[Asterisk-Users] IP Phone recommendations?

[brian at txshirts.com]

Thanks for the really splendid details on * vs Nor*.

You bring up some really valid points.  My only question is that I
understand Norstar etc to be a "digital" phone system as opposed to a
"analog" phone system.  I think it's just a different voltage/frequency,
but perhaps someone could enlighten me.

I'm leaning towards a forklift operation.  Mainly because there are only
a couple of users who live on the phones and the other stations are just
to save people from running to answer a phone.

We had narrowed the field when I put the question out there, but I
wanted to leave it open to gather unbiased feedback.  I opted to use the
Polycom 500  for our phone-intense stations.  It's a good phone and will
best mimic our current phones.  

Based on some other feedback I have my eye on a Sipura SPA-841 as a
"basic" phone.  It should support all the features we currently use with
only Two line appearance.  That is fine for most people/stations.  

For now I'm going to develop * off to the side with two Polycom 500's.
Then we'll get the hardware in place, get the dialplan built, and do a
few weekend tests where we patch the lines over for the weekend and
torture them.  If all goes well we'll leave the Nor* offline and
decomission it after a two week safety period.  I figure this maximizes
our ROI on VOIP by allowing us to sell the whole nor* system to someone
who will appreciate it.  

The testing phase will allow me to train the 1 or 2 people who do heavy
phone work ahead of the cutover so that they can help other employees
get the hang of it.  The nice thing as I see it is that VOIP will add
features, not remove them.  Initially our goal will be to keep the
dialplan nice and simple.  Down the road we can make it complicated by
adding cool features.  But of course, that's the strategic advantage to
* as opposed to our current Nortel MoneyPit. 

Down the road I'd like to get a 802.11b wireless phone.  It would be
cooler still if I had one that was GSM capable and could play on
cingular's network when it couldn't find a wireless station.  I guess we
have to have something to dream about :).  Although I seem to remember
GTE MobileNet had a service like this 10 years ago that was wireless
when you were away and landline when you were near.




Brian Greul
Texas Shirt Company
www.txshirts.com
713-802-0369 / 713-861-6261 (fax)

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Van Meggelen [mailto:jim at vanmeggelen.ca] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 2:59 PM
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] IP Phone recommendations?

asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
> Hey gang,
>   I'm looking at escaping from a Nortel Meridian CISC system to 
> Asterisk/Digium/SIP phones.  I'm currently in the testing and proof of

> concept phase.  I'm going to need a SIP phone and don't want to 
> re-purchase and have "orphans" around.

I've got a few different IP phones in my lab (including a C7960), I'm
currently loving my Polycom 300 - a solid phone for the price, and
everyone says the 500 and 600 are even better. I think I'll be going
with Polycom for my customers until the next best thing comes along.

I looked at the Snom phones when I was at Astricon, and while they may
be technically great, the problem I had with them is that they are not
weighted properly. If you've ever yanked your phone off the desk you'll
understand the need for a proper ballast. The handsets feel cheap too,
because they're too lightweight. Still, from everything I've read you'll
certainly want to try one out. Also, the Snom 220 seems to be the best
bet as a reception phone, especially if you want a busy lamp field on
your swithboard.

The Cisco phones are great, but it's hard to stomach paying an extra
$100-$300 for that little drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge they put on
all their products.

One of the exciting things about standards-based telephony is that you
can mix and match your phones. It's the same as analog sets; the agony
is in the sheer number of choices available.

> We currently run Nortel 7310 phones and they work great.
> I'm sort of overwhelmed by all of the different IP phones.  I was 
> hoping some folks would share what they have found. My primary goal is

> to replicate the 7310's features and to allow room for growth in the 
> future with telephony applications.

One of the big differences between the Norstar and the Asterisk is that
the Norstar is a key system, the Asterisk is a PBX. If you completely
replace the Norstar your users will will no longer have access to line
status on their phones; that is all handled behind the scenes. Also, you
will not get busy lamp field, which means you won't be able to monitor
who is on the phone (there are ways of doing this in Asterisk, but it's
not as intuitive to implement). Finally, the Norstar has hundreds of
easy to use features; each one you'll want to keep will need to be
carefully hand-crafted in the dial plan.

> Our primary driver is configurability and features that we can get in 
> Asterisk, that we can get without a lot of money from Nortel.

Nortel sure has fallen behind. Even the VoIP stuff they have does not
work well, and is barely standards-compliant (if at all).

> Namely-
> Voicemail, telecommuting workers on the pbx, better call handling, 
> better automation. I'd like to be able to integrate smart features 
> like directory and call handling to the handset, but I'll freely admit

> I'm just starting out. My initial goal is to just to get onto Asterisk

> and get it working. I'll worry about cool stuff later.

I think you'll be wise to leave the Nortel KSU in place for a bit. That
way you can introduce new features to the users without them also having
to learn new phones. There are challenges either way.
 
> Our integration and migration plan is as follows:  If anyone has some 
> suggestions or pointers I'd love to hear them.
> 
> 1. Test and evaluate Asterisk with TDM400 with 1 FXO/FSO port each. 2.

> Configure Asterisk to be the primary PBX and slave the Nortel Meridian

> system to it using a second TDM400.  This avoids immediate replacement

> of all handsets.  Will allow immediate access to features such as 
> Voicemail. 3. Overtime, upgrade desk phones to IP phones.  When all 
> phones are replaced, decommission Nortel and sell on Ebay.  :)

Are you using calling line ID? The problem here is that you have two
systems that will each need to wait two rings before answering. The
Asterisk will need two rings to get the caller ID, and then it'll take
two more to pass the same CLID on to the Norstar.

[PSTN]==(2 rings for CLID)==[Asterisk]==(2 rings for CLID)==[Nor*]

Make sure you put an autoattendant in the middle, to ensure your callers
don't have to wait too many rings before some indication that there's a
system at the other end. 

Also, there is some danger of echo if you put the Asterisk in the
middle. You'll want to be patient with this, as it may take a bit of
tweaking to sort out. 
IMPORTANT: Make sure your Asterisk and Nortel are grounded to the same
point. Best way to achieve this easily will be to plug them into the
same electrical outlet. You do NOT want voltage potentials on the analog
loop between the * and Nor*, believe me.

The fact is, analog is a technology that really doesn't lend itself well
to integration. It can be made to work, but callers and users will have
to deal with a lot of extra rings. Also, transfers and the like will
involve hookswitch flashes and such. I'm not saying avoid it, just be
aware of the need to manage user expectations. One possible way to
handle this would be to configure the system so that the Norstar sees
the Asterisk as a sort of Centrex service. This would require dedicating
an analog line for any set you wished to integrate. 

[Asterisk]       [Norstar]
FXS(ZAP/1)---L001(R&A)-x21
FXS(ZAP/2)---L002(R&A)-x22
FXS(ZAP/3)---L003(R&A)-x23
FXS(ZAP/4)---L004(R&A)-x24
FXS(ZAP/5)---L005(R&A)-x25
FXS(ZAP/6)---L006(R&A)-x26
FXS(ZAP/7)---L007(R&A)-x27
FXS(ZAP/8)---L008(R&A)-x28

The Norstar offers a lot of Centrex integration features, so your
voicemail/message waiting and such would work well. Also, the Asterisk
would then easily be able to handle the different users on the Norstar,
as it would have a dedicated line for each of them. The only problem
there would be the cost of the integration hardware, and the fact that
your CICS can only grow to a maximum of 8 analog lines.

Another possibliity would be to use BRI to integrate the two. This,
however, will require a BRI card in the CICS (as well as a services
cartridge), as well as BRI hardware for the Asterisk. Not to mention
that BRI is a pain in the butt to configure. Still, one you've got it
working you'd have full ISDN integration between the boxes, which'd be
technically superior to analog. It really depends on what sort of a
science project you want this to become.

> Cold turkey option is to spend the extra $ and buy the handsets 
> upfront and just ditch nortel without a transition period.

It'll be easier technically, but for the users this might be a bit more
painful.

> We currently have 4 pbx lines and 1 dedicated fax/credit card line.
> We have 10 handsets. 

Well, your Asterisk will certainly put you in an excellent position to
grow.

Cheers,

Jim.




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