atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Allworx Telephones & Systems Some observations on VOIP.

The problem I see is that Voip is the word in the industry. Good or Bad. As stated, most of the customers I have talked to don't understand what that means, they just know "everybody" is getting it and saving money. Sometimes you only get one shot in front of the prospective client, and if they already think they need Voip, they need Voip. If you spend you 5 minutes trashing Voip, you run the risk of appearing not to listen to their wants. I try to approach it from the hybrid model, showing the risk reduction> That doesn't always work either.

It is here to stay I think. Deal with it how you want. It's like having pneumonia and not going to the doctor. Ignoring it will most likely kill you in the end.

The other problem I see is there is no good place to get the education we need to properly install this stuff. At least not for me. I can't go back to college full time. Why don't one of you who are doing this and doing it well start giving classes for the TDM phone guy to learn the ip stuff as it relates to phone systems. We have looked at courses before, but I don't want to learn about windows, I want to know how to network stuff as it pertains to phone systems.

I always tell people I am a phone guy being dragged kicking and screaming into the computer world.

here's what iv'e experienced.....

Happy Voip Customer

Fortune 500 insurance company with 20 locations in NJ...pays us to run a totally new cat5e cable to every desk, installs totally new T1 for Voip, Installs totally seperate PoE switches & router. Plus new Polycom phone in at every desk. The new voip system NEVER comes into contact with their Data network.

ROI YES
Cheaper to Maintain Absolutley.


Unhappy VOIP Customer

Small business with 20 people hears about hype of Voip, Sleezy sales men from "New Rebadged Asterisk" company do impressive demo & tell small business owner it will work no problems over that cable modem, it will share the same cables & switches you currently have. 3 months after installation small business has same phones on desk as big company but is left frustrated that its not working to plan.

ROI Never
Cheaper to maintain?.....of course not, they end up spending way more.......


Look at the word Asterisk.......look at the last 4 letters........RISK................

WOW a lot of VOIP good and bad..

Aothing beats a digital phone system..

Deltron.
My background is Comdial/Vodavi. Since switching to Allworx, I have to say that Allworx (voip) is more reliable than any Tecom product ever was and is certainly as reliable as good quality TDM equipment like the Comdial MP5000. The anti-VOIP people will lose in the end! Packet switched over circuit switched is a huge advantage. I would never want to go back to TDM.

Wow this a is great thread and so representative of what a person hears out in the industry. I am accountant by training but phone and computer guy our of curiosity/necessity.

I configured and installed many computers both desktop and servers over the years. I also have my own Gopherpole, can wrench, butt set and know my way around a 66 block. I even have put in some twinax in my day.

If you want to know why VOIP systems are all the rage, I only have to look as far as the owner of our company. He goes to a meeting with other owners from our industry and hears about the great new VOIP system that someone just put in. That turns into one question to me - Are we going to put in a VOIP system when we replace our current system?

How do I even decipher the question much less distill an intelligent answer? I ended up giving him a 25 page bulleted presentation, starting with describing basic analog lines (2 cans and a string) all the way through PRI's and FTTP.

Then it was on to multi-line phones to PBX and VOIP.

I proceeded to explain that we had an existing, relatively new cable plant with separate home runs for both voice and data. Sadly, in a building built only 6 years ago, no one thought to spec running Cat5 or Cat5e for both the voice and data runs to provide some future proofing. Instead someone chose to save a few pennies a foot and run Cat3 for the voice. Doh!

I think by the end of the discussion he at least appreciated the time that it takes to stay current with the technology as well as the fact that I said a VOIP system may or may not be the right answer.

By the way did I mention our 7 locations and existing MPLS network?

Thanks again to everyone for sharing their perspectives.

You can tell who the data dicks are. They are the ones hammering VOIP, with little to no experience in telephony. They prey on the ignorant with three letter acronyms, that they don't even know what it means. The biggest lie in VOIP is that it is cheaper. You know why cisco sells VOIP. They don't have telephony experience to sell TDM sets, and their progaramming is a complete and utter joke. All They wantreally is to sell bigger switches and routers. Look at the cost of infrastructure. The Carpet baggers are out there saying see, my equipment is cheaper. Execept they conveiently forget about the cabling, POE switches and Routers necessary to support VOIP. It is the big lie in VOIP. The data predators are out there stealing all they can, and when they can't fix it, they dump it back on the Phone guy. Let's see, who should I buy? Avaya , NEC , Toshiba, Vodavi , etc that has been around many , many yeras, or should I buy a Talk Switch, allworx, Joe IP system. Look at the proliferation of thes scam IP Phone systems. It is totally buyer beware. The one thing that has not changed in my 35 years in the business has been , Computer dies bitch, Phone dies raise hell, and they lost XXX dollars. These Data dicks are in for a rude awakening.

Your skillset, apparently.

I'm the Moderator of this forum. I kept this thread open for discussion because I thought it generated some good ideas and good points about VOIP.

Using terms as "data dicks","carpet baggers", "data predators", "stealing"---is not the way good discussions are handled.

And there is no need for retaliation because your feelings get hurt.

I'm watching this thread very closely. PM'd members.