SUGGESTIONS New PIAF Install Project

[tenriquez]

Hello Everyone,

I have been tasked to replace an aging Nortel switch (late 90’s). As a volunteer for a non-profit organization, I am looking for suggestions or advice on the initial plans.

The existing system has 14 phones and three analog lines feeding the Nortel. The three lines have been fine for the amount of calls made/received. I spoke to several VOIP Providers and they wanted roughly $20.00 @ month, per phone. The $280 a month is a lot more than our usual bill for three POTS Lines.

I am proposing a PIAF Box to serve 14 phones. I plan to use a Foxconn nT-i1200 for the PIAF Box. 2 or 4 GB RAM (which ever is on sale) and a SSD hard drive.

For VOIP Service, I’m looking at DIDforSale for the main incoming number, and a different provider for 5 outgoing lines. We will keep one POTS Line for 911 service and backup if we lose the Internet. The remaining analog line will use an OBI 110 to interface with the PIAF Box. Does this make sense for the VOIP/backup service?

Regarding the infrastructure, we are contracting the CAT5E installation and I’m still undecided on purchasing a PoE Switch vs. a regular switch and PoE injectors or phone power supplies. I am hoping the budget allows the PoE Switch. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

I installed a few phones on a test system and the users liked the Yealink YEA-SIP-T38G Gigabit Color IP Phone vs. an Aastra 57i. I was surprised, but the majority preferred the Yealink. I’m looking for advice/guidance on how the Yealinks are performing/holding up and which codec to use.

Finally, I will ask to upgrade the business DSL circuit to a Broadband Cable Service. I don’t know if it will be required but more than a few people suggested it.

Any advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

PIAF Newbie

 

[atsak]

1. If you can afford it get a Supermicro server, $359 for the EHF 5015 at buy.com, for example. Also spend for the 4GB and do NOT get an SSD (they are still less reliable than the 5400rpm hard drives). THat's a bit more business class (even non profit business class)
2. For the main number have that come in on POTS (the obi is fine as the gateway) and purchase no answer transfer from the phone company, then push that to the DID For Sale number on no answer/busy. For Outbound you don't really need "lines" just get an unmetered (ie pay by the minute) service from Anveo Direct, voip.ms, Vitelity, or Flowroute.
3. Splurge for the PoE switch. The Nortel 24 port (12 PoE) can be purchased for $225 on ebay. I have sold 50 of these discontinued switches over the last 7 years and have NEVER had a failure yet. Or, get a Netgear (some issues on occasion), or HP V1905 PoE (more money).
4. Like the Yealinks better than the Aastra for longevity these days. Upgrade the firmware there's some quirks in the older stuff (annoying ones). Codec you can use G722 internally if you want but you might want to stick to G711 so you don't have to transcode outbound calls, unless you can find an outbound provider who supports g722.
5. If possible keep the internet service separate; in other words, don't upgrade your DSL circuit, just get another separate one. This will do a better job than the best routers ever will for PoE (that should say QoS)

You may also want to consider a rentpbx server if you have a clever firewall that can handle the NAT or can do PPTP VPN to the RentPBX server.

That would be my advice. As always, YMMV based on your specific situation.

 

[tenriquez]

1. If you can afford it get a Supermicro server, $359 for the EHF 5015 at buy.com, for example. Also spend for the 4GB and do NOT get an SSD (they are still less reliable than the 5400rpm hard drives). THat's a bit more business class (even non profit business class)
2. For the main number have that come in on POTS (the obi is fine as the gateway) and purchase no answer transfer from the phone company, then push that to the DID For Sale number on no answer/busy. For Outbound you don't really need "lines" just get an unmetered (ie pay by the minute) service from Anveo Direct, voip.ms, Vitelity, or Flowroute.
3. Splurge for the PoE switch. The Nortel 24 port (12 PoE) can be purchased for $225 on ebay. I have sold 50 of these discontinued switches over the last 7 years and have NEVER had a failure yet. Or, get a Netgear (some issues on occasion), or HP V1905 PoE (more money).
4. Like the Yealinks better than the Aastra for longevity these days. Upgrade the firmware there's some quirks in the older stuff (annoying ones). Codec you can use G722 internally if you want but you might want to stick to G711 so you don't have to transcode outbound calls, unless you can find an outbound provider who supports g722.
5. If possible keep the internet service separate; in other words, don't upgrade your DSL circuit, just get another separate one. This will do a better job than the best routers ever will for PoE.

You may also want to consider a rentpbx server if you have a clever firewall that can handle the NAT or can do PPTP VPN to the RentPBX server.

That would be my advice. As always, YMMV based on your specific situation.

1. Thanks for the tip on the EHF 5015 but I think someone may have donated the Foxconn. I could always use the Foxconn as a backup.
2. I guess I need to read up on "no answer."
3-5. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[tenriquez]

Concerning Outbound, unmetered service, say from Vitelity, would I order multiple DID's to correspond to the amount of outgoing lines I would need?

 

[rossiv]

Concerning Outbound, unmetered service, say from Vitelity, would I order multiple DID's to correspond to the amount of outgoing lines I would need?

From looking at their products, you would need their Virtual PRI product I believe. Though I could be way off.

 

[tenriquez]

From looking at their products, you would need their Virtual PRI product I believe. Though I could be way off.

Thanks for the reply. There are too many providers and options. I have a lot of reading to do...

 

[leemason]

For the PBX server, cable router, and PoE switch a good additional option is a UPS. They are pretty cheap these days and will at least provide some time during short power outages and enough time during major outages to shut things down properly. And with the Foxconn, router, and switch only even a small UPS (maybe 1000VA) should last a reasonable amount of time.

 

[leemason]

I've used NUT in the past and it seems to work pretty well. Used it with a Belkin UPS.

 

[leemason]

Check here for NUT compatible UPS devices: http://www.networkupstools.org/stable-hcl.html

 

[rchalk]

Just as a point of reference, I have installed a system with about 50 phones scattered around ten different locations in the US and Canada. We are using RentPBX, which will provide a server for $15.00 per month, in a facility properly equipped for redundancy, etc. This is scarcely more than the cost of electricity to run a PC, and "should" provide better reliability. All of the configuration is done by you, remotely, using the Webgui.

All of our locations use simple consumer/small business routers, and all are on Cable Internet. We had no end of trouble with ATT DSL, with breakup and intermittency with voice. We are using G711, for good voice quality.

To protect the server from fraudulent use (after about a $200 loss) we are using the Travelin Man 3 program, which basically allows access only from IP addresses you specify, and we have had no hacks in the last several months since setting this up.

All of the business phones (about 40) are Aastra 57i. I bought them all on eBay, used, for an average price of about $90 each, and with the exception of one lightning hit, there have not been any failures in over a year. The others are a mixture of Linksys ATA and OBI ata, and a couple of cheap Grandstream SIP phones.

For providers, we use primarily VOIP.MS for incoming calls (about 50 numbers on 5 different accounts). For outgoing, we use primarily Gafachi.com, which has very low per-minute rates, and so far, good reliability. The outbound routes will select VOIP.MS for outgoing if the Gafachi trunk should be down. We also have a Vitelity account as a second-level backup, and also to handle FAX. We are running FAX through OBI devices to conventional FAX machines, with good results. All provider accounts are per-minute, and none of the outgoing routes are limited on the number of simultaneous calls. (Be careful of fixed-cost plans, as they are ofter limited to two simultaneous calls)

I hope this information is useful. Please ask if you have any additional questions

Richard

 

[tenriquez]

First, I'd like to thank everyone for all of your input. This forum has been a great resource for me. Concerning the original phone number/POTS Line, there seems to be two schools of thought.

1. Keep the original POTS Line with the desired main phone number and then No Answer/Alternate Answer to a VOIP DID:
OR
2. Port the desired number to the VOIP service and then failover to the POTS Line.

We have AT&T phone service and the folks who I talked to indicated they did not have the "No Answer" service. AT&T does have "Alternate Answer," which seems to work the same way. It's like call forwarding, but you don't have control when to turn it on or off. You decide how many rings to wait and then it forwards the call to the desired number/VOIP Provider. Does anyone know how this really works? My concern is that until the PBX answers the call, the AT&T line will appear busy to other callers.

Any opinions on which would is better (1 or 2)? I know YMMV, but I'm interested to know if anyone has had any issues with either setup.

Concerning providers, the service providers I am considering are Vitelity, Anveo and Flowroute. I am looking at Flowroute for the main DID. Unless I read something wrong, Anveo's fail-over charge is $75.00 per month.

Regarding hardware, I'm going with atsak's recommendation and getting a Supermicro 5015A. I'll use the Foxconn as a throw-down backup PBX. We are also getting a Netgear POE Switch and Yealink Phones. A mix of T38G's, 26P's and 22P's for the common areas. My one problem with the Yealink's is that you have to press the send button before the calls goes out (or you can wait a few seconds). Is there a workaround so as soon as you go off hook on a Yealink, the calls goes through immediately after the number is dialed?

Thanks again for everyone's input...

 

[atsak]

Regarding hardware, I'm going with atsak's recommendation and getting a Supermicro 5015A. I'll use the Foxconn as a throw-down backup PBX. We are also getting a Netgear POE Switch and Yealink Phones. A mix of T38G's, 26P's and 22P's for the common areas. My one problem with the Yealink's is that you have to press the send button before the calls goes out (or you can wait a few seconds). Is there a workaround so as soon as you go off hook on a Yealink, the calls goes through immediately after the number is dialed?

Thanks again for everyone's input...

If you set the dial now rules in the endpoint manager, and set the timeout to 2 seconds, I think you'll find that quite tolerable.

 

[tenriquez]

If you set the dial now rules in the endpoint manager, and set the timeout to 2 seconds, I think you'll find that quite tolerable.

That worked. Thanks...

 

[tenriquez]

That worked. Thanks...

OK, that did not work as expected. atsak, I can see in the EPM where to put the 2 seconds. Did you add a dial plan as well or just the 2 seconds?

We have 3 digit extensions so I don't want to have anyone dialing a 10 digit number and it goes to the 3 digit extension first...

 

[atsak]

OK, that did not work as expected. atsak, I can see in the EPM where to put the 2 seconds. Did you add a dial plan as well or just the 2 seconds?

We have 3 digit extensions so I don't want to have anyone dialing a 10 digit number and it goes to the 3 digit extension first...

Yes, you have to add a dial plan, or it doesn't work. The dial plan is dependent on the timeout though. So my dial now rules are:
XXX
XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX
*XX
*XXX

(so three digit extensions, then 10 the 11 digit dialling, then some star codes on my system).

Is working well on the four offices they're installed in, for me anyway.

 

[tenriquez]

Yes, you have to add a dial plan, or it doesn't work. The dial plan is dependent on the timeout though. So my dial now rules are:
XXX
XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX
*XX
*XXX

(so three digit extensions, then 10 the 11 digit dialling, then some star codes on my system).

Is working well on the four offices they're installed in, for me anyway.

Thanks again for the information. I thought that the users would be annoyed with pressing the send button after dialing...