VoIP setup for small business

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1097 posts

Uber Geek

#1328133 19-Jun-2015 22:41

In a small office with 7 people you won't run into any issues with bandwidth. I had up to 8 concurrent calls over ADSL with a high quality codec until recently when fiber became available.

The only reason today to run an on-site PBX rather than host in the cloud is if you have a large site and need to be able to call internally in an internet outage/emergency; or if you have some unusual legacy requirements.
Great opportunity to get rid of a piece of equipment which can be costly to keep updated, configured, etc and just use something like 2talk hosted PBX.

Must haves:
- A good quality well sized UPS for the UFB equipment/router/POE switch
- PoE switch for powering the phones
- UFB ISP using VLAN tagging (see http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=174969 ) - Snap works well

Kordia also have some interesting offerings for small business now if you want a managed solution

kotuku4

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#1339237 8-Jul-2015 13:50

Hi
Any recommendations for someone to talk to for Small Business Voip setup in Blenheim?
The firm I work for currently have 10 lines and own PABX supplied through Cogent, and twenty or so Samsung handsets.
Paying around $550 per month with Chorus? And have UFB connection, not sure of details.

I would like to put together a case for change over to VOIP. I understand Cloud PABX options, but wonder if there is an option to use any of the existing hardware?

richms

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#1339239 8-Jul-2015 13:56

You need to detail more about your expectations on service first. Can you cope if your phones go out for half a day or would that be a major problem etc?

Richard rich.ms

muppet

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#1339252 8-Jul-2015 14:29

Voice Good. IP Good. Voice + IP = Great.

I am in Napier, have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to VOIP and am not in a position to try and sell you a business solution by posting on Geekzone.

Do not let me know if I can be of assistance.

Here is a copy of my eBook.

radicall

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Radicall

#1339254 8-Jul-2015 14:35

kotuku4: Hi
Any recommendations for someone to talk to for Small Business Voip setup in Blenheim?
The firm I work for currently have 10 lines and own PABX supplied through Cogent, and twenty or so Samsung handsets.
Paying around $550 per month with Chorus? And have UFB connection, not sure of details.

I would like to put together a case for change over to VOIP. I understand Cloud PABX options, but wonder if there is an option to use any of the existing hardware?

Hi There!

As with most technology geography is no longer a hindrance when it comes to implementing it. If a personal visit is required I am happy to jump on the plane and visit. We can serve customers from Northland to Southland, and do.

With regards to your question. Most PBX Systems in the last five yeas or so did come out with the capability to facilitate VoIP and SIP Trunking.

However the cost to do that would be much the same as with getting a Hosted Solution and adding new hardware. Especially with Samsung, it is a costly upgrade path.

There is an option to use Converters with the existing equipment but I would not recommend it, there are risks involved and the quality of calls can be irregular.

If you have a UFB Connection you should be looking at a Hosted Solution, all you would need is a POE Switch & VoIP Handsets, plug them in and everything else is provisioned and set up remotely.

You would need to check to make sure the wall jack for the Phones are a RJ45 Phone Jack.

I can put a proposal together for you, give me a call. I'd be happy to go though the options.

Cheers, Josko
0800 RADICALL
0800 723422

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kotuku4

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#1339263 8-Jul-2015 14:54

radicall:
kotuku4: Hi
Any recommendations for someone to talk to for Small Business Voip setup in Blenheim?
The firm I work for currently have 10 lines and own PABX supplied through Cogent, and twenty or so Samsung handsets.
Paying around $550 per month with Chorus? And have UFB connection, not sure of details.

I would like to put together a case for change over to VOIP. I understand Cloud PABX options, but wonder if there is an option to use any of the existing hardware?

Hi There!

As with most technology geography is no longer a hindrance when it comes to implementing it. If a personal visit is required I am happy to jump on the plane and visit. We can serve customers from Northland to Southland, and do.

With regards to your question. Most PBX Systems in the last five yeas or so did come out with the capability to facilitate VoIP and SIP Trunking.

However the cost to do that would be much the same as with getting a Hosted Solution and adding new hardware. Especially with Samsung, it is a costly upgrade path.

There is an option to use Converters with the existing equipment but I would not recommend it, there are risks involved and the quality of calls can be irregular.

If you have a UFB Connection you should be looking at a Hosted Solution, all you would need is a POE Switch & VoIP Handsets, plug them in and everything else is provisioned and set up remotely.

You would need to check to make sure the wall jack for the Phones are a RJ45 Phone Jack.

I can put a proposal together for you, give me a call. I'd be happy to go though the options.

Cheers, Josko
0800 RADICALL
0800 723422

Thanks for your reply. We are looking a reorganizing office space and upgrading cabling. Yes I would have thought it best to buy new handsets and go for a hosted solution. Just the inertia with large investment in the old system, change, uncertainty, rumors of issues with other businesses changing over. But if there is a good case, low cost setup and lower ongoing costs then there what is there to lose.

kotuku4

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#1339266 8-Jul-2015 14:56

richms: You need to detail more about your expectations on service first. Can you cope if your phones go out for half a day or would that be a major problem etc?

Hi No we can't cope well with phone outages, need a reliable service, excepting occasional power cuts.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

radicall

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Radicall

#1339276 8-Jul-2015 15:07

kotuku4:
radicall:
kotuku4: Hi
Any recommendations for someone to talk to for Small Business Voip setup in Blenheim?
The firm I work for currently have 10 lines and own PABX supplied through Cogent, and twenty or so Samsung handsets.
Paying around $550 per month with Chorus? And have UFB connection, not sure of details.

I would like to put together a case for change over to VOIP. I understand Cloud PABX options, but wonder if there is an option to use any of the existing hardware?

Hi There!

As with most technology geography is no longer a hindrance when it comes to implementing it. If a personal visit is required I am happy to jump on the plane and visit. We can serve customers from Northland to Southland, and do.

With regards to your question. Most PBX Systems in the last five yeas or so did come out with the capability to facilitate VoIP and SIP Trunking.

However the cost to do that would be much the same as with getting a Hosted Solution and adding new hardware. Especially with Samsung, it is a costly upgrade path.

There is an option to use Converters with the existing equipment but I would not recommend it, there are risks involved and the quality of calls can be irregular.

If you have a UFB Connection you should be looking at a Hosted Solution, all you would need is a POE Switch & VoIP Handsets, plug them in and everything else is provisioned and set up remotely.

You would need to check to make sure the wall jack for the Phones are a RJ45 Phone Jack.

I can put a proposal together for you, give me a call. I'd be happy to go though the options.

Cheers, Josko
0800 RADICALL
0800 723422

Thanks for your reply. We are looking a reorganizing office space and upgrading cabling. Yes I would have thought it best to buy new handsets and go for a hosted solution. Just the inertia with large investment in the old system, change, uncertainty, rumors of issues with other businesses changing over. But if there is a good case, low cost setup and lower ongoing costs then there what is there to lose.

No problem.

Yes, that would depend on how old the system is, the general rule is if it is Five years or more it probably has had its day, though I appreciate Small Business prefers to run the system into the ground and not change until absolutely necessary.

To build a case you need to do a proper analysis of the business requirements, no point in just getting a Hosted Solution, you need to know what the communication requirements are for now and in the future.

Id the workforce Mobile, do you have branches, do you have remote workers, what kind of conferencing functionality is required, so yes business of that siz need a business case.

If it is a simple voice communication requirement then a simple proposal might be enough of a business case.

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kotuku4

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#1339333 8-Jul-2015 15:58

Our existing system has a coding system to charge for toll calls/calls to mobile. Ie dial the number then enter four digit code for billing.
One users call recorded and billed separately, consultant works from our office space, sublease type of arrangement.

We are office based, some staff work away from the office during the day, but often have no cell coverage or very limited, certainly no mobile data.

No Branches.

The managers can link into the file server remotely, and we can log into Office 365 accounts from home.

No current conferencing system that I know of.

radicall

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Radicall

#1339782 9-Jul-2015 10:57

kotuku4: Our existing system has a coding system to charge for toll calls/calls to mobile. Ie dial the number then enter four digit code for billing.
One users call recorded and billed separately, consultant works from our office space, sublease type of arrangement.

We are office based, some staff work away from the office during the day, but often have no cell coverage or very limited, certainly no mobile data.

No Branches.

The managers can link into the file server remotely, and we can log into Office 365 accounts from home.

No current conferencing system that I know of.

Sounds like a simple voice requirement.

How old is the Samsung?

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kotuku4

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#1340009 9-Jul-2015 14:10

Hi The current PABX looks fairly modern, but must be older than five years.

Really would like to know likely cost to set up a new hosted solution?
I understand there is the hardware VOIP handsets at around $150 a pop, and a POE switch, so we could budget $2500 for hardware.

Ongoing monthly cost is negligible, and call costs significantly reduced.

maverick

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WorldxChange

#1340016 9-Jul-2015 14:14

kotuku4:
richms: You need to detail more about your expectations on service first. Can you cope if your phones go out for half a day or would that be a major problem etc?

Hi No we can't cope well with phone outages, need a reliable service, excepting occasional power cuts.

A fine question, and not all VoIP offerings are created equal , the biggest issue in this market is the end to end support of any system, its not about about how good you are when its going , its about about good you are when its not.

VoIP deployments in NZ suffer from a lack of ownership , i have seen far to many fly by nights deployments that deploy a local system but have zero visibility into the end to end solution, any one can sell a local system but the trick and value comes from the ability to support it end to end, the ability to find quality and performance issues and pin point them quickly, than can include the access, SIP interoperability to the service provider, i have seen this on a number of occasions i.e when a firmware update is done and things stop working who is responsible to fixing that, that's also when the finger pointing starts happening, my suggestion is to find a service provider that can support an end to end VoIP deployment whether it be Hosted or IP PBX based model.

My two cents anyway, haven't been on my soapbox for a while , thought people may have missed it :)

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

radicall

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Radicall

#1340025 9-Jul-2015 14:30

kotuku4: Hi The current PABX looks fairly modern, but must be older than five years.

Really would like to know likely cost to set up a new hosted solution?
I understand there is the hardware VOIP handsets at around $150 a pop, and a POE switch, so we could budget $2500 for hardware.

Ongoing monthly cost is negligible, and call costs significantly reduced.

Thanks for the response.

The general rule would be that the savings you gain from having a VoIP Solution covers the Hosted Solution service fees.

So if you are paying $550/pm then to go to a fully hosted solution you would save about 50% but that would then go towards the service fees for the Hosted Phone System.

What we are really talking about is a change of technology, removing the onsite solution and the maintenance that comes with that to a fully supported hosted solution where the maintenance is included as part of the service fee.

Your calculation is out a little, at $150 per extension and a POE switch you are looking at about $4500. This can be financed, but you could also opt to go with ex-lease equipment for additional savings.

I would also suggest the $550 for 10 Lines might be a little out, not sure you are with Chorus either as they only deal with Telcos.

A full comparison and analysis of your bill would be best, this forms part of the proposal I can put together.

Happy to answer any other questions.

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johny99

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#1340026 9-Jul-2015 14:30

Completely agree with Maverick , point to note that those that delploy a solution with 2 talk in the mix can not provide complete end to end management, I believe the access 2 talk sell is a resold service from a particular ISP.

kotuku4

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#1340036 9-Jul-2015 14:48

Hi
Thanks to all the information.
Our current provider is Vodafone $550/month typical cost, existing hardware and wiring supplied by Cogent.

Revising the number of handsets to 20x$150 = $3000, plus POE switch $500?
Only 13 people in the office at the moment, but fax line (seldom used), meeting rooms, staff room, and spare.

Just trying to get a feel for the upfront and ongoing costs, to see if it is worth progressing to more detailed proposal.
Anyone been through the exercise and comment on costs?

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