, 2006, 10:21:57 PM

OK,

I have been asked to  look into a VOIP solution for a small office.  One thing I have been looking for is an Asterisk server but I'm wondering if the costs , about 2k, is worth the effort.  They have 2 lines on POTS now and might wish to handle  up to 4 incoming lines in the future.  Any pointers?

Title: Need VOIP advice.
Post by: Scrap on July 09, 2006, 10:39:11 PM

Look into pingtel or Asterisk. Those are the two names I've heard of for SOHO lately.  Cisco has some decent stuff out there, but I think most of it is for IPCC (call center) applications.  Plus Ci$co is a bit expensive.  Heck, if ya go w/ Asterisk you can build the darn thing yourself for next to nothing.

Title: Need VOIP advice.
Post by: Scrap on July 09, 2006, 10:43:01 PM

4 lines is a bit small for a VoIP server/pbx.  Maybe have them try Vonage or a similar service?  Asterisk does have a SOHO/Home package out there (I think it's open source, aka 'free,' as well)... I think that would be your best option for an office that will ony take a max of 4 calls at a time.

Title: Need VOIP advice.
Post by: rabbidrabbit on July 10, 2006, 07:25:05 AM

the problem I'm seeing with asterisk is buying the 4 line Digium card which goes for 1500.  I have the option of going pure voip and skipping the card I think but am not sure.  IE, we can not use phone lines...  I'm still vague on the different ways I can implement this..

Title: Need VOIP advice.
Post by: Scrap on July 10, 2006, 07:33:13 AM

1) SIP trunking

2) Broadband w/ ATA (Vonage)

3) Some other hosted MPLS solution

I am not too keen on the smaller apps.  Just shop around w/ the local telco's for a bit and see what you can find.  If you have any questions, post them here.