[mmahmoud@irw.org]

We have a few telethons coming up next month and our phone system VoIP is really horrible. Does anyone or has anyone rented a phone system for a telethon. We're currently talking with CISCO to get a new 'perfect' phone system from them but due to negotiations we will not get it in time for our telethons.


What does jerry lewis do for the one MDA telethon he has every year haha!

[dstepp]

[quote=mmahmoud@irw.org;13080]We have a few telethons coming up next month and our phone system VoIP is really horrible. Does anyone or has anyone rented a phone system for a telethon. We're currently talking with CISCO to get a new 'perfect' phone system from them but due to negotiations we will not get it in time for our telethons.


I know this response is a little (or a lot) late to help with your phone rental question - hope you found a solution.

I am curious to know your experience with VoIP - especially with regard to call/voice quality and customer service if you are using a provider.

We installed a VoIP system last July that cost very little. We used our existing PBX and routed calls out through a gateway over a dedicated T1 to our provider who uses proprietary software to manage calls. The price is right - no equipment investment, free calling in the US and very cheap international rates. The problem has been consistent call quality issues: echos so bad the call has to be ended, choppy conversations, dropped calls. For the most part the provider blames it on the various carriers and their older equipment.

Just looking to hear anyone else's VoIP experiences and what kind of set up you have.

Thanks
DS

[cabrower]

We are running an internal voip system using Cisco 7940G phones that run over our network to an Asterisk PBX open source server. From there we signed up with paetech which costs us roughly 500$ a month for local and long distance for a 23 channel PRI line with 100 direct dial in numbers. The total system with all equipment and warranties was 28K for almost 100 phones. The system has been working for 2 years with no issues. We installed it ourselves. The biggest expense was the cisco phones which we wanted but there are other cheaper phones. We also support 24 analog phone lines in the building which are for fax machines, etc. If you need any information or help feel free to contact me. We also offer the service to other local schools to use our site for telethons since we have the ability to make 23 calls simultaneously.

Thanks,
Chris Brower, MCP, VCP
Network Architect
Salesianum School
cbrower@salesianum.org