Selecting an IP PABX

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chevrolux

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#1160917 23-Oct-2014 19:25

sbiddle:
chevrolux: I would look at doing budget IP phones (Yealink T19P are great!) around the school as opposed to analogue. The benefit I see with using purely IP phones is that they are essentially plug and play. Meaning when you want to add a phone your installer can just remote in to the system, add an extension, and then post you a phone. You go plug it in to the correct switch port (assuming a port based VLAN is used) and you are away.

The ones I am aware of in Auckland are Hitech. I'm slightly apprehensive to recommend them though because the last system I saw from them was a Trixbox which I thought had been dead and buried for a long time. But then again I may be competely wrong - they have a nice website and it seems active so things obviously work for them.

They still sell Trixbox (now just called Fonality) but you're paying some pretty steep per seat costs every month for it.

Ahh right. So they won't sell you a system and only do a lease arrangement? Probably not an option for a school.

sbiddle

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#1160918 23-Oct-2014 19:26

chevrolux:
sbiddle:
chevrolux: I would look at doing budget IP phones (Yealink T19P are great!) around the school as opposed to analogue. The benefit I see with using purely IP phones is that they are essentially plug and play. Meaning when you want to add a phone your installer can just remote in to the system, add an extension, and then post you a phone. You go plug it in to the correct switch port (assuming a port based VLAN is used) and you are away.

The ones I am aware of in Auckland are Hitech. I'm slightly apprehensive to recommend them though because the last system I saw from them was a Trixbox which I thought had been dead and buried for a long time. But then again I may be competely wrong - they have a nice website and it seems active so things obviously work for them.

They still sell Trixbox (now just called Fonality) but you're paying some pretty steep per seat costs every month for it.

Ahh right. So they won't sell you a system and only do a lease arrangement? Probably not an option for a school.

No idea, I wouldn't touch it as a product.

CokemonZ

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#1160930 23-Oct-2014 20:24

antz86:
Regs:
CokemonZ: Full disclosure - I work for MHA Cloud Computing (www.mhacloud.com)

We do a fully hosted version of Microsoft Lync with PABX functionality and the ability to call landlines, and have people call in.

We've got a few schools using it - Avondale Intermediate comes to mind immediately.

It offers a chunk more than just calling and PABX:
Video calling,
Skype integration
Screen sharing
Presence and Instant Messaging (With an Audit trail)
The ability to setup and run webinars - and invite external people to join - great for external speakers speaking to the class.
A Virtual whiteboard that can work on any touch screen.

The schools are using Lync to increase collaboration, and to replace their current legacy phone systems.
We host and manage the whole thing - so it works out pretty cost effectively. And most importantly - we take care of the upgrades!

Your teachers and office staff can choose their devices - phones, wireless headsets, Logitech video conference units.

Give me a shout - Daniel@mhacloud.com
Happy to have a chat.

you (MHA) can also link the voicemail to office 365 exchange (for which there are special school offers) which makes it even better right? :)

We are an Apple and Google Apps school so don't really want to be making big changes to other apps etc just to replace our phone system.

You definitely don't have to throw out the baby with the bath water - Lync works fine on Macs, and if using phones a soft client isn't even required.
It integrates better with the Office suite - you get presence in Outlook and SharePoint. When you next evaluate your learning platform Office365 and the Microsoft partners in learning program is amazing.

You specifically said you wanted something reliable - think of hosted Lync as a hosted PABX.
We have geo-redundancy, Auckland, Christchurch and Sydney. We have 4 carriers and three physical fibre connections into each location.
Hosted Lync (Hosted PABX) is basically bullet proof, and from your perspective, 0 maintenance and 0 on premise equipment.

You've already moved a lot to the cloud (Google Apps), why would you deploy old school hardware onsite?

jnimmo

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#1160935 23-Oct-2014 20:43

MHA Cloud, do you have special pricing for schools? To be honest I would struggle to justify $29/month/user in a business environment (excl. hardware + calling I assume) let alone in a school. Feel free to contact me off thread as don't want to take the thread off topic.

michaelmurfy

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#1161037 23-Oct-2014 22:14

I've installed quite a few iPECS systems (one with the help of Steve Biddle to a degree) and I must say that once they're set up they're very stable products.

What I personally think is with the iPECS you're getting a system where you can pretty-much set and forget, you don't have a server to manage or anything and it works very well once configured. Changing your Auto Attendant is as simple as a few keypresses on the attendant phone and you're easily able to transfer calls, park, place on hold etc (yes, you can do this with Asterisk too).

But here is the thing - with the iPECS you're getting hardware designed for this purpose. Lets face it, you're not going to really touch your phone system when it is installed and if you're adding another layer of complexity to it then you're really just asking for trouble especially in an environment like this.

What I feel that is really needed is a phone system with support for extension mobility (like some of the Cisco ones), it is not worth cheaping out on a phone system at all and make sure you go VoIP for your outbound lines. The beauty of the iPECS is it is modular meaning you can upgrade it in the future and teach it more tricks and is very easy to manage. Don't overcomplicate something that is running your business, you're best to get something as stable as anything that has one task.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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