[asterisk-biz] Reselling SIP phones
Michaël Gaudette
michael.gaudette at virtutel.ca
Sun Jan 22 08:11:10 MST 2006
Hi,
I am presently putting the finishing touches on a business that will require
me to resell a few SIP phones to my customers to take advantage of my
service. I can't say the volume will be extremely high, but I need someone
that sells SIP phones and can give me some sort of a reseller's discount.
1) Not having any (and I do mean any) experience with hardphones, what are
the community's recommandations for a good BUSINESS phone? (I am NOT
targeting residential users at all). Something slick, but not TOO
expensive.
2) Is there anybody reading that would want to build a reseller relationship
with me. I am located in Montreal, Canada. I originally wanted to simply
refer my customers to a VoIP shop to get their phone, but I realize now that
in Canada (and especially french speaking Canada) there isn't anybody I'd
date recommend (at least I haven't found any). Everybody sells in $US or
look like mom and pop shops....
Mike
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of
> asterisk-biz-request at lists.digium.com
> Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 8:19 PM
> To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> Subject: asterisk-biz Digest, Vol 18, Issue 94
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: URGENTLY NEEDED! 214 Dallas TX DID (trixter aka
> Bret McDanel)
> 2. RE: I need your skiils, but I can't hire you (Steve Totaro)
> 3. RE: I need your skiils, but I can't hire you (Steve Totaro)
> 4. Re: I need your skiils, but I can't hire you (Lee Howard)
> 5. [Announce] Mark Spencer interview (Ronald Lewis)
> 6. RE: I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> (asterisk-biz at sasami.anime.net)
> 7. Re: URGENTLY NEEDED! 214 Dallas TX DID (Mark)
> 8. RE: I need your skiils, but I can't hire you (Trevor G.
> Hammonds)
> 9. Re: I need your skiils, but I can't hire you (Jean-Michel Hiver)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 13:16:23 -0800
> From: trixter aka Bret McDanel <trixter at 0xdecafbad.com>
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] URGENTLY NEEDED! 214 Dallas TX DID
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID: <1137878183.23964.2.camel at trix.home.tld>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15"
>
> On Sun, 2006-01-22 at 00:53 +0400, Jean-Michel Hiver wrote:
> > Mark a icrit :
> >
> > > I urgently need one Dallas TX 214 DID, I dont want to have to buy
> > > from the DIsappearing DID eXchange company
> >
> > What's the big deal with DIDx? A lot of people seem to have
> troubles
> > with this service, although the service in itself seems
> like a good idea...
>
> I dont know, it has worked for me without disappearing. That
> is where the sacramento asterisk users group got their did.
> There are people that appear t ohave had some problems a long
> time ago, some have even been identified as people that never
> logged into their accounts. The billing system appears to
> have had some bugs, however that doesnt mean that it
> disappears that is another issue, one I might add that
> someone else has reported with vonage, I personally have had
> with broadvoice, and a friend has reported with a colo place.
> So its not totally uncommon that there are billing errors.
>
>
> --
> Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com Bret McDanel
> UK +44 870 340 4605 Germany +49 801 777 555 3402
> US +1 360 207 0479 or +1 516 687 5200
> FreeWorldDialup: 635378
> http://www.sacaug.org/ Sacramento Asterisk Users Group
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 16:31:32 -0500
> From: "Steve Totaro" <stotaro at totarotechnologies.com>
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion"
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID:
>
> <BE9DDFB4003EB1499F18B605C4A0E54D1DEF at steves.first-notification.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> > I like the phone support idea but I think that Digium is on
> the right
> > path. If you don't draw the line somewhere you end up either not
> fixing
> > the fault which leads to unhappy customers and therefore a bad
> mouthing
> > experience or worst still getting dragged down in a fault
> that frankly
> > is not worth fixing for the price.
> >
>
> The problem with this is that Digium has canned the idea of
> "We don't support this configuration". Any problem can be
> fixed. At an hourly or fraction of hourly rate, anything is
> worth fixing from our perspective since the price adjusts
> with the time spent. It is up to the customer if it is worth
> spending the money for the fix, not us. The customer will
> know this upfront before the support even starts.
>
> > As for "branded" support; you'll have the same problem. How
> would the
> > tech answering the phone know anything about the install
> he's fixing?
> It
> > would take him quite a considerable time to get up to speed
> before he
> > could reasonably start working on the fault.
>
> With the proper systems and database sharing, this is not a problem.
> Obviously, NDA and non-competes will need to be in place and
> the data will have to accurate but this could easily be a non-issue.
>
> >
> > If you agree on a standard set of configs that you'll support and
> offer
> > a 2 teired support system, you could fix the easy things like messed
> up
> > passwords or mis-spelled statements and then bump the non
> conforming
> > ones back to the customer (not the user).
> >
> > You could then offer "consultant" support exclusively for those that
> can
> > demonstrate they are purveyors of Asterisk systems. You
> shouldn't have
> > to do so much hand holding here as you'd require a minimum level of
> > expertise. You'd be acting as more of a mentor rather than a support
> team.
>
> I think the mailing list acts very well as a mentor since the
> consultant knows how to ask the right in posts to the user's list.
>
> >
> > A final avenue could be training. Offering various levels
> of Asterisk
> > training could be a way of ensuring that you have capable customers
> and
> > confident end users as well as being a low level money earner.
>
> Training is another awesome idea.
>
> >
> > Mark, G7LTT/KC2ENI
> > Randolph, NJ
> > http://www.g7ltt.com
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 16:40:55 -0500
> From: "Steve Totaro" <stotaro at totarotechnologies.com>
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion"
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID:
>
> <BE9DDFB4003EB1499F18B605C4A0E54D1DF0 at steves.first-notification.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> >
> > Need great phone support for your customer? Just bundle Asterisk
> Business
> > Edition in to your solution.
> >
> > Two things happen when you do this.
> >
> > (1) You help support Asterisk and Digium
> >
> > (2) You guarantee great support for your client.
> >
> > Just my 2 pennies
> >
> > Michael White
> > .e4
>
> True enough but how many small Asterisk interconnect
> businesses are there that purchase ABE for their customer
> installations? Very few I bet.
>
> What happens when they need to add some addition phones to the system?
> Will Digium help? Possibly with the configs in Asterisk but
> I doubt they will tell you how to provision the phones
> (Polycom or Cisco for instance).
>
> What about if you have some Sangoma boards? Doubt you will
> get much support there even if you are using ABE.
>
> Channel banks, phones, Sangoma, GUIs, the list goes on.
> Digium support is great but limited.
>
> Thanks,
> Steve
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 13:57:11 -0800
> From: Lee Howard <faxguy at howardsilvan.com>
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID: <43D2AE37.8020308 at howardsilvan.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Michael S. White wrote:
>
> >Need great phone support for your customer? Just bundle Asterisk
> >Business Edition in to your solution.
> >
> >Two things happen when you do this.
> >
> >(1) You help support Asterisk and Digium
> >
> >(2) You guarantee great support for your client.
> >
>
> The second item there may be well and true; I can't say for
> myself as I've never chosen to turn to Digium for support.
>
> However, I contend that, in the case of the first item, you
> should reconsider the wording there. If you bundle ABE into
> your solution you certainly help support Digium. And for
> many people in this community that, in and of itself, is "a
> good thing to do" (tm). But as far as bundling ABE into your
> solution helping the Asterisk community itself (which I
> assume is what's meant by saying "help support Asterisk"),
> I'd say that this is also true, to an extent, but not nearly
> as much as it helps support Digium.
>
> Asterisk is bigger than Digium. If you want to support the
> Asterisk community it can be done perhaps just as effectively
> in countless ways besides or in addition to bundling ABE.
> Yes, purchasing a Sangoma card helps the Asterisk community.
> Contributing code helps. Participating in these mailing
> lists helps. Hiring an Asterisk consultant, even outside of
> Digium, helps. Merely using Asterisk helps. Reporting bugs
> helps. In fact, I would even contend that the activity going
> on in competing or collaborative forks helps. The list goes
> on and on. Now, some of these "other" methods may not help
> Digium at all, but you can still help Asterisk without helping Digium.
>
> So, I'm okay with the idea that getting ABE helps Digium and
> even the Asterisk community to a lesser extent. But what I
> disagree with is the concept that the only way to help the
> community is through filling Digium's pockets.
>
> Lee.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:36:43 -0700
> From: Ronald Lewis <ronaldl79 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [asterisk-biz] [Announce] Mark Spencer interview
> To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com, asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Message-ID:
> <3c2a5f970601211436j3c56070blf3ebd73f71687a60 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Greetings!
>
> On January 19, 2006, I featured VoIP and open source
> telephony pioneer, Mark Spencer, on my podcast, Technology &
> Coffee. To listen to this interview, visit
> http://www.ronaldlewis.com/coffee.
>
> Also, Tom Keating, CTO and VP at TMC Labs, has blogged about
> it as well.
>
> http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/asterisk/mark-spencer-
> podcast-interview.asp
> http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/gabcast-audio-blo
> gger-service.asp
>
> Regards,
>
> Ronald Lewis
> Denver, Colorado
> www.riverscapecorp.com
> www.ronaldlewis.com
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:23:36 -0800 (PST)
> From: asterisk-biz at sasami.anime.net
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.63.0601211518590.11090 at sasami.anime.net>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> On Sat, 21 Jan 2006, Steve Totaro wrote:
> > What happens when they need to add some addition phones to
> the system?
> > Will Digium help? Possibly with the configs in Asterisk
> but I doubt
> > they will tell you how to provision the phones (Polycom or
> Cisco for
> > instance).
>
> Why? That's polycom and cisco's responsibility. Seriously.
>
> > What about if you have some Sangoma boards? Doubt you will
> get much
> > support there even if you are using ABE.
>
> That's sangoma's responsibility. And from what I hear sangoma
> support for asterisk is excellent.
>
> > Channel banks, phones, Sangoma, GUIs, the list goes on. Digium
> > support is great but limited.
>
> And largely irrelevant in those cases?
>
> -Dan
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 18:19:32 -0600
> From: Mark <mark at asteriskswitch.com>
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] URGENTLY NEEDED! 214 Dallas TX DID
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID: <43D2CF94.9040900 at asteriskswitch.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Fundamental problem with DIDx is
>
> Sellers are independent. If seller drops out of DIDx , all
> buyers who have purchased that seller4s DIDs will lose them.
> DIDx has been aware of that problem for at least three months
> they refuse to build in any systems that protect the buyer.
> Their solution is to port the DID, however if you have the
> ability to port the DID, then why purchase from DIDx in the
> first place? Also international DIDs are not portable
>
>
> Jean-Michel Hiver wrote:
>
> > Mark a icrit :
> >
> >> I urgently need one Dallas TX 214 DID, I dont want to have to buy
> >> from the DIsappearing DID eXchange company
> >
> >
> > What's the big deal with DIDx? A lot of people seem to have
> troubles
> > with this service, although the service in itself seems like a good
> > idea...
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
> >
> > asterisk-biz mailing list
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 17:04:57 -0800
> From: "Trevor G. Hammonds" <trevor at concipient.net>
> Subject: RE: [asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> To: "'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion'"
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID:
>
> <!&!AAAAAAAAAAAuAAAAAAAAAJxESAJ7GKdJgMzQhTHL/IUBAOPm9G9QwE9Ogq
aGtf383k4AAAEOSVwAABAAAABxBRkjhzZXQ7lNf73ms+s0AQAAAAA=@concipient.net>
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> asterisk-biz at sasami.anime.net <> wrote on Saturday, 21
> January 2006 3:24 PM:
>
> > On Sat, 21 Jan 2006, Steve Totaro wrote:
> >> What happens when they need to add some addition phones to the
> >> system? Will Digium help? Possibly with the configs in
> Asterisk but
> >> I doubt they will tell you how to provision the phones (Polycom or
> >> Cisco for instance).
> >
> > Why? That's polycom and cisco's responsibility. Seriously.
> >
> >> What about if you have some Sangoma boards? Doubt you
> will get much
> >> support there even if you are using ABE.
> >
> > That's sangoma's responsibility. And from what I hear
> sangoma support
> > for asterisk is excellent.
> >
> >> Channel banks, phones, Sangoma, GUIs, the list goes on. Digium
> >> support is great but limited.
> >
> > And largely irrelevant in those cases?
> >
> > -Dan
>
> I think you miss the point. They are trying to establish a
> "one stop shop"
> for the client to call. If the client had to call Digium,
> Sangoma, Polycom, and their channel bank manufacturer for
> support, why would they need support from a service provider?
> If they had the skill level, they probably would not NEED a
> separate service provider.
>
> -- Trevor Hammonds
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 9
> Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 05:18:57 +0400
> From: Jean-Michel Hiver <jhiver at ykoz.net>
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you
> To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Message-ID: <43D2DD81.6070908 at ykoz.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>
> >I think you miss the point. They are trying to establish a
> "one stop shop"
> >for the client to call. If the client had to call Digium, Sangoma,
> >Polycom, and their channel bank manufacturer for support, why would
> >they need support from a service provider? If they had the skill
> >level, they probably would not NEED a separate service provider.
> >
> >
> Then this is what needs to be done:
>
> 1 - Make a list of skills you wish to support
>
> 2 - Make a list of contractors for each skill
>
> 3 - Define a reasonable per hour support rate
>
> 4 - Build an asterisk system which prompts for the client
> PIN, then gives the client an IVR to choose from for each skill
>
> 5 - Once the client has chosen the skill, dial all related
> contractors'
> phones simultaneously (they MUST disable voicemail)
>
> 6 - After the contractor has hanged his phone, have a
> callback script call the client back to prompt for quality
> feedback from time to time.
> You might want to record the calls as well
>
> 7 - Use Asterisk's CDRs to
> a) Bill the client
> b) Pay the contractor
> c) Pocket a profit
>
> Cheers,
> Jean-Michel.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --
>
> asterisk-biz mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
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>
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