Mitel 3300 versus Asterisk

[bgibsonin]

We are competing with a Asterisk Vendor for a sale versus the 3300. I am looking for any input on important features/functionality at the Controller or Phone Level to help compete against the Asterisk from someone who has experience with both.

I know the Asterisk is not a "main stream" solution, but there seems to be quite a bit of interest in it. The customer is planning on implementing one for a 31 location School System. Any Silver Bullets by someone who has worked with both would be greatly appreciated, especially those realted to multi-site functions.

Thanks,

Brett Gibson
Gibson Teldata, Inc.

 

[MitelTech]

Features. Sure with Asterisk you get transfer, conference and what not. With a 3300 you get 500+ features out of the box. Asterisk doing multicall keys yet? Message Waiting Indicator keys? There are so many little things that a 3300 will do that any SIP system won't. How about ACD? Doubt you can get that with Asterisk. Asterisk has it's place, but in a full blown business, no. I do have a customer that has integrated his 3300 via SIP trunking to an Asterisk box. It was their way of not buying YA/Teleworker and having people work remotely with soft phones. Works for them, but now that YA works over Teleworker they're thinking about scraping the whole setup and moving on to YA.

 

[TheMitelGuy]

Have the customer ask you and the comptition where they can go for support if you or the Asterisks dealer was to go out of business. I find that helps! (never back-fired yet!) Ya, I have to show them my competitors that sell Mitel, but when your down to the wire, Asterisks dealers are few and far between. There's always a Mitel dealer somewhere...

 

[pipil2]

Hello all,
this topic is always interesting especially when opensource products are degrade it against brandnames products, let me tell you one thing, asterisk is becoming the number one VOIP software you have suport from digium and other corporations 24/7/365.. is a myth that open source software have a lack of support..not anymore if you are an windows fan, that why you think like that...We have have a SX-2000 that don't have the capability to do waht a call center would like to have..Im preparing a design for the company I work for to start this project...we had a quote form a mitel venndor for the ACD system they said it will cost around 10k my solution will cost around 2500 IP telephones included and Digium support for technical help...asterisk is a super power application built by thounsands if people and thats why has anything you can think of....good luck

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

Something like Asterisk may be an ideal and cost-effective lashup for a very small (fewer than 10) users, i.e., someplace where a simple KEY SYSTEM would suffice. However, in any "business" the customer will want and need business features and a business class phone system.

Is it a hobby or a business?

 

[TheMitelGuy]

Please turn to the Yellow Pages and find me a Asterisk dealer - oh wait, there aren't any (not a word of a lie). Now look for a Mitel, or Nortel, or Avaya, or (ahck) Crisco - oh look 30 of them.

Mitel has award winning ACD. I wouldn't put my business behind an Asterisks, little own a Caller Centre.

Asterisks has it's uses, granted, but it is far from being another contender in the office IP-PBX market. We have removed two Asterisks system for Mitel in the last six months because the customers could not find any support, nor could they get it to do the basic stuff that everyone has come to expect from a key system, PBX or IP-PBX.

 

[pipil2]

This post could be a never ending story, one thing a can tell you....ASTERISK WILL BE THE GLOBAL VOIP SYSTEM(ask vonage what is running behind the curtains) the good thing about ASTERISK is that is open and free...I will post some feed back when I get my Project completed..by the way..We just have a quote from mitel for a ACD for 5 agents and one supervisor it's 10kdls not adding the 61xx ipappliance...with asterisk will cost us about 3k with the best IP fones around...waht a difference..don't you think?

 

[paterson]

Most of the time....... You get what you pay for!


Free isn't always a good thing.


**************************************
My Biggest problem is that I almost always believe what I tell myself.

 

[Mitelpassion]

at the risk of turning this into a mudslinging, pro this con that match, here are my thoughts...

pipil2 makes this statement: ASTERISK WILL BE THE GLOBAL VOIP SYSTEM. - can you define this statement? Here's my take on it:
Will be? Mitel is!
Global? Mitel is!
VOIP? Mitel does!
Your statement in my view is missing two key components:
Features - Mitel rocks, like someone said 500+
Pbx solution - This is Mitel's focus. Today as a PBX manufacturer/designer, giving dial tone is just not enough anymore. If it is, sell them a walky talky.

There's often a sense of sensationalism whenever something that used to cost money is suddenly free. So people will obviously back it and rant a rave about the product. Nothing wrong with that. I mean passionate people are involved here and they're doing good things.

I have decided not to put all my thoughts cause I would score a 100 for longest SA but would fail dismally at saving my fingers!

so in short then. Take away the cost factor. Would you go Mitel - Avaya - Siemens or Asterisk or whatever brand? make a list in preferencial order, then look at the price tag. Can you afford your first option, if so then buy it if not then look at the second cheapest and so forth until you can finally find the one you can afford. Now look at what you're getting right there and then, not what they offer in future, what they offer now. Are you getting what you want then great you're in the pound seats. If not well look at which does offer you what you want. Can you afford it? if not then make a list of what you are willing to sacrifice. go throught the list until what you want and what you can afford tie up and wholai...

if the above method doesn't work for you then I suggest the tin can and piece of string method, works great! o and by the way you're business aint doin too great either!

so bgibsonin you wanted to know Mitel vs Asterisk. IMHO right here and right now Mitel will kick some serious ass!

again only an opinion not gospel guys don't attack me personally. feel free to attack what I said should you feel the urge....

 

[busster]

I believe that the best thing you can do is get involved in the Asterisk project. Learn about it strengths and weaknesses, then you can tell the customer you can provide an Asterisk solution, but based on your application, Mitel or whatever is a better solution because of x, y and z. Right now for consistancy, voice quality, and service I believe a company would be hard pressed to choose an Asterisk solution unless they plan to have a tech on staff who knows the product inside and out. Just go to the Asterisk or Trixbox forums and read the issues people are having interfacing with different hardware and service providers. Not pretty but pretty discouraging.

 

[cwc3]

mitel is the mazaratti of phone systems!!

 

[TheMitelGuy]

More like the Toyota Carmy. Not bad looking, not many issues, priced right, good customer service from the manufacture.

 

[T8keiteasy]

Chaps, the fight is interresting the ideas poor...
I'm a MITEL guy, and I don't know a thing about Asterisk..

I believed I wanted to learn why people coulf choose one or another of the two...and I'm afraid to say I didn't learn more...
I'd like to hear experiences to be aware of choosing Asterisk upon MITEL (perhaps it's sometimes enough).
I understand that MITEL is a professionnal product but why wouldn't it be a good sutff using Asterisl if someone in the house knows it ?

Has anyone worked on the two systems and is able to compare what is best on the machines ???

Take it easy

Now, it's about French users too !!!

 

[busster]

Here are some of the problems I have heard as of late:

* Bridged appearances of sip phones on tdm, tdm on sip, and sip on sip can have issues.

* Busy lamp fields of sip phones

 

[TheMitelGuy]

Are you talking about Mitel phones in SIP mode?

 

[slapin]

Hey guys. I'm a member of Asterisk development group. I do have my own build of the Linux optimized for Asterisk. Asterisk is pretty powerfull system and in most cases you can figure out stuff is something is not working. It has ACD, beleive or not. It has VM system which you can tweak as you wouldn't beleave (sometimes management wants weired things). BUT for 1000+ everyday active users I'll go with MITEL. Why?
1. Reliable and inexpensive hardware (hardware itself)
2. VxWorks OS (the best system for realtime applications)
3. Interface modules for POTS,ISDN,... lines
4. G.729 compression, anyway you have to pay license fee
5. Bunch of other applications available for MITEL
6. Strated from V7.0 MITEL can be intergrated with any standard SIP system including Asterisk. I've got Asterisk as a frontend for complex IVR application.
7. New MITEL phones just perfect devices (the best as for me)
8. Support is very sensentive question (ask google, Asterisk is pretty popular)
9. MITEL has very good voice quality. It's not affected by CPU spikes (thanks vxWorks)

I can make this list much longer. If you need the system which you have to customize for your application - go with Asterisk. If you need just a phone system which will just work as expected - MITEL is your friend