Good book on VOIP?

[Vinko]

I guess not strictly electrical, but I wanted to learn about VOIP. I'm going to need a new phone system at some point, and they all seem so ****** expensive. And somewhat complicated for the layman. And full of "salesman" who seem to be like used-car salesmen.

Anyway, I wonder if anyone's read a good beginners book on VOIP? There's a few listings on Amazon. I guess just picking one couldn't hurt.

I'm not even sure what I need. I've got a small room with equipment going back at least 30-40 years, I'd reckon. My voice mail is screwed up, phone doesn't always answer. A mess. But who's got 20K in this economy?

I've got about 15-20 lines, voice, fax, data, security, fire, I think.

I'm putting in, little by little, a new computer network. ANd I want to leave my options open for VOIP. Maybe one of those T-1 lines, though I hear the dedicates lines are super expensive.

I'm just thinking aloud here. Maybe someone can recommend a network admin type forum where I can start reading some info, be it complicated or not.

Thanks

 

[ForceFed70]

VOIP is not something for a beginner.

Unless you are connecting buildings, etc you still have to pay for your incoming lines/numbers. You will likely need to upgrade your networking equipment, etc.

For your scale, I just can't see it being viable.

 

[gatchel]

This may be helpful or something for you to tinker with and maybe even build a system upon:

http://www.asterisk.org/

 

[Vinko]

VOIP is not something for a beginner.

Unless you are connecting buildings, etc you still have to pay for your incoming lines/numbers. You will likely need to upgrade your networking equipment, etc.

For your scale, I just can't see it being viable.

It may not be something for a beginner, but I do intend to try to understand it

Yes, I've had someone spec out what networking equipment I would need (I have to do major upgrades anyway), so wanted to leave the door open for the possibility.

According to a few old friends who are in the networking game (and stand to make no profit from me), they thought, after looking over my set up and needs, that VOIP might be a good solution.

As I understand it (and I might not understand it at all ), VOIP can be as simple as a little box you plug in to your phone to systems set up in skyscrapers.

But what do I know? I'll get some more specifics from those in the know and report back

 

[jdoering]

As I understand it (and I might not understand it at all ), VOIP can be as simple as a little box you plug in to your phone to systems set up in skyscrapers.

I think you got that about right. The asterisk reference above will definitely put you in the direction of understanding what's going on as opposed to just buying into sales pitches for systems that are over your head. It might be exactly what you want to learn or way more than you ever wanted to know. Only one way to find out.

I think picking up some highly rated intro books from Amazon is a good call too. I haven't read and can't suggest any; but unless you know a lot on the tech side already I don't think it can hurt for a topic that will probably get geeky fast.

-Jeff

 

[mrb]

sent you a PM

 

[ket-tek]

Unfortunately everyone and their brother has a deal and a system out there now, with used car salesman to pitch it and sign you up on some long contract that's super cheap the first year and outrageous after that. If you can set it up yourself the services can be had extremely cheap from many sources other than directly from you typical local telco/cable/isp providers.

What are you paying a month for 15-20 lines now? Probably a ton, so from a cost perspective it could most certainly be a logical financial solution.

T1 and other tiered fixed services are very expensive, the T1 at our office is $800+ a month.

Don't know of any books off hand, but google is always there for ya. Just need some extra time, and books are generally behind the times a bit once they get to print. Good to understand the concepts, but probably not for what's current for services and products.

 

[LEVE]

Another thing to remember is that the minute you engineer/buy/install a system it's out of date. Be prepared for sticker shock and support problems.

 

[harryhood]

VOIP really only makes sense for organizations that are using a lot of inter-organizational communications. For example a company with 2 or more separate locations all connected with dedicated connections (ie T1, T3, etc..) Using VOIP in this type of scenario saves real $ in eliminating standard analog phone bills by using the existing network connection.

Monthly charges for a dedicated T1 line are about $1000. and T1 is only ~1.5 Mbps. You can get better than from cable internet for under $100. Unless you need the security of a dedicated connection and/or are connecting separate locations it's hard to justify the price.

 

[rhastings80]

I would check out http://www.shoretel.com/ they sell small to medium sized IP phone solutions.

 

[mrb]

fortunately Vinko is in Los Angeles where T1s can be had for a couple hundred bucks.

cable internet never seems to work well with voip (mainly due to jitter on the cable networks) -im taking about trunk for pbx here not vonage at your house

dry loop dsl dedicated to the voip pbx for smaller systems where the concurrent call volume isnt going to exceed the upload speed, or T1 for larger systems works well.

 

[4RunrFTW]

I'll second the ShoreTel comment. There are some front-ends for asterisk now, but for the ease of use, management, and installation I'd vote ShoreTel as well.

 

[noisufnoc]

I use trixbox myself.

 

[accardmi]

Monthly prices for a T1 line have not been $1000/month for several years. A going rate for a voice T1 or PRI is about $300-$400/month.

VOIP really only makes sense for organizations that are using a lot of inter-organizational communications. For example a company with 2 or more separate locations all connected with dedicated connections (ie T1, T3, etc..) Using VOIP in this type of scenario saves real $ in eliminating standard analog phone bills by using the existing network connection.

Monthly charges for a dedicated T1 line are about $1000. and T1 is only ~1.5 Mbps. You can get better than from cable internet for under $100. Unless you need the security of a dedicated connection and/or are connecting separate locations it's hard to justify the price.

 

[accardmi]

Shoretel is good, however, it will be more expensive than an asterisk based pbx. Trixbox is great, they have a free version and a paid version. The nice thing about the free version is that if you get in over your head you can pay for support as needed.

As far as learning voip, I don't have a specific suggestion, however, you can find enough information online that you don't have to purchase a book.

Although VOIP can be complicated, if you just spend some time researching and playing around, it is possible to setup your own inexpensive voip system.

I use trixbox myself.

 

[harryhood]

Monthly prices for a T1 line have not been $1000/month for several years. A going rate for a voice T1 or PRI is about $300-$400/month.

it's $1000/month where I work. Of course we out in the boonies.

 

[Vinko]

fortunately Vinko is in Los Angeles where T1s can be had for a couple hundred bucks.

cable internet never seems to work well with voip (mainly due to jitter on the cable networks) -im taking about trunk for pbx here not vonage at your house

dry loop dsl dedicated to the voip pbx for smaller systems where the concurrent call volume isnt going to exceed the upload speed, or T1 for larger systems works well.

I'm using DSL right now, and I've 6 blocks a central office. What I've been told by locals for T-1 is that dedicated is more expensive than shared, right?

I was told to compare the costs and benefits between T-1 and T-3.

I have to admit that on occasion, I found downloading some info or viewing on-line content can be a little slow. But not always. I wonder if it is on the providers end. Again, I don't know enough to know about it. But I do know that on occasion, it would be worth the cost to me not to have to wait. On other occasions, it wouldn't be something I'd need to pay for.

I do know that many businesses I talk to that have traditional PBX's with say 6-12 lines feel like they're getting screwed, if not on a montly price then on performance and service costs.

I think I pay $500 /mo right now for everything on my bill.

But I've got people saying that calls aren't going to voice mail on various extensions. One or two of these people I wouldn't believe. But when enough says it, I find the claims to be more believable.

ALso, my voice mail isn't showing up til hours later. I'm having to reset the system (flipping a switch, etc).

I'm using Toshiba phones and a Strada system. I don't know what any of that means. And ATT. But a local service for other stuff. It's more complicated than I'd like as well. And I don't know how to do anything with it. I think it's been patched up over the years.

 

[MustangRick]

You have a lot of options when replacing a PBX. The simpliest solution for you would be to find a system that can go in place of your existing system so you can keep your existing phones. Generally, voicemail and the actual PBX are seperate systems and most can work together, there are interoperability issues when it comes to vmail alerts. The easiset and cheapest solution would be go find a used Partner system from someone that upgraded. Hire (temp) the tech from the guy you are buying it from to install it and get it going for you. You may be able to get this done for less then $1k and have a professional phone system and have access to someone that can support it for you.

When it comes to VoIP, you are sharing your network between voice and data. Voice traffic does not play well with others, any congestion will cause poor call quality (think bad cell phone coverage.) Your voice connection to the outside world and your data connection are two different things. There is so much competition in this area that you should be able to find a low priced ethernet connection cheaper then you can find T1 connections for data. Keep a couple of lines for your security and fax. Do not try to hook that up to your new system. VoIP and fax do not work well together and it takes a ton of experience/luck to get them to play well. Your security line should be seperate no matter what.

Check out the local community college to see what classes they have for VoIP. More then likely it will only be Cisco, but you may be able to find some student there that needs help paying his tuition and could assist. You may also stumble across someone that is ripping out a perfectly old system to install a new one.

I don't know what line of business your are in, but if you can do some reading and install a VoIP system by your self... then you should definitely consider doing VoIP installs! Make sure you know what PBX you are going to install before you buy your network gear. If you intend to use VoIP phones, you may want switches that have POE, otherwise you will have to buy power bricks to power the phones.

What kind of network do you currently have and wanting to install? Plus what kind of data does your network have on it? If you are pulling down 300MB CAD files, your VoIP is going to have issues unless you have enterprise class switches so that they can properly manage the data an voice. If you just do small spreadsheets and email, you may be able to get buy on cheap netgear switches.