How easy to install a PBX

OrangeDagger

We're looking to put a PBX system into our small office. We will need about 5 extensions initially up to a max of around 8 eventually.

We have 1 x eircom analog line, 2 x eircom ISDN lines installed. We have 10 DDI's with another telco that we will be transferring over to the 2 ISDN lines in the near future. In our previous premises we had 5 phones assigned extension numbers and 'hunting' on the line.

Eircom are quoting me €2k for a system which is far too expensive in terms of cost per user. If I were to buy the PBX system myself, what sort of system could I get for a reasonable price? I have seen mention of the Panasonic KX-TEA308E on boards before. Will this system do all that we need?

We have 5 or 6 NEC system phones. Will all system phones work on all PBXs?

How easy/difficult is it to install such a system and get it up and running?

Dummy

There was a free PBX app on the cover disk of PC World a while ago (or at least you could download from web). But I cannot find now.

Anyways, if like any business at the moment, you will be wanting to keep costs down. I did a quick google and came up with http://www.3cx.com/ip-pbx/ Now I have never used this but what I am saying is that you should investigate what is free out there.

Also, have a look at www.blueface.ie I do not work for these but I sing their praises to everyone. This is a smart way to keep costs down imo. But I think it comes into its own if you have a wireless or cable internet connection as opposed to copper wire.

Good luck.

r0qi4162fux9kg

OrangeDagger wrote: »

We're looking to put a PBX system into our small office. We will need about 5 extensions initially up to a max of around 8 eventually.

We have 1 x eircom analog line, 2 x eircom ISDN lines installed. We have 10 DDI's with another telco that we will be transferring over to the 2 ISDN lines in the near future. In our previous premises we had 5 phones assigned extension numbers and 'hunting' on the line.

Eircom are quoting me €2k for a system which is far too expensive in terms of cost per user. If I were to buy the PBX system myself, what sort of system could I get for a reasonable price? I have seen mention of the Panasonic KX-TEA308E on boards before. Will this system do all that we need?

We have 5 or 6 NEC system phones. Will all system phones work on all PBXs?

How easy/difficult is it to install such a system and get it up and running?

Have a look at these guys - www.talkswitch.com - they're specifically geared towards small businesses. We use one, very easy to set up and very feature rich.

If you have any specific questions about them ask away as I've probably asked them myself already!

S

FusionNet

The 308 wont handle ISDN lines so its no good to you. Its analogue only. Im a great fan of the 308 as its simple and reliable but in your situation its useless.

2K from eircom is probably not over the top but I would not buy from them. they have a terrible reputation for maintenance and long call out waits. You'd be better off going to a private company. I myself am a Toshiba authorised installer but I would recommend for your situation maybe call these guys http://www.digitalvoiceanddata.ie/index.html They are really good techies and travel trhoughout Ireland. If they cant help you or they think they'll be too expensive they'll the straight up about it. Ask for Ken or Kevin and tell em Fusion sent ya they might give you a better deal...!!!

As for doing it yourself Im not sure. PBX's can be an absolute pain to work with trust me but at least as an installer we have tech support back up and most of all training. I know someone who was in a similar situation to you recently and it cost them a lot more in the end, just be careful...

Best of luck

OrangeDagger

Thanks for all the suggesstions so far. It looks to me like that Talkswitch will only handle analog lines as well.

We would probably only need 2 lines concurrently at any one time. Would it simplify things greatly if we were to downgrade the ISDN lines to standard lines and then get something like the 308? I've spoken to 5+ people in Eircom so far and nobody seems to have much of an idea on telephone systems. One of them told me I'd need to get 10 land lines installed for the 10 DDIs!!

I'm pretty unclear about where the number mapping, hunting etc. takes place. Is that something that eircom do on the line or is is something handled by the pbx? i.e. would 5 DDIs be mapped to line A and 5 to line B? Is there a limit to the number of DDIs that can be mapped to one line?

I've taken a provisional look at trixbox. We have a couple of spare servers that we could use for it. If we bought an ISDN card (I've seen Sangoma cards seem to be recommended everywhere), what level of setup work and degree of maintenance would be required? Is there different PBX software that is simpler(flashpbx etc.)? I'd comfortably take on anything computing wise but the world of PBX systems seems still to be quite an arcane one.

Also, with regard to the NEC system phones we already have would they be compatible with most other systems? If we have to by 5 or 6 new phones this would obviously add a lot to the cost of any solution.

roryq

FusionNet wrote: »

The 308 wont handle ISDN lines so its no good to you. Its analogue only. Im a great fan of the 308 as its simple and reliable but in your situation its useless.

2K from eircom is probably not over the top but I would not buy from them. they have a terrible reputation for maintenance and long call out waits. You'd be better off going to a private company. I myself am a Toshiba authorised installer but I would recommend for your situation maybe call these guys http://www.digitalvoiceanddata.ie/index.html They are really good techies and travel trhoughout Ireland. If they cant help you or they think they'll be too expensive they'll the straight up about it. Ask for Ken or Kevin and tell em Fusion sent ya they might give you a better deal...!!!

As for doing it yourself Im not sure. PBX's can be an absolute pain to work with trust me but at least as an installer we have tech support back up and most of all training. I know someone who was in a similar situation to you recently and it cost them a lot more in the end, just be careful...

Best of luck

I've worked with these guys on a number of PBX installs for the Hotel Industry and I can say they are one of the best installers out there.

FusionNet

I agree Rory,

We work with them now as we are one of the only dedicated cable installers in Kerry and we pass work back and forth. I can honestly say they are as crazy about neatness and doing things right as I am so its great to work with them. Pity I wasnt around while some of these hotels were wiring they are a disgrace...

As for the ISDN Downgrade.. Which ISDN box do you have, an NT1 box or the Eircom plug and play..?? Cause if its the latter you wont need to downgrade to make it work with an analogue PBX, sorry I meant to say that before...

OrangeDagger

The 2 ISDN boxes are small cream colured boxes with 2 rj45 ports and 1 rj11 sized port. When I did a google search for the plug and play device it didn't look like that.

Are the digital Panasonic boxes as easy to use. I see they're a good bit more expensive but would still work out a lot cheaper than eircom were charging.

I forgot to mention that they also quoted for a maintenance contract which was €320+ per year.

NullZer0

Trixbox :-D

OrangeDagger

I'm thinking of downloading trixbox and giving it a go. I have a spare dell server so if I install trixbox on that and then buy a this card for the ISDN, is that all I need to start testing it?

Also, I know you have to buy cards to interact with the eircom lines but in terms of internal routing do I simply connect the server's standard ethernet port to a switch and then connect some VOIP phones to the switch?

Also, we got the eircom lines installed last week, when I plug a NEC system phone in, the display flickers but there is no dial tone. Does it normally take a while for the lines to be fully activated?

roryq

Have a look at the below post it about the installing trixbox and the BRI cards

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055841427

Theta

Dummy wrote: »

There was a free PBX app on the cover disk of PC World a while ago (or at least you could download from web). But I cannot find now.

It was most likely http://www.asterisk.org/

It is supposed to be excellent.

OrangeDagger

I was getting enthuasiastic about setting up an asterisk/trixbox/pbxinaflash system but I came across some articles on security etc last night which scared me a bit. How real are the security risks? My understanding from the article was that people could exploit holes in your system to effectively dial-in and start using your phone service. I read reports of $50,000 bills etc. online.

Could getting into this turn into a maintenance nightmare given that I'd effectively be doing this in spare time as I have my day to day job to do for the company as well? i.e. Am I asking for trouble???

brianwalshcork

Orange Dagger,

I wouldn't recommend taking this on yourself - unless you've got lot's of small offices where you can benefit from economies of scale, installing, and managing your own PBX is just going to suck up your time.
PBX setup & management is an easy, clean thing to outsource.

On the face of it, telephone systems are simple, pick up the receiver and dial a number. The PBX companies have done a good job of hiding the complexities from the end user.

Take my advice with a pince of salt though - I chickened out of installing and managing my own PBX!

Having said that - if you do decide to go ahead, I will envy the freedom that you will have when you've got full control over your own system & don't have to pay (massively overpriced) annual maintenance charges!

So, I'd say that if you've got time to kill, go for it.

Brian