We are small company with a failing phone system. We are currently moving and have no plans to move this dinosaur. We are a self supported start up without a lot of available cash. We have approximately 15 users in a single location and 3 remote users. Bandwidth is not an issue. Does a Virtual PBX sound like a good fit? If so what are most people using? I see virtualpbx.com and ringcentral all over the place. We need to keep start-up costs around 2K.

Many Thanks!

Hosted services are 1 way to go, but you should also give strong consideration to the hybrid IP/TDM systems on the market. No matter which system you select, the trick is getting a local installer who has been properly trained and is proficient with the product.

I "FEATURE 00"

For that money you better look at building your own asterisk server.

Attempting to cut costs/corners & do the task yourself will soon turn out to be a false economy.
(think how much will a days loss of service cost your business, both financially & in reputation with your customers?)

Look to a well supported system with a competent supplier/maintainer.

Avaya IP Office is good & not expensive, Mitel, Samsung, Ericsson & others all have systems that should be able to fit this roll

A Maintenance contract is essential, not a Luxury.
Do things on the cheap & it will cost you dear

Look at the Emetrotel UCx, everything you need for a very reasonable price!

I would look at the Cisco UC320W. It has lots of benefits and is fairly reasonably priced.

Another option is to sign up with a SIP trunk provider and log into their system Centrex style.

I've done this successfully with Nortel 11xx and 12xx SIP phones and Cisco 79xx series SIP phones, although any SIP phone will work.

I did run into a few problems at my friends office because his bandwidth was ridiculously slow, but with a great internet connection you shouldnt have a problem.

Nortel SIP phones do have a trick though.....you have to disable their extended licensing feature. If you or anyone is interested, I can post the information here.

if you are not a techie ck out www.panasoniccloud.com

www.thetelephonemanonline.com

http://www.pbxcompare.com/ is a good site with comprehensive comparisons of all the major pbx companies and the features that they offer. Worth checking out being someone in your position imo.

have to pick up here where all the others left it and ask you.
You want to save money as you don't have a lot, that is a good thing because nobody wants to spend money like a drunken sailor.
BUT
do you need your phones to make money? Then don't go too cheap as it will get you exactly that a cheap solution that might cost you more at the end, look at leasing instead of buying and once paid off it is yours and no more paymens, hosted solutions are payd for until you stop using them and what is left is the memory of having had a phone on your desk.

jimbojimbo suggested to go with Asterisk which is a good and realiable solution if you have the resources to make it actually that. If you are a rookie with that then I would not want to be the one having to make it work again if something happens to it.

Dexman said it very nicely that the most important thing is an experienced installer and proper support as then it doesn't make a big difference what you install. Done right most systems on the market work even ones you never heard of can be of great value.

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS

Emetrotel, Emetrotel, Emetrotel, I can't talk enough about the good things with this Nortel alumni company using an IP PBX to run Nortel Unistim/SIP IP phones as well as other 3rd Party SIP devices........

Depending n your requirements you could also look into Lync with Audiocodes Mediant 1000 SBA.
I'd only recommend this if yo have a lot of MS stuff anyway, and would like the other stuff that goes with it (IM, Video to desk, VC etc). I wouldn't pay the expense for it just as a phone system.

Also look at Vertical Wave system. Dead easy to install and administer with a lot of features for your money (desktop and mobile clients, voicemail, IM etc).

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

http://alvechurchlounge.org.uk

i would go for a hosted solution that looks like it fits you the best no outlay on a piece of tin thats out of date in 2-3 years and disaster recovery built in

VoIP.ms Is a great inexpensive hosted solution. Peding what your firewall setup is, you could buy Nortel 1140e and 1120e sip sets (I think these are the best looking IP phones on the market and load the sip 2.2 free unlicensed sip firmware into the phones via free downloads from avayas website and log each one into VoIP.ms via username and password. The phones will function almost identically to being on a Nortel switch.

For all of you anti Nortel guys, Which seems to be plenty of people today ditching perfectly great working Nortel equiplent to go with Cisco because they are "cool", you can use Cisco, Polycom, lg, yea link, grandstream or virtually any sip phone on their platform.

Back to the Nortel sip phones, You can use later firmware editions, but
You need to modify the code so that the sip firmware looks for basic sip operating features, and disable the extended feature set of Avaya features.

One thing you must ask VoIP.ms
To activate is the call transfer feature. For some reason they leave transfer off until you request it.

Let me know if you have further questions!

Did you move with your dinosaur? Seems you did not respond to ALL the suggestions?

Mitel, Avaya, NEC, INDEX
www.vcs-sa.co.za

i am starting to think this hosted guy is just a troll lol

and if you are looking at low start up costs look at leasing a system

I am really loving my Emetrotel UCx50, I have it up and running alongside my BCM....definitely liking my BCM less and less, although its a work horse.

Joseph Sus-Nortel Installer/Programmer
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-sus/12/1a7/856