VoIP - Nothing short of disappointing...

Forums › VoIP › VoIP - Nothing short of disappointing...

1 | 2 | 3

cokemaster

Exited
4927 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#633636 31-May-2012 19:20

nate:
chevrolux: I just swapped my parents to VoIP as Dad wanted cheaper tolls. Mum wouldn't have any of this 'internet phone nonsense' though. So we did it on the down low.

Good work on the sly!

With 2talk, its very important to realise that 111 may not work as expected. The call might not be connected, and even if it is - the location information is not transmitted to 111 services.

From 2talk FAQ

Q. Can I make 111 calls on 2talk?
A. 2talk do not support emergency calling. However if you do make a 111 call it will connect if possible. The operator will not know your physical location so you will need to provide this information to them.

It might not seem like a big deal but if people are not aware of this - it could be extremely dangerous as emergency services may not know where to go. I've seen quite a few posts on geekzone where people have swapped out their folks or friends POTS lines to 2talk - it is critical that they understand this limitation and have backups (such as cellphones or using their neighbours phones).

Other VoIP providers such as WorldxChange do provide this service. For me it was a big driver in shutting down my 2talk connection as it was better safe than sorry. I now use my POTS line for my voice and while it could suffer outages (power outages, cable cuts, exchange outages etc), if the 111 call connects - at least they will know where I am.

webhosting

Loose lips may sink ships - Be smart - Don't post internal/commercially sensitive or confidential information!

Grundignz

38 posts

Geek

#633756 31-May-2012 22:52

garvani: We are getting Hitech solutions in to do our voip implementation (trixbox pro over fibre), we could have attempted to slap something together ourselves but decided it would be better to have some phone professionals do it for us. A tech flew down 2 weeks ago and did a site survey, since then they have been configuring the server/phones etc and next week it all goes in. Not the cheapest as its costing $11k all up but do it once do it right!

It must be a pretty large install, i just did a quote for customer.

IBM System x 258232M 4U Mini-tower Server $750
Yeastar TDM410P 2fxo/2fxs fxs for factory ringer and lunch room and 2 fxo for incoming pots $250
10x Yealink t28P @ $205each
Cisco SF100D-08P 8 Ports Ethernet Switch - 8 x POE $200
And a few extra cables etc

Running FreePBX
I have done so many sever installs that it only takes me about an hour to get most basic setup done.

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#633820 1-Jun-2012 00:58

Emergency services ask for the address of the call and the phone number the person is calling from first. They do not assume the number=location.

cokemaster:
nate:
chevrolux: I just swapped my parents to VoIP as Dad wanted cheaper tolls. Mum wouldn't have any of this 'internet phone nonsense' though. So we did it on the down low.

Good work on the sly!

With 2talk, its very important to realise that 111 may not work as expected. The call might not be connected, and even if it is - the location information is not transmitted to 111 services.

From 2talk FAQ
Q. Can I make 111 calls on 2talk?
A. 2talk do not support emergency calling. However if you do make a 111 call it will connect if possible. The operator will not know your physical location so you will need to provide this information to them.

It might not seem like a big deal but if people are not aware of this - it could be extremely dangerous as emergency services may not know where to go. I've seen quite a few posts on geekzone where people have swapped out their folks or friends POTS lines to 2talk - it is critical that they understand this limitation and have backups (such as cellphones or using their neighbours phones).

Other VoIP providers such as WorldxChange do provide this service. For me it was a big driver in shutting down my 2talk connection as it was better safe than sorry. I now use my POTS line for my voice and while it could suffer outages (power outages, cable cuts, exchange outages etc), if the 111 call connects - at least they will know where I am.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#633845 1-Jun-2012 06:27

itxtme: Emergency services ask for the address of the call and the phone number the person is calling from first. They do not assume the number=location.

cokemaster:
nate:
chevrolux: I just swapped my parents to VoIP as Dad wanted cheaper tolls. Mum wouldn't have any of this 'internet phone nonsense' though. So we did it on the down low.

Good work on the sly!

With 2talk, its very important to realise that 111 may not work as expected. The call might not be connected, and even if it is - the location information is not transmitted to 111 services.

From 2talk FAQ
Q. Can I make 111 calls on 2talk?
A. 2talk do not support emergency calling. However if you do make a 111 call it will connect if possible. The operator will not know your physical location so you will need to provide this information to them.

It might not seem like a big deal but if people are not aware of this - it could be extremely dangerous as emergency services may not know where to go. I've seen quite a few posts on geekzone where people have swapped out their folks or friends POTS lines to 2talk - it is critical that they understand this limitation and have backups (such as cellphones or using their neighbours phones).

Other VoIP providers such as WorldxChange do provide this service. For me it was a big driver in shutting down my 2talk connection as it was better safe than sorry. I now use my POTS line for my voice and while it could suffer outages (power outages, cable cuts, exchange outages etc), if the 111 call connects - at least they will know where I am.

And what happens during a no speech call when you're unable to give your details or are panicking? These types of calls are very, very common.

For a landline 111 call they do assume the number = the location, and have access to a database to confirm the address.

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#633939 1-Jun-2012 10:16

sbiddle:
itxtme: Emergency services ask for the address of the call and the phone number the person is calling from first. They do not assume the number=location.

cokemaster:
nate:
chevrolux: I just swapped my parents to VoIP as Dad wanted cheaper tolls. Mum wouldn't have any of this 'internet phone nonsense' though. So we did it on the down low.

Good work on the sly!

With 2talk, its very important to realise that 111 may not work as expected. The call might not be connected, and even if it is - the location information is not transmitted to 111 services.

From 2talk FAQ
Q. Can I make 111 calls on 2talk?
A. 2talk do not support emergency calling. However if you do make a 111 call it will connect if possible. The operator will not know your physical location so you will need to provide this information to them.

It might not seem like a big deal but if people are not aware of this - it could be extremely dangerous as emergency services may not know where to go. I've seen quite a few posts on geekzone where people have swapped out their folks or friends POTS lines to 2talk - it is critical that they understand this limitation and have backups (such as cellphones or using their neighbours phones).

Other VoIP providers such as WorldxChange do provide this service. For me it was a big driver in shutting down my 2talk connection as it was better safe than sorry. I now use my POTS line for my voice and while it could suffer outages (power outages, cable cuts, exchange outages etc), if the 111 call connects - at least they will know where I am.

And what happens during a no speech call when you're unable to give your details or are panicking? These types of calls are very, very common.

For a landline 111 call they do assume the number = the location, and have access to a database to confirm the address.

In the emergency industry I work in the script goes Call answered -> "What is the exact address of your emergency", followed by "Can I confirm the address" -> "Can I confirm the number you are calling from". Before the problem is assessed. Often calls come in from other addresses, from other citys even. I can tell you for a fact they do not assume it is correct - but now we are going way off topic..

TechSol

299 posts

Ultimate Geek

Technical Solutions Aust

#634057 1-Jun-2012 12:07

nate:
Evilg: 9 x Granstream GXP2000 SIP phones.

I applaud you for this alone. Grandstream are the devil and we could never get them to run without nightly reboots :/

/shrug what can I say? I've never had trouble with this particular model.... haven't tried any other Grandstreams though.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#634169 1-Jun-2012 14:31

Evilg:
nate:
Evilg: 9 x Granstream GXP2000 SIP phones.

I applaud you for this alone. Grandstream are the devil and we could never get them to run without nightly reboots :/

/shrug what can I say? I've never had trouble with this particular model.... haven't tried any other Grandstreams though.

Don't. Everything they make is very average.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#634177 1-Jun-2012 14:42

sbiddle:
Evilg:
nate:
Evilg: 9 x Granstream GXP2000 SIP phones.

I applaud you for this alone. Grandstream are the devil and we could never get them to run without nightly reboots :/

/shrug what can I say? I've never had trouble with this particular model.... haven't tried any other Grandstreams though.

Don't. Everything they make is very average.

I have to disagree entirely with what you said Steve, if they make things that are very average, then there has to be a hell of a lot of things that are worse. I'm yet to see them.

I love the dollar store analog phone inspired design that they had going on many models.

Richard rich.ms

nate

6473 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#634280 1-Jun-2012 16:41

richms: I have to disagree entirely with what you said Steve, if they make things that are very average, then there has to be a hell of a lot of things that are worse. I'm yet to see them.

I know of a whole shipment of GXP2000s that landed with no LAN port. Yup. Good QA right there.

I'd only install these for someone I hated. They are that bad. Your mileage obviously varies.

rphenix

985 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#634743 2-Jun-2012 17:48

nate:
richms: I have to disagree entirely with what you said Steve, if they make things that are very average, then there has to be a hell of a lot of things that are worse. I'm yet to see them.

I know of a whole shipment of GXP2000s that landed with no LAN port. Yup. Good QA right there.

I'd only install these for someone I hated. They are that bad. Your mileage obviously varies.

The budgetone were bloody awful as were the ata's. But to be honest the GXP2000's I've experienced worked quite well audio might not be say yealink quality but not bad either certainly not worth the investment in replacing them. The biggest thing was getting a good firmware version and knowing it inside out. The phones have been deployed for so long now the latest firmware is fine. I guess certain batches were worse than others?

garvani

1873 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#636740 6-Jun-2012 15:38

nate:
richms: I have to disagree entirely with what you said Steve, if they make things that are very average, then there has to be a hell of a lot of things that are worse. I'm yet to see them.

I know of a whole shipment of GXP2000s that landed with no LAN port. Yup. Good QA right there.

I'd only install these for someone I hated. They are that bad. Your mileage obviously varies.

Oh no, our phones from Hitech arrived today, Grandstream GXP2110... Don't have warm fluffy's about them already but we will see.

webwat

2036 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#636958 6-Jun-2012 21:04

Zeon: You need a VOIP PBX. What has been setup for you is in all honesty possibly the most retarded way of setting up a phone system for an office. I have had fantastic and very reliable results with Asterisk on Trixbox and PBX in aa Flash. We currently run around 50 users over 4 sites NZ wide on a single system in Auckland, never skipped a beat in the last 2 years.

+1

You are expecting to transfer calls between office extensions, and that has always been a good reason to get a PABX whether ISDN or VoIP. The difference with VoIP is that you have control traffic all the way to your handset/ATA/PABX instead of dumb handsets having call setup done at the exchange.

Since you have fibre already I would say VoIP has the potential to be superior if done right, while less connected businesses have to work within limitations you don't have. Also note that you can use a backup internet connection to give some redundancy if you have concerns about that.

I'm not a VoIP expert at all, but I would guess that VoIP control traffic needs a higher QoS setup on your router to get the priority it needs. QoS (quality of service) is pretty much minimum requirement to get VoIP working properly.

Anyone tried AstLinux or compared it with FreePBX? Must be time to test asterisk for myself...

Time to find a new industry!

1 | 2 | 3