VoIP Providers - Impartial opinion please…

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blur

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Ultimate Geek
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#207240 15-Dec-2016 14:05

Hi there

We are looking to finally take the plunge and move our business from Spark, a physical PABX and ISDN to a VoIP provider utilising a virtual PABX.

The hardware is all pretty much of a muchness - but what I would like advice on is everyone's experience with the differing providers out there.

On the face of it, there are a couple of strong contenders. However their pricing seem quite different so I'd like people advice / experience with any providers they've chosen or used.

Thanks in advance!

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cisconz
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#1689394 15-Dec-2016 14:14

It all depends on the support you want.

As an example, 2Talk can become a Cloud PABX for you, however unless you go through a good re-seller, you will have almost 0 support.

What are your drivers to go to a Cloud PABX?

How many extensions are you after?

How many locations?

What kind of internet access is available at those locations?

**Disclaimer, The company I work for sells hosted and cloud PABX's, however I have not recommended that as a solution in this instance**

Hmmmm

blur

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Ultimate Geek
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#1689404 15-Dec-2016 14:26

these are excellent questions.

We are only one site, but we currently have the following:

4 x BRA ISDN lines

28 mobiles

6 x 0800 numbers

2 x business landlines

Currently the monthly bill for us is around 4k - 6k Incl. GST, depending on how busy the month is.

The advantages that I see VoIP for us are:

- Call forwarding

- Easily diverting calls for end users

- No capital expenditure on a PABX and maintainence (our PABX has just blown up)

- Call records easily accessed and call recording

What have I missed?

sbiddle

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#1689414 15-Dec-2016 14:37

What sort of phones do you plan to use?

cisconz

cisconz
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#1689445 15-Dec-2016 14:41

Looks to me that you have 2 options.

1 - 2Talk Direct (Would give you all the features at a cheap price, but lack support) or via reseller

2 - Vibe/Access4 (Broadsoft based Cloud PBX)

Hmmmm

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1689460 15-Dec-2016 14:45

sbiddle:

What sort of phones do you plan to use?

For the most part these would be just standard desk type phones. The reception would have the ususal console to direct calls etc. and there would be a need for 2 x cordless phones in a workshop area.

We also have the need for a "bell" so that when a call is put through to the workshop it can be heard as a standard phone will not be heard over the noise.

blur

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Ultimate Geek
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#1689466 15-Dec-2016 14:56

cisconz:

Looks to me that 2 have 2 options.

1 - 2Talk Direct (Would give you all the features at a cheap price, but lack support) or via reseller

2 - Vibe/Access4 (Broadsoft based Cloud PBX)

Thanks... Has anybody had any experience will Callnet at all?

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nzgman

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#1689471 15-Dec-2016 15:01

What area are you in as that would help for what options / providers are available to you.

Graham

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jnimmo

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#1689484 15-Dec-2016 15:27

That is a fairly lofty bill - I would recommend you get in touch with 2degrees Enterprise (formerly Snap). They have a range of SIP options included SIP Trunking or hosted PBX, and very good national connectivity.
Also think it is possible to get zero rated calling between the mobiles and SIP lines, PM me if you'd like someone to contact there.

Korida could be an option their rates surprised me when I looked at them a couple of years ago.

speed

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Ultimate Geek
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#1689485 15-Dec-2016 15:28

What city or town are you based in, blur?

blur

384 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1689491 15-Dec-2016 15:33

speed:

What city or town are you based in, blur?

Gisborne

kornflake

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Ultimate Geek
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#1689657 15-Dec-2016 17:59

Compass Communications and their cloudPBX or onsite IPPBX solution using the Vodia solution is extremely fantastic value, then again the guys at Vibe really know what they are doing, not that Compass don't for that matter. Your issue I guess is Gissy, is there much local support around if something were to go wrong on site? that said if you are using an end to end solution the provider can direct someone on the ground through rectifying the problem, try having 2 talk do that....

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chevrolux

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#1689674 15-Dec-2016 18:18

blur:

these are excellent questions.

We are only one site, but we currently have the following:

4 x BRA ISDN lines

28 mobiles

6 x 0800 numbers

2 x business landlines

Currently the monthly bill for us is around 4k - 6k Incl. GST, depending on how busy the month is.

The advantages that I see VoIP for us are:

- Call forwarding

- Easily diverting calls for end users

- No capital expenditure on a PABX and maintainence (our PABX has just blown up)

- Call records easily accessed and call recording

What have I missed?

How many actual seats are you after? Is that 28 mobiles the amount of people who would have a desk phone?

Personally I have never seen going "pure" 2talk as a very good option once you go past the 3-4 extension system. Unless you go through a reseller who has their own provisioning platform for devices, it becomes an extremely labour intensive exercise and ultimately just leads to mistakes being made as there is no truly central place to manage all the required settings to make things work nicely. Of course there are plenty of people who think different but I tend think they must just have too much spare time haha.

The other thing I would say is that there are many many people who are very used to their 'key phone system'. As in, "one-touch" blind transfers, line keys, hold keys etc. It becomes quite a big exercise to re-train staff to use their new Yealink IP phone (for arguments sake) for even the basic functions. Its something we as geeks don't really think about but when you put a flash new IP phone that doesnt have line keys in front of a 40-50 year old receptionist it becomes an issue. And I say this as someone in the business of IP phone systems and does the work myself on a daily basis so think I have a pretty good feel how people react to these things.

So here is what we do, we utilise the Samsung OfficeServ and the newly released Samsung SCM platform. It means we can give people SIP trunks, IP extensions and all the flash features but still retain some of that likeness to your old key-phone system as you still get a desk phone with a bunch of programmable buttons that do what people intuitively expect them to do. The OfficeServ system, in particular, consists of the actual on-site server (lets call it the PABX for now). Allows us to run analogue extensions, analogue/digital trunks as well as being fully "IP-ready". The baby OS7100 can have up to 32 IP extensions, 16 SIP trunk channels (as in 16 incoming/outgoing "lines") and also has support for the new Samsung WE VoIP app which is quite a cool add-on for the SMT6010 IP phones - there are some features in WE VoIP that other vendors simply aren't matching right now (as well as it working with the native android dialler, if you are an android user).

The thing we really like about this solution is we can deploy a 20 handset system in a day, have it connect to the existing analogue/ISDN trunks and then get all the background stuff happening for broadband and voice ports after the system is in and people have had a chance to get to grips with it. "Geeks" these days frown at our box because its not "cloud based". But we price our leases in such way that they compete very easily with cloud based solutions as well as giving maintenance for the full term for any hardware failures (like you are expriencing) so really we just don't see the massive benefit in moving to a cloud solution. Also means we can deploy on ADSL (if we have to, try to avoid like the plague!) as the only traffic heading offsite is that actual SIP trunk traffic which is rather minimal.

Just my thoughts =)

sbiddle

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#1689684 15-Dec-2016 19:02

2talk's hosted PBX platform also offers very limited ability to do anything with your phones in terms of provisioning BLF's etc, this all needs to be done manually. There are lots of people going around selling Yealink's on 2talk and they end up with a horrible system with core functionality that many people want such as call parking, overhead paging and so on that simply doesn't work.

Everything I deploy is customised buttons to suit customers and fully auto provisioned so it's easy to change - but then I've deployed quite a number of 100-200 phone setups so need to ensure everything can be changed and updated easily!

andymemo

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Wannabe Geek
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#1690854 16-Dec-2016 08:22

Hi Blur,

A friend brought this thread to my attention.

I am based in Gisborne and work for a national IT company. We have a small team in Gisborne and we provide businesses with IT services including telephony. I have deployed PBX from a couple of vendors that offer both physical and virtual formats of their systems, and we partner with 3 national companies to offer SIP trunking services - either managed through my employer or direct to the customer.

I'd be happy to discuss further with you if you would like to.... drop me a PM for contact details.

Regards,

Andy

darylblake

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#1705834 19-Jan-2017 15:15

Full Disclosure. I am from Vibe Communications & developed the Broadsoft Integration from Vibe's side.

We have officially launched Access4's Broadsoft platform at the end of last year as a PBX offering.

1) The Cloud PBX service is ran out of Auckland. With redundant SBC's in Sydney and Melbourne.

2) All phones are strictly Zero Touch Provisioned. (Supported Vendors only)

3) If you work for a vibe wholesaler you will already have access to the platform. We (Vibe) may need to provide training & sales material as part of the on-boarding process.

If you require more information about the product please feel free to contact us. We are able to provide references if required.

Thankyou.

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