Meridian Opt 11 to Mitel?? 3

[tellyteck1]

Hi, unfortunately it looks like my boss wants to use the mitel in conjunction with the option 11 to enable voip. I tried to stop it but couldnt get pricing from Bell for voip. Has anyone heard of this being done? I personally think its like putting a chevy engine in a honda. Any opinions?AJK

 

[johnpoole]

it can be done, but the boss must be getting a great price because he's buying trouble. i tried to get a meridian solution here for voip, but the hospital data people only know how to spell cisco.. and having been through the cisco call manager class, i couldn't tell the powers not to buy a product that is just as good or better then the cisco.. all you need for the mitel is pri between the two. i don't know but i would guess qsig.. my mitel experience can to a halt right after the 200 digital switch... mitel was and still is a great hotel/motel package..their super sets wern't all that super..

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[jneiberger]

This is interesting. Our company is researching IP telephony options and we're also a Meridian shop. One of the options we're looking at is the Option 11 + Mitel 3300 gateway idea. It seems that the limiting factor with this solution is Nortel's hideous implementation of QSIG. Do any of you know if the QSIG implementation in 3.0 or 4.0 is more complete than in previous releases?

 

[johnpoole]

yes without buying any extra pkg's you will have the option of any of the 3 basic "flavors" of qsig.. for voip i would look real close at cisco, most data geeks try to stay away from nortel voip because of the need to know the switch as well as data..

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[jneiberger]

We're looking at Nortel, Cisco, Avaya, and Mitel so far. Cisco has a nice solution but it is by far the most expensive and requires the most work of all the solutions.

Using a Mitel as a gateway looks like a good way to continue to make use of the Option 11 PBXs for the near-term. Our new sites would be all Mitel (or whoever we select, I suppose) with IP to the desktop.

Our data network is already VoIP-ready and we have the required routers and switches at our existing sites if we don't need to provide PoE. That's the big downside to Cisco's solution. Every site would have to get a PoE switch and new IP phones, and that gets expensive very quickly!

 

[johnpoole]

yes that is big money, that is why i wanted to stay with nortel, i can still use the tdm phones that i have in service, and add voip phones to the network for the new construction area's.. i don't think i'll ever get end users to agree to soft phones, although i wish i had one in the switch room... the data dept went cisco voip wireless, mostly because they only know data..and cisco

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[jneiberger]

Speaking of TDM phones, Mitel has a product they call CITELink that allows you to switch to their PBX but still use your Norstar or Meridian phones. Pretty slick.

 

[tellyteck1]

Hi John and jneilberger, I have been fundraising for ski jumping for the last couple of days (Canada wont fund any sports except medal winning-duh)so I havent had time to read this until now. John, when you said they were "buying trouble" did you mean that because of the limitations of the IT people it caused too many problems or is it the product? Why are they buying trouble? Do you recommend it? Where would I find information on the interconnection between Merdian and Mitel or does it just act as cisco would (run cable to dsx, cross connect to port on cisco). Would it tie into the Meridian or is it a separate entity? Also, I dont understand, if indeed it ties into the Meridian, how we are supposed to use Mitel phones (the boss wants this as the phones are cheaper than nortels i2004).This doesnt sound possible to me. I like the sound of CITELink. Any advice? The meeting with Mitel is this week. Thank you for your suggestions and help.AJK

 

[jneiberger]

If you want to use the "gateway" option and keep your existing PBX then the Mitel 3300 would connect to your PBX via PRI/QSIG. Calls that need to go out to the PSTN or leave via COTs will still use your PBX. Calls going to another of your sites would be handed off to the 3300 and get converted to an IP call.

Your existing TDM phones could stay connected to your PBX, or, if you want them to have new Mitel functionality instead, you can get the CITELink box.

In any case, if you buy new IP phones they will register directly to the Mitel 3300, as can any new Mitel TDM phones should you so choose.

Does that make sense? Hopefully, someone will correct me if I get any of these details wrong.

John

 

[iptuser]

We have connected a Nortel and Mitel several times using Q Sig. there is no big issues. the main one is to change the format of what the Nortel sends , normally you would set the D Channel as ESN5 if I remember but in this case set it to STD so the Nortel only sends the actual extension number and not the NCOS value as the Mitel reads it as a number. Also configure the Mitel to send all the digits at once so in the Mitel set up the digital before pulsing to the same as the number of digits you dial to get to the Nortel. Also there is a patch which needs to be installed do the Meridian so names are passed from the Mitel to the Nortel otherwise the Nortel will print out ERR5332- S/W PATCH 17158 ?at last it is on the UK. There is another patch is the Mitel is a Tandem. Also use the ISIGF ? On the Interface so to get other features

Wayne

 

[tellyteck1]

Wayne67, that is great information; thank you. You have cleared up many questions. Will changing the COS to STD and adding the patch drop the switch(will it need a reboot)? We have no redundancy. Also do you know where I can find a method of procedure? thanks so much.alana

 

[iptuser]

The change to STD prompt is done in LD 17 MSDL, look through the book or print out the config in ld21/22 ADAN for the d channel. The change to this will not need a reboot but the patch will


wayne

 

[tellyteck1]

Thank you so much Wayne.alana

 

[tellyteck1]

Hi Wayne67. I was thinking to get the patch put in on Friday night. Are you in the UK? If so, perhaps a different patch is required for NA. I am unsure as to how hardware wise hook the meridian to ie. the CITElink. I believe I would have to go off of one of the NLI's. What configuration would I need to do to the switch? Currently there is nothing connected to them. Am I correct? Also, currently the six pris for data are only hooked in through cisco so they will have to be taken off. The plan is evolving into meridian to CITElink, CITElink to Mitel, Mitel to Nokia. Would you mind showing me a printout of your config for the d channel? Thank you for so much information; its very helpful.AJK

 

[johnpoole]

the question on the patch, is yes the patch is needed and you need an ini, not a full restart.. several people here use and recogmend mitel voip.. i perfer nortel voip, and bt does market it.. we are installing a cisco solution here and except for price, it's a great product.. i have installed cisco and nortel voip and wireless voip.. i always perfer a single vendor... but with a nortel switch for tdm and qsig, you'll see intergration getting more common and less of a headache...5 years ago qsig was a keycode upgrade in the basic nortel package.. in my rls 3 all 3 flavors of qsig are on by default

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[tellyteck1]

Thank you John. I tried very hard to get the nortel solution as I am pro nortel. Unfortunately Bell here in Calgary did not respond in over 6 weeks of requesting information, hardware required or pricing. The boss got tired of waiting. Its sad to see that the outsourcing, at least around here, is going to hurt nortel even more. I dont like their stocks but I have always liked their products!AJK

 

[tellyteck1]

Hi John and Wayne67
I am unsure as to how hardware wise hook the meridian to ie. the CITElink. I believe I would have to go off of one of the NLI's. What configuration would I need to do to the switch? Currently there is nothing connected to them. Am I correct? Do I need an MSDL card? Would you mind showing me a printout of your config for the d channel? Thank you for so much information; its very helpful.AJK