atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Cisco Telephones and Systems The install finally begins - UC560

That's the kicker. I did research the vendor, I read online reviews, I talked to previous installation sites. I did everything I could to ensure things should go as planned. Then they sent me a tech that had never done an installation as complex as ours. No way I could have foreseen that.

As for the vendor, I have requested that a new tech be sent out when they come back on site. I am awaiting to see if they do it.

As for my installation.

The ATA187's recommended to replace the ATA186's are not supported by my platform. The vendor is in the process of trying to determine how they were recommended when they should have been flagged as not compatible. In other words they are looking for someone to blame.

I was told that I could possible "trick" my equipment into using these devices by telling them they are a different piece of equipment. But I am not going to do that, no way I am going to hack a bunch of stuff to make equipment work when I can find a know adapter that will work.

I have located some new ATA186's near me and will probably be picking them up on Monday. The vendor cannot order them anymore as they are no longer supported, or supplied by Cisco. There are a ton of posts on the Cisco site about this blunder. And no solution for the small business guy in sight.

On the plus side, I go some of the optional features all setup and working, things like the One number reach and voicemail to email. Its pretty neat but I am not sure I want to be able to be contacted anywhere at anytime...lol Maybe I will disable that feature on my phone

Not really a lot of progress on the system this week, had a few other fires to put out on the IT side. I was also told by my Exec Director that there is "No real rush" on the phone system as its the slow time of the year for us and we have working phones at all the locations, but personally I would like this thing up and running and off my radar for a bit!

Is there an end in sight?

Its in sight, if you have really really good vision...lol

I picked up the ATA186's today. I will start to fight with them tomorrow. In Cisco's infinite wisdom, I as the end user cannot download the UC560 software package, without providing them a service contract number. The serial number registered to me for my new system is not enough, so I must wait until I can get a copy from my vendor.

This is needed to install the phone packages for the ATA's.

Other then that, its only scripting and AA tweaks then I can give them the go ahead to start porting numbers over.

I am going to see if they will allow me to cut locations over one at a time instead of all at once. This will allow me to track down any issues easier then if they all dropped at once.


Anyone know if I can link a DID to an AA submenu?

I would like to setup one main AA with each "program" having a submenu. Then I would like to have a DID point directly to that submenu. I have no clue if this is possible! If its not, then I will have to setup individual AA for each program, there would only be 4, but I like 1 better then 4 for admin purposes.

On Unity Connection, you just assign the DID as the extension that's assigned to the mailbox or call handler. I would assume your setup would be similar. In Call Manager, the DID is pointed at Unity via a CTI Route Point. I'm sure it's different in the UC560, but maybe the concept from Call Manager will get you going in the right direction.

Justin

I'm going to take a beating for saying this but I see a huge IT ego problem with keep, he took over this job when he should have insisted the company who sold the Cisco get a qualified/certified tech on the job now. There was no dead line for the cut over so he and his company had the time to demand from the seller to get the certified people and finish what was agreed on.

No beating coming. I admit, I hate having gear in my shop I do not know how to setup.

Since the main issue according to the vendor came from "Network setup" it was not under their install umbrella...so it fell to me to figure it all out without much support at all from the vendor. Even though throughout the entire process I was told it would work "No problem" with the way things were setup at the start.

There are aspects of this install I will not touch as its out of my comfort zone, items such as call plans, PRI setup and all that fun stuff is being left to the vendor, but all the network stuff got dropped in my lap.

In the end it will make me better able to support the system, but it sure does suck getting there!

As for my install.

I picked up 4 no longer supported, EOL ATA 186's from a local guy that had them on the shelf. Brought them here, added them to the UC database, plugged them in and they worked as they are supposed to.

I am still sitting here scratching my head trying to figure out why Cisco would EOL a product without a valid replacement for the UC system.

Oh and this marks the end of the hardware install at all locations. :banana:

Congratulation on that milestone. I don't have any criticism for you, other than for not giving the vendor more grief for the island they left you high and dry on. Other than that, you're darned right; this experience made you a better tech, and better able to support your envoironment. Now, get to learning the stuff that's out of your comfort zone; you owe it to yourself to do that, since you own much of the rest of the config.

Justin

You should go out and look for a job as a tech installing Cisco phone systems .... i know one vendor who would probably hire you!

Yeah I could have been harder on the vendor at the time, but after fighting without getting anywhere I gave up on that issue, until it was time for them to come back on site.

Though we are not done with the vendor on the installation they have already lost a shot at more money from our agency. But that is another story!

Not a lot going on with the install, all sites are up and we are doing internal testing between all the sites to see if we have any issues. Only items that have popped up are:

- one of the remote sites, if they dial another extension local to that site there is an echo, or its like talking to someone down a hallway.

- the MWI lights have stopped working, I do not know when along the way they stopped, but I have not had a chance to troubleshoot that one yet.

I hope your next post is "Finally the Nightmare is Over"