Speaking as someone trying to get Shoretel working with Spark (and currently expecting a South Island outage), I'd go with.... not Spark.

i have done multiple setups using the yeastar S20 from snappernet

https://www.snappernet.co.nz/product/848/yeastar-s20-voip-pbx-for-up-to-20-users-10-concurrent-calls

also used the yealink t28 and t21 ip phones in a few places and they work great havent had a problem

all setup with 2 talk multiple lines and extensions and so on with ivr, once you get your head around it its really easy to setup your self and maintain, there are a few guides on the web that help with this and provisioning from the pbx is easy

blur:

 

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!

 

I would go with Spark's Voice Connect.  I've seen so many issues with el cheapo carriers like 2Talk, Solarix etc  that I would not recommend them.  You pay your money and you get what you pay for.  Don't blame your CPE vendor when it all turns to custard.. 

As a niche Telco you could also go with a carrier (shameless plug RADICALL) that uses a combination of these carriers that includes a Tier 1 Carrier so you leave redundancy and overflow to us to allow for competitive pricing and a much better service rather than waiting on the Customer Service Queues for 35 Minutes and I am being kind, to sort out any issues that arise as they inevitably do.

Come be radicall.

You can have 3CX (PBX) in the cloud or on-site and have 2Talk as your VoIP provider.

I've been using 3CX and 2talk for six years now and I find it a good combination. Since V15 of 3CX it can be installed on a dedicated desktop PC as it now runs on Debian OS rather than just windows.

Just there is also a 3CX mobile app which gives you the advantage of a softphone.

2talk also has a nice feature where in the event that your internet connection goes down or power loss you can txt a code from your mobile and the incoming calls can be automatically redirected to your mobile. :)

old3eyes:

 

blur:

 

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!

 

 

I would go with Spark's Voice Connect.  I've seen so many issues with el cheapo carriers like 2Talk, Solarix etc  that I would not recommend them.  You pay your money and you get what you pay for.  Don't blame your CPE vendor when it all turns to custard.. 

 

Hur. I was being rude about Spark *before* the whole-of-South-Island outages this week. They can DIAF.