Very New to VoIP and phones in general -- please help

[burgeswe]

Hi all!

I've been lurking on the forums awaiting activation, and reading up as well as I can, but this stuff is all way over my head.

Here's my situation:

I work for a small nonprofit in OK that tries to help people that are down on their luck. We are being kicked out of a building we have been in for over 40 years, and have very little time to do it.

Temporarily, we are having to move part of our office to a mobile office that's located pretty far out of city limits, but I need to somehow come up with a way to set up a computer and phone system. I need probably 3-4 extensions, and the ability to have normal phone and fax service, plus voicemail. Right now, our current building has an old Nitsuko PBX that is falling apart, and we're paying AT&T through the nose in order to manage our multiple lines for many many locations. The area we are moving to is out of the reach of most Hi-Speed Internet, so I am having to get a Cellular Router from Altell, and they have assured me that we will have 2-3 MB/s download and 128k uploads.

Since there is no possibility to get phone lines at this new office without forking over way too much money, I started thinking of trying to brush up on my VoIP. I've got some experience with Linux/Network administration, and while looking up information on Asterisk, I found the link to PBXiaF. However, no amount of reading seems to make the thick fog of misunderstanding go away in my head.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing:

Set up a computer with PBXiaF in the new building, and connect it using a Cell modem. Connect the computer to a switch that will run to only the phones.

I'm really not sure about the different phone technologies, but all I've been told from the boss is that I have to pinch every penny I can out of whatever I get, so I've been considering the Linksys/Cisco SPA941 VoIP phone like listed here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124290

For actual phone service, I've been looking at the Callcentric Office Unlimited plan, as listed here: http://www.callcentric.com/dids/office_unlimited

Am I totally off in what I'm trying to do and buy? There seems to be a lot of varied providers for service, and there are phones I would rather get to buy (I have read all of the rave reviews for the Aastra 57i, and I really wish I could afford such a phone, but I am severely limited on budget).

I am hoping sometime after the temporary building is moved out of that I can set up multiple PBXiaF boxes in our remote offices (some of which are in other counties) and be able to connect them all, which would make our lives easier because we could just call extensions, and hopefully reduce some of our long distance charges in the process.


Anyway, I'm sorry to ramble, and I'm sorry to come in asking a million questions. I prefer to be able to spend my time researching and learning before diving into something, but this move was thrown at me yesterday as an ASAP type deal, and I just really need some advice

This software seems to be really good and expandable, and from what I've seen, the community seems to really know their stuff and be willing to help

Thanks for your time!

 

[OTA]

Admirable goals, but forget doing it over cellular. Too much latency, lag, and retransmitted packets for successful VoIP. If you had any other connection I'd say go for it but cell's just too unpredictable even in a fixed location. I still have yet to pull off a successful VoIP call via cell after all these years.

See what your options are for other methods. Maybe call on the talents and resources of your local amateur radio club. One of the guys I know in this town has his own ISP and regularly runs 10-14 mile wireless hops that are clean enough for VoIP.

 

[phinphan]

Investigate a fixed wireless setup. We have gone to fixed wireless in the office and have great service 4.5/2.5 with good ping times and such. Voip service has been very good over the link.

 

[burgeswe]

OK, I searched all around, high and low, and can't seem to find a wireless ISP in the area where we're moving to. We seem to be in the near stone ages. (I did get some great offers on some dial-up accounts)

So, it seems like we're stuck either with the Cell modems and no VoIP, or paying $800 a month for AT&T to put a T1 in the boonies there.

I'm pretty certain that in the long run, the T1 will be a better solution, and hope I can convince the one with check writing powers that as well.

Does anyone have any good or bad things to say about Callcentric or the Linksys SPA941's?

I'm terribly terribly appreciative of the help, all

 

[Phone_User]

One option you could look at, and I have done this.

Find a location in town that has good high speed internet. Say your house or the bosses. Then as mentioned use fixed wireless between the house and the location where your office will be.

There are a number of wireless access points and antennae that you can get at affordable prices. The last one I did cost $85.00 for the monthly internet and about $500.00 for the rest of the equipment. Many of the access points and antennae will go as far as 10 miles.

I think that would be your best bet.

Rob

 

[euser4life]

You should also do some more researching on your T1 pricing... $800.00 is really high... we can get data T1's for $250 to $299 (I know it differs from place to place). AT&T offered near the $800.00 pricing which is crazy. You need to check all CLECS to see what other T1 pricing is available.

 

[burgeswe]

Thanks for your help guys!

We do have a store in town that we are keeping, that will be 6-7 miles away from the main office. I'm reading into the P2P wireless solutions now. It could very well be something that we can connect those to areas with wireless and share a PBX, which is something we don't have currently anyway

And I'm also buried into my neck trying to learn about what CLECS are in my area. I've had a bit of information overload, if I'm not careful my brains are gonna ooze out of my ears....

I'm constantly amazed by the fact that the more I learn about doing work in IT, the deeper that the rabbit hole seems to go....

 

[cjkeeme]

A 7 mile wireless shot - is not the easiest to hit especially if your terrain has many hills. You will either need good luck on line of sight or a tall tower on one end.

A WISP could be a great option, but be certain that they can guarantee a certain latency and low jitter on their link or you will have problems.

The T1 will unfortunately be your easiest and most reliable option or find a new office!

 

[tshif]

I highly recommend you look into theTsunami® QuickBridge Series.11 of wireless back haul solutions.They can handle the range between the new offices and the store front - the current models are VoIP aware, Available with up to 54 Mbps aggregate throughput, and are sold in a "hop in a box" configuration that's got everything you need to bring internet from one place to another.

These are not cheap - but as a recent example, we installed a quick bridge between two buildings about a mile apart about 2 years ago - and the system has been in service every day non stop since with zero maintenance or attention.

A agree - VoIP could be an issue over a 7 mile link - there may be some latency. But satelight based Voip can be made to work - and thats more than 7 miles - LOL.

At the very least - it would be a very reasonable way to bring internet to the new office lcoation - even if you ultimately had to bring in telco lines for telephone service.

- just more info to consider