Business Telephone Systems, possibly cloud based

[AggieMike88]

Anyone here have experience with small biz telephone systems? Possibly the new computer based or cloud based systems?

I have questions and am seeking recommendations on a replacement system

I currently have an NEC Aspire system and I've reached my frustration level with how difficult it is to make small changes like the routing tree, announcements, mailboxes and more.

My needs currently cover 7 inbound lines to the PBX, and one analog for the fax machine; 7 phone stations.

My desired feature list includes:

• Easy to expand more lines
• Feature rich with ability to setup and easily change routing trees (Press 1 to speak to sales, press 2 for accounting)
• GUI interface preferred (both administrative and each user level)
• Call queuing where if station is talking to one customer, others calls to that station get in line. Even better if the GUI interface shows my salesperson who is in the queue (recognized the caller ID and puts the customer's name up)
• Call recording (a must, including making it easy to access, review, and download the audio files)
• Voice mail.
• Call forwarding to outside numbers (sales guys want this so customers can reach their mobile phones after hours and weekends)
• Easy to get to and execute programming and changes
• Ability to record custom prompts
• And other items that provide the customer the feel we're a big professional biz (which we are growing to).

Solution must be with a strong company that has top support and is not going to disappear in the middle of the night.

Price point is open right now, but not to crazy. I want to learn what's out there, and what to expect on costs (like studying an airplane type and seeing what the market is asking for the different designs and features).

Discussing here is good. The email link in my profile is active, so if you want to send me something that way, please do.

 

[DaleB]

If you're looking for a bundled solution from a vendor, I'm afraid I'm not much help. If I were setting up something like this from scratch now, it would be:

• Asterisk (possibly a "packaged" version like FreePBX or Trixbox)
• IP phones - pick Grandstream, Cisco, whatever you like.
• VOIP DIDs from Flowroute
• Maybe a POTS interface card if you need it, or if you want to use your old FAX machine or some cheap cordless phones

This gets you an incredible amount of functionality and flexibility. Email/FAX and FAX/email gateway, voicemail delivered to email inboxes, call groups, pickup groups, automatic forwarding to cell phones, it just goes on and on. There is some learning curve to getting it set up, of course... it's not too terrible, and the rewards are hard to overstate. I've been running Asterisk here for my house, day job and side business for a couple of years now.


I know you can buy pre-built "appliance" style VOIP servers with web based GUI configuration front ends, but I haven't used any of them yet. If I were willing to buy a commercial system and pay for training and ongoing support, I'd probably look at Digium.

 

[Challenged]

I designed our company system and ended up using plain-jane Asterisk on top of CentOS with Sangoma PRI hardware. This is the ultimate in flexibility, but it took quite a bit of work to get it setup initially, since I wrote all the logic from scratch. I've never used the Switchvox systems, but I am a fan of both Asterisk and Digium, and they do offer turn-key solutions for a price: http://www.digium.com/en/products/business-phone-systems/switchvox-65

For handsets, we use mostly Polycom units, but I have a few Aastra units for specific tasks as well..both good phones, supporting bulk configuration.

 

[dans2992]

Check out www.3cx.com

It's coming on strong. It runs on a Windows server (or VM) and is rock solid. We run a 10 site international phone system w 400 phones off of a single server using bandwidth.com for SIP trunking.

Cost? $4k+ phones for 32 simultaneous calls.

 

[AggieMike88]

Check out www.3cx.com

It's coming on strong. It runs on a Windows server (or VM) and is rock solid. We run a 10 site international phone system w 400 phones off of a single server using bandwidth.com for SIP trunking.

Cost? $4k+ phones for 32 simultaneous calls.

2nd time I've seen 3cx come up to solve my dilemma. We have a local build-a-box-rent-a-geek shop that is a reseller of 3cx

By simultaneous calls, are you meaning 32 inbound/outbound calls can happen at same time?


How do systems like this deal with the older "hunt group" concepts? Do I still need to "rent" multiple phone numbers/lines from my phone service provider and let their system switch the call from -5202 when it's busy to -8202? Or are the new systems smart enough to manage this without the need to have and pay for the other lines? (aka, I can drop them and just keep my main ones).

How about 800 service? Still a switched concept?

 

[AggieMike88]

If you're looking for a bundled solution from a vendor, I'm afraid I'm not much help.

All-in-one from single provider bundled doesn't have to be the best way. If the different components play nice together, I don't object to obtaining the different pieces from different sources.

But I would seek someone to help support the monster once it's alive.

 

[SCCutler]

Call "Telecom Luke," Luke Nakahara (he's local) at 214-948-3161 ; good guy, have traded with him for years. Performance Telecom. Knows his stuff.

 

[RJM62]

I don't have an office phone line any more.

-Rich

 

[SCCutler]

I don't have an office phone line any more.

-Rich

Kiss my fuzzy one, showoff.

 

[JimNtexas]

I put in a Cisco U320W based system in my wife's office. It does most (but not all) of the things you want. It is both a voip and internet router, so I didn't need separate phone wiring.

It was about $2.5K for the 320W, a switch, and five or six instruments, set up by a Cisco dealer. The phones have a little ethernet switch in them, so I could plug the phone into the ethernet jack and the computer in to the phone. Tech support and documentation from Cisco is pretty good, and if you want to DYI and save, all the equipment is available from Amazon.

 

[LDJones]

I don't have an office phone line any more.

Do you even have a phone, Rich?!?

 

[John221us]

Cisco's UC500 should fit all your needs. Currently I am working mostly with MS Lync, which would also do it, but a full deployment would be expensive. There is a hosted solution with Office 365 and "Lync to Phone" hosting providers (currently only one). PM me. I have done a lot of this for different size businesses.

 

[John221us]

I put in a Cisco U320W based system in my wife's office. It does most (but not all) of the things you want. It is both a voip and internet router, so I didn't need separate phone wiring.

It was about $2.5K for the 320W, a switch, and five or six instruments, set up by a Cisco dealer. The phones have a little ethernet switch in them, so I could plug the phone into the ethernet jack and the computer in to the phone. Tech support and documentation from Cisco is pretty good, and if you want to DYI and save, all the equipment is available from Amazon.

The UC300 system is too light weight for what the OP wants. I installed it at my home for a few months, myself (my now ex wife didn't care for it). It won't handle the call center functionality the OP mentioned. The UC500 can handle light call center functions "routing tree" and has the recording capability.

 

[dans2992]

2nd time I've seen 3cx come up to solve my dilemma. We have a local build-a-box-rent-a-geek shop that is a reseller of 3cx

By simultaneous calls, are you meaning 32 inbound/outbound calls can happen at same time?


How do systems like this deal with the older "hunt group" concepts? Do I still need to "rent" multiple phone numbers/lines from my phone service provider and let their system switch the call from -5202 when it's busy to -8202? Or are the new systems smart enough to manage this without the need to have and pay for the other lines? (aka, I can drop them and just keep my main ones).

How about 800 service? Still a switched concept?

Yes, 32 conversations (internal, external, or a combination) can be ongoing at once... It comes in smaller or larger packages to suit your needs.

3CX sells the phone system software. You need to figure out how you want to bring in your external lines. It's possible using hardware to link POTS lines, a PRI, or SIP trunks into the 3CX system. Using SIP trunks, you can have only one number (if you want), and receive several calls simultaneously. You just need enough SIP trunks/channels to handle them all. We pay around $20-$25/trunk/month including unlimited domestic LD.

If you go SIP, you'll want to ensure your address is properly registered for e-911, etc.

--Dan

 

[denverpilot]

Cisco's UC500 should fit all your needs. Currently I am working mostly with MS Lync, which would also do it, but a full deployment would be expensive. There is a hosted solution with Office 365 and "Lync to Phone" hosting providers (currently only one). PM me. I have done a lot of this for different size businesses.

Our company converted everyone to O365. I wouldn't wish this crap on my worst enemy. Just a data point.

Lync itself, seems fine. Mimics various other products. Licensing isn't cheap. The problems are in the hosted "cloud". Performance issues, login issues, their servers bounce regularly... without warning...

Like I said, recommend O365 to your competitor. They'll waste a lot of time. It ain't Bell System quality or even close.

 

[sferguson524]

Anyone here have experience with small biz telephone systems? Possibly the new computer based or cloud based systems?

I have questions and am seeking recommendations on a replacement system

I currently have an NEC Aspire system and I've reached my frustration level with how difficult it is to make small changes like the routing tree, announcements, mailboxes and more.

My needs currently cover 7 inbound lines to the PBX, and one analog for the fax machine; 7 phone stations.

My desired feature list includes:

• Easy to expand more lines
• Feature rich with ability to setup and easily change routing trees (Press 1 to speak to sales, press 2 for accounting)
• GUI interface preferred (both administrative and each user level)
• Call queuing where if station is talking to one customer, others calls to that station get in line. Even better if the GUI interface shows my salesperson who is in the queue (recognized the caller ID and puts the customer's name up)
• Call recording (a must, including making it easy to access, review, and download the audio files)
• Voice mail.
• Call forwarding to outside numbers (sales guys want this so customers can reach their mobile phones after hours and weekends)
• Easy to get to and execute programming and changes
• Ability to record custom prompts
• And other items that provide the customer the feel we're a big professional biz (which we are growing to).

Solution must be with a strong company that has top support and is not going to disappear in the middle of the night.

Price point is open right now, but not to crazy. I want to learn what's out there, and what to expect on costs (like studying an airplane type and seeing what the market is asking for the different designs and features).

Discussing here is good. The email link in my profile is active, so if you want to send me something that way, please do.

For what you're looking for, Trixbox with HUD is the way to go. It can interface with a CRM system and pop that customer's record, etc. I did this for a friend who owned a lingere shop, and it worked out quite well. Best part is it works with any SIP phone

 

[John221us]

Our company converted everyone to O365. I wouldn't wish this crap on my worst enemy. Just a data point.

Lync itself, seems fine. Mimics various other products. Licensing isn't cheap. The problems are in the hosted "cloud". Performance issues, login issues, their servers bounce regularly... without warning...

Like I said, recommend O365 to your competitor. They'll waste a lot of time. It ain't Bell System quality or even close.

Yes, O365 has had some issues. I wasn't necessarily recommending it, but it is a hosted solution that meets his requirements. I did say that Lync would probably be too expensive for a small environment. They changed the licensing for 2013 to make it even more expensive for small environments (they got rid of Standard server). It is probably MS's vision that small environments would go hosted.

 

[sferguson524]

Yes, O365 has had some issues. I wasn't necessarily recommending it, but it is a hosted solution that meets his requirements. I did say that Lync would probably be too expensive for a small environment. They changed the licensing for 2013 to make it even more expensive for small environments (they got rid of Standard server). It is probably MS's vision that small environments would go hosted.

Just did a pilot of lync 2013 here. Standard still exists.

 

[bluesky74656]

Our company converted everyone to O365. I wouldn't wish this crap on my worst enemy. Just a data point.

Lync itself, seems fine. Mimics various other products. Licensing isn't cheap. The problems are in the hosted "cloud". Performance issues, login issues, their servers bounce regularly... without warning...

Like I said, recommend O365 to your competitor. They'll waste a lot of time. It ain't Bell System quality or even close.

Given that Microsoft did away with Small Business Server, Office365 seems to be the best bang for the buck for small businesses less than about 25 users or so. With the new licensing setup you'd need to license Windows Server Essentials, Windows Server Standard, and Exchange in order to get the same functionality you used to get with Small Business Server. Office365 isn't perfect, but for a small office I'd much rather do that than the alternative.

 

[John221us]

Just did a pilot of lync 2013 here. Standard still exists.

Your right, it was a bit of a mis-statement. What I meant to say is that there is no price difference anymore (there used to be a significant break for Standard Edition). Standard used to be around $700.

Lync Server 2013 will be a MSRP of $3,646 USD (with no price distinction between Enterprise and Standard Server)

 

[John221us]

Given that Microsoft did away with Small Business Server, Office365 seems to be the best bang for the buck for small businesses less than about 25 users or so. With the new licensing setup you'd need to license Windows Server Essentials, Windows Server Standard, and Exchange in order to get the same functionality you used to get with Small Business Server. Office365 isn't perfect, but for a small office I'd much rather do that than the alternative.

It has had some service reliability issues and end point management is a bit of nightmare. There is a single sign on client that gets installed on the desktop that handles authentication. Account synchronization can also be a bit challenging. In smaller environments, it is not as big a deal, because you can brute force your way through it, but in mid to enterprise, it can be a challenge.

 

[sferguson524]

SBS is a nightmare. besides the fact it's a bit more of a resource hog, managing it as an admin is difficult for those who have an enterprise background

 

[John221us]

SBS is a nightmare. besides the fact it's a bit more of a resource hog, managing it as an admin is difficult for those who have an enterprise background

I was never a fan, but it was very cost effective for small businesses. In any case, it is gone now.

 

[AggieMike88]

Yes, 32 conversations (internal, external, or a combination) can be ongoing at once... It comes in smaller or larger packages to suit your needs.

3CX sells the phone system software. You need to figure out how you want to bring in your external lines. It's possible using hardware to link POTS lines, a PRI, or SIP trunks into the 3CX system. Using SIP trunks, you can have only one number (if you want), and receive several calls simultaneously. You just need enough SIP trunks/channels to handle them all. We pay around $20-$25/trunk/month including unlimited domestic LD.

If you go SIP, you'll want to ensure your address is properly registered for e-911, etc.

--Dan

You lost me with the acronyms

 

[denverpilot]

POTS - Plain old telephone service. An analog phone line.

SIP - Session Initiation Protocol. The stuff that sets up a Voice Over IP call and often used incorrectly as a way to describe the entire VoIP stack. (e.g. "SIP Trunk"... there's no trunk, just a fat IP pipe and SIP messaging to set-up calls and various UDP streaming protocols to pass the audio.)

PRI - Primary Rate Interface. Telco name for an ISDN trunk circuit.

What he's saying is, "How are your phone lines delivered from the carrier today, and in what format/protocol? You may want to change that format if you're building a new phone system."

Personally, I'd do something Asterisk-based because there's lots of tools to "roll your own" solutions.

But there's something to be said for bringing in a pro to set up some well-supported flavor/brand name of it, especially if you're not following the telco acronyms. Just to order circuits you'll need to speak the lingo.

The "solutions" to your problem run the gamut from a raw Asterisk server setup all configured manually and cheap hardware from any online source of PC server hardware, to a turn-key install where someone has slapped a brand-name on the same software but taken the time to customize it and make it look pretty, and they'll deal with installing it and configuring it and testing it for ya.

Cost-savings vs time-savings, the age old business dilemma. Is time really money?

A friend has run his business on Trixbox for years. He loves it, but he loves to tinker and his Trixbox resides at his house with a custom setup with two ISPs (for failover so his business isn't essentially closed down by a Net outage), etc. (He used to have it in a datacenter where they handled those upstream pipes and failover but figured he could learn how to do it.). Another do-it-yourself guy has 150 people hanging off of his self-customized Asterisk machine at the company's offices.

But they both spent significant time learning Asterisk by themselves, the hard way.

None of it is hard to learn, but it is time-consuming.

A local shop with folks that do it every day who'd be willing to turn-key a custom setup for you but also teach you about how it works, would be ideal if you have time to handle your own maintenance and configuration over time.

They then become your safety net if you're stumped.

 

[Arrow115]

I set a trixbox at my office and it does everything that you want. However, if I were to do it all over again, I would use PBX in a flash as the open source project has a better support. The open source version of trixbox doesn't seem to be updated anymore.

I am running a mix of polycom and Cisco phones.

 

[weilke]

I use a company called Nuvio for my hosted pbx solution. Except for the call-queueing, I believe it can do what you are looking for. I use polycom phones.
The only thing it sucks at is running a fax machine. I'll have to get an analog landline at the new office just to run the fax. I never had that issue when I used vonage, somehow the nuvio folks can't get the compression (or lack thereof) right to transmit fax.

 

[Arrow115]

I use a company called Nuvio for my hosted pbx solution. Except for the call-queueing, I believe it can do what you are looking for. I use polycom phones.
The only thing it sucks at is running a fax machine. I'll have to get an analog landline at the new office just to run the fax. I never had that issue when I used vonage, somehow the nuvio folks can't get the compression (or lack thereof) right to transmit fax.

I am using ringcentral for fax services. I didn't want to deal with any analog lines or support a fax machine. Works well and it's only around $15 a month.

 

[SCCutler]

I am using ringcentral for fax services. I didn't want to deal with any analog lines or support a fax machine. Works well and it's only around $15 a month.

This! Or something like it. Fax to email, ba da boom.

 

[weilke]

I am using ringcentral for fax services. I didn't want to deal with any analog lines or support a fax machine. Works well and it's only around $15 a month.

I do have a webfax, but some stuff can't go into the interwebs and a conventional fax machine is still a lot lesss disruptive to workflow than scanning, logging in, uploading pdf, webfaxing. Some voip providers work with fax, some don't.

 

[DaleB]

I am using ringcentral for fax services. I didn't want to deal with any analog lines or support a fax machine. Works well and it's only around $15 a month.

I'm using Hylafax and Asterisk for FAX in and out, including to and from email. If I need to scan a document I scan it and just email as an attachment... it's set up so I can send an email (text , HTML or image) to <phone number>@fax.out and - poof! - it gets sent as a FAX. Took a little while to figure it all out, but once it was set up it's been perfect. I just use my regular VOIP number for both voice and FAX; Asterisk will automagically recognize a FAX machine calling and handle it accordingly. I was worried about analog FAX machines not working with this setup, but that has not been an issue at all.

Total cost: Zero.