[Asterisk-Users] Bridged line appearance

[mustardman29]

You make some good points Clint,

I honestly don't think that trying to force feed this to the customer as it
is is the way to go.  Key systems have been used for many many years and the
market has decided that they are what people want in the lower end.  I have
sat in small offices and witnessed the elegant simplicity of a key system.
It's all 1 single button press to do ANYTHING.  The button label and the
light beside it tells you everything you need to know.  It works!  No multi
button sequences or *xx key presses to know.  People on this forum might not
have a problem with more complexity in exchange for more flexibility etc.
but I don't think the people on this forum are anything like an average
user.

Perhaps Asterisk will never be appropriate for they low end Key market or
the Key/PBX hybrid market.  I don't know.  There are IP phones around with
plenty of buttons to do the job.  The Aastra9133i has something like 9
programmable buttons in addition to 3 incoming line buttons which is plenty
for most small businesses.  Their latest firmware now fully supports BLF and
apparently SLA.

Did I come across as complaining?  Just trying to make a case for what I see
as a highly desireable feature.  I do take exception to anyone trying paint
a picture of me being an ungrateful open source software user looking for a
free ride.  Digium has made PLENTY of money off of me.  If I could pay
another $300 to get the features I want I would.  It's not all about saving
a few bucks!  If I wanted to do that I would buy Bizfon's.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clint Sharp [mailto:clint at kirkhamsystems.com]
> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 5:20 PM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Bridged line appearance
> 
> I'm having a very hard time justifying trying to sell this to the SOHO 
> market on price or parity with key systems.  I've installed key 
> systems and large scale PBXs, and while working around the SLA problem 
> isn't that hard, the price point for a key system is very hard to 
> compete with.  I've never understood why people would want to use an 
> SLA system, honestly, as it's a really poor model.  I hate sitting in 
> offices with constant paging "Call for blah, line 1".  The PBX model 
> to me is much more preferable, and working around it is simply a 
> training problem.
> 
> The problem with asterisk isn't the lack of SLA, it's the price point.  
> It's going to be very hard for IP phone vendors to compete on price at 
> this point, and so far the quality issues in low-priced hardware to me 
> means I can't really sell this to anyone who's not willing to pay 
> $200-$300 a phone (retail).
> 
> Not that it's impossible, it's a different sales strategy.  
> Perhaps people who are wanting to sell this to the SOHO market should 
> attempt to change the game, as PBX like functionality doesn't exist in 
> the SOHO market because it hasn't been affordable previously.  
> Asterisk systems are pretty cheap in terms of the features they offer, 
> such that the sales pitch really depends on cost for features and 
> maintenance and infrastructure savings rather than overall cost.
> 
> Admittedly though, the voicemail system's navigation issues are a big 
> problem.
> 
> Clint
> 
> 
> On 2/18/06, John Novack <jnovack at stromberg-carlson.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> 	Many very low cost hybrid key/pbx systems for the small business
SOHO
> 	market have 12 or more programmable buttons, so regardless of what
is
> 	done with Asterisk, until the IP phone manufacturers take off their
> 	blinders and manufacture competing equipment, this market will be
out 
> of
> 	reach. These same systems now have voice mail systems with 
> capabilities
> 	and features that make Comedian Mail the correct name.  
> Asterisk isn't 
> 	alone regarding these shortfalls, of course. IP phone system 
> designers
> 	have failed to understand the small business market for several 
> years.
> 	
> 	Defensive responses with lengthy explanations  why it can't be done,

> or
> 	why it hasn't been done and will be difficult miss the point. Either
> 	Asterisk needs to change to move into this market, or another
product 
> will
> 	
> 	JMO
> 	
> 	John Novack
> 	
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