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VoIP suggestions

Hello,

This is sort of a lengthy rant, but I would appreciate any help.

I run the IT & phone systems for our company. Our owner is bent on moving from our Partner system to VoIP, specifically a hosted solution. Now, I am all for VoIP, but we have a particular 'Used VoIP Salesman' touting the cost benefits that will be realized by moving to a hosted solution (with him).

I have dealt with SBC and know what a top tier carrier is charging. SBC gives a great deal on Cisco equipment, but they are charging $55 per phone for basic services and $70 per phone for 'premium' services. In addition, we would have to purchase another T1, and 2 Qos devices for each T1 (the manufacturer escapes me now) from SBC. Our other used ... I mean VoIP salesman ... is saying he can drastically beat these monthly phone prices and provide a high quality solution without using a second T1 or a QoS device for each T1 (He would use Cisco QoS, I assume IP RTP priority, I doubt he could configure LLQ correctly).

I am just looking for suggestions, or places where I can find more information on the 'typical' per month phone costs of a hosted VoIP solution. Are there any websites with hosted VoIP reviews??????? I have been unable to find anything like that, yet ...

Here is some information on our company:

30-40 users at any given time (with a growth rate of 1-2 people every 6 months); One SBC T1; NO remote locations (One is coming soon, but it will be local); NO traveling salesman; NO interstate traveling; Possibly a need for two people to work from home (local); Currently, local usage + long distance usage totals anywhere from $1350 to $1600 per month;

I am in the process of gathering SMDR information on our current key system so I can provide some tangible cost/usage information to our 'executives'.

This email address is valid, so any suggestions comments are greatly appreciated. I do not want to get caught in a very expensive sub-par solution.

justin snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Thank you for reading my post.

Justin

Reply to
Bob
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Your owner doesn't know what he's talking about. I have yet to see a hosted solution that compares favorably to a decent on-site system.

VoIP would be a possible good solution for your telecommuters, but I wouldn't recommend it for the whole office. Digital phones are usually less expensive and more reliable.

Does your Partner vendor have a hybrid solution that can use your existing investment you have in your current system?

Reply to
Nortec in MN

What does "Digital phones" mean in this context? I would call something like a Cisco 7960 every bit as "digital" as an ISDN phone. Am I missing something? Are VoIP phones typically not reliable?

(I'm considering getting into a phone system deployment so I'll appreciate some education.)

Thank you.

--kyler

Reply to
Kyler Laird

When talking about phones, "digital" and "VoIP" typically referrs to the way the phone communicates to the system (PBX/server).

VoIP phones are fine and they work well when properly implemented, but the technology really lends it self well for remote users and interconnecting remote sites. IMHO, VoIP to the desktop is not a good use of the technology - too much overhead and cost.

Reply to
Nortec in MN

I would like to go to a hybrid system. I have been looking at Avaya IP-Office. We only have a few extensions available on our current Partner systems, so we are going to have to do something soon. As I stated before our owner has VoIP on the brain for the entire office, specifically the hosted solution. I would like to talk him out of it, at least for a year.

Does anybody have any experience on what a per phone service cost is for a hosted solution? I know SBC is high, but on the other hand, I am sure this other so called consultant of ours is cutting too many corners just to earn the business. And with our office currently having no remote locations at this time, there is NO cost savings with VoIP for us. Our local usage and long distance only tops out at 1600 a month. Hosted VoIP with 30+ phones is going to put us over the 2000 mark (including an extra T1 in that price)

Does anybody have any experience with Avaya IP office???

Reply to
justin

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