I am seeking to either upgrade or replace my existing phone systems. I have 2 Merlin Legend Release 4.1 systems in separate facilities about 2.5 miles apart. Each location supports 25-30 phones but only the main location has a receptionist. We receive all calls at the main location and transfer calls to the other site over tie lines. We also have some off-premise extensions in place to support paging. The tie lines and OPX lines are supplied by a couple of multiplexers that I've attached to either end of a P-P T1.

One of my systems is beat. It's been exposed to widely varying temerature ranges, excessive dirt, faulty power...I don't think it's gotten toooo wet, you get the idea. Last legs is probably a generous assessment.

Because of the age of the systems, and the fact that it never really worked right, I went shopping. Having been an AT&T/Lucent/Avaya customer for over 15 years, I started there. The rep who showed up wanted to sell me their OfficeIP system. "So fancy!", I thought as he did his presentation. But pricey, and I didn't get a real sense of comfort from this guy that he really wanted to solve my problems. Perhaps had he spent some more time understanding my situation, but he was focused on his product.

I called in a vendor for NEC systems. They sell other brands too, but the NEC's are their focus. They recommend a NEC Aspire system for their ability to network and give me centralized voice mail via a Vangard 4-port VMS.

Dollars are less important to me than a system works well. Though, for reference, anything over $40K is going to be an extremely tough sell. I'm looking for suggestions on a good solid set of phone systems that will network well and allow the separation between the buildings to disappear as far as using the phones goes. I don't care whether it uses VOIP or tradiontal methods. I just need a reliable, manageable solution.

Anybody got any ideas? [Linked Image from sundance-communications.com]