Hi, we've got Kayako for our support system, and we also have two phone numbers (US and UK 0800s). Now, for supports' sake, we are happy to introduce phone support and sales, and were wondering what the best way is to set up a telephone system on a moderate budget. Currently, our freefone numbers are acessable from SIP/VOIP phones. We've come across "http://www.nch.com.au/ivm/index.html" but have no idea if this is really what we need.

Our setup should be something similar to this:



Between 3 to 5 telephone lines (PSTN and SIP/VOIP inputs)
5 mail boxes (emailable)
customers should be able to choose "option 1 for support", "option 2 for billing" etc...
Depending on presets or timers, those options should get the call to be diverted to an other SIP or PSTN number.
Another option should be uptime statistics, now, we have no idea how to implement this, any ideas? This is probably an expensive custom job?


We're fairly sure that the above link (IVM) is capable of pretty much this (amongst other things), but what we would really like to know is, what you guys have done in our instance, and what other possibilities we should explore in order to exploit the telephone system to its maximum. Are there other things we could and should implement???

We have found that we could do all that and more with Asterisk, the open source PBX, available at www.asterisk.org.

It's not that difficult to setup (modifying configuration files) and it's free. Since we deployed it, we have gotten rid of our old telephony system and replaced the phones with Cisco IP ones.

It wasn't that expensive and it allowed us to be extremely efficient in handling support queries. You might want to look into it. Get your existing toll free numbers to forward to your Asterisk box and you're all set.

Genius. How easy is it to setup?

There are several companies that will actaully setup Asterisk for you, for a pretty decent price! All of this is possible, with Astrerisk!

Another solution, that I would like to reccomend is a VOIP Virtual PBX System. This will give you the option of mailboxes/autoattendent and what not. There are several companies out there that are a virtual pbx service, but do not offer a VOIP with there software (e.g. www.ringcentral.com) which is what I use, however I do not require a VOIP, so RingCentral works great for me :).

I have recently looked into a company called Aptela (www.aptela.com) and they, I believe have just what you need. Its a Virtual PBX/VOIP system. However, I must forewarn you that once you email there sales team, they will NOT stop contacting you until you purchase from them (I actaully had to request that they stop). Another company is www.contacual.com -- Same thing goes with there sales reps. I, however, have found that Aptela offers a more reliable/affordable solution.

IF you can set up a Web server, * is a walk in the park. It is really COOL too because you have a PC with an Ethernet line in handling all inbound and outbound calls. :) We have it on a colo box sitting in our cabinet with the Web servers, since we have ample BW there already to handle the calls in and back out.

There's also Asterisk@Home, but don't let the name fool you. Asterisk@Home is a preconfigured copy of CentOS bundled with Asterisk and a few other tools.

One of these tools is AMP, which allows you to do the configuration and extension adding through a web browser. It's simple enough to figure out...there's also a quick start guide and a help guide if you dig around for it.

It'll work fine for small business purposes. You'll save money as well - use discount termination providers like Voxee and Voipjet for extremely cheap calling (about 1.1c/min billed in 6 second increments for US destinations).

O'Reilly has also released a book on Asterisk - a very nice read - free of charge in PDF format. You could buy it as well at a bookstore for a price.
Download it here, it'll walk you through the basics and more: http://www.asteriskdocs.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=11

Thanks for all your suggestions. Ideally, we'd like something that runns on windows, but if a much better system needs linux, then linux it is...

I guess that the windows route won't be open source... right? For the cost of the Win software one can get a linux computer, right?

We have staff in different locations (UK, US and other), is this something that can be incorporated without a problem (using a remote office phone as if it was an extension next door?)

no not expensive. Aptela is Great (http://www.aptela.com)

Thanks

We use SIP technology for our telephone lines, but can't transfer from one phone to another (also located at different locations) (plus need for recorded announcements, mailboxes etc).

Now, does any of you know if a system can receive a SIP call, route it as needed (mailbox, recorded message etc) and/or divert the call to another SIP number?

We currently have a Nortel Networks phone system, it was about $4 grand (Half off after Verizon Rebates $2,500) for a 15 telephone system with 2 incoming lines, we plan to have a Toll Free line up @ the end of June. We are currently leasing a 10,000 sq ft 2 story office space, planning on opening a Data Center sooner or later.

We currently have a Nortel Networks phone system, it was about $4 grand (Half off after Verizon Rebates $2,500) for a 15 telephone system with 2 incoming lines, we plan to have a Toll Free line up @ the end of June. We are currently leasing a 10,000 sq ft 2 story office space, planning on opening a Data Center sooner or later.

I'm sorry, i'm all out of cookies. :smash:

We currently have a Nortel Networks phone system, it was about $4 grand (Half off after Verizon Rebates $2,500) for a 15 telephone system with 2 incoming lines, we plan to have a Toll Free line up @ the end of June. We are currently leasing a 10,000 sq ft 2 story office space, planning on opening a Data Center sooner or later.

right






.

Only two lines? I often use that many myself. :)

You might want to check out http://www.ip-pabx.com (we haven't used it - but know some folks who have and they seem to like it). Needless to say, YMMV.

Faisal

Thanks mindblend. We've been looking for self-hosted solutions, which would (long-term-wise) be much more financially rewarding.... Also, already having a provider, we're really looking for routing/managing etc... thx.

Just got off the phone with Aptela. Had a personal demo, and the system looks really good.

After the demo, I told her I wanted around 5 users. She quoted me $128 a month plus $100 set up. To transfer an existing toll-free number to them is free right now.

That comes out to $25.6 dollars a user.

She did tell me that right now, they will do custom scripts for your system for FREE.

Now in comparing them with places like GOTVMAIL and VirtualPBX, and others, GOTVMAIL wins hands down on price.

I may give Apetla a try one day. I really like their system.
David K.

It helps when you can take out small business loans to work on all of it.

I started in the web hosting business and I am now more involved in VOIP/Asterisk than anything else. With asterisk you can configure it any way you want. It is also prerty cheap to pick up. A few things that I liked about it is that you can do what you want with it. I would not recomend running it on the same box as your web server. It can take up resources and the web hosting can do the same to the phone system. Another feature is that it can be pure VOIP. Also you can get local numbers from all over the country and the world for reasonale prices as well as cheap outbound calling.

Any reason why both my posts in this thread were deleted?

What posts... hmmmm, maybe "one isn't supposed to advertise oneself"... PM us if needed... ;-)

Greetings:

Has anyone checked out the new Linksys Voice System 9000?

If so, what are your thoughts?

Thank you.

A company that we have looked at is packet8, packet8.net. They offer a similar package called the Virtual Office which includes PBX style features through VoIP phones, auto-attendant, voicemail, etc.

Dynamicnet - I have looked at the Linksys Voice System and am still considering it as well. The only draw-back I could find - and it is kinda a big one - is that the system does not provide any voicemail capabilities.

What posts... hmmmm, maybe "one isn't supposed to advertise oneself"... PM us if needed... ;-)

Hmm, you may be right. :)

Will drop you a PM in due course if you fancy a chat.

Hi Cory:

From the linksys site:

== QUOTE START

IP PBX Features
Automated Attendant
Reduce Call Load On Receptionist (No Receptionist)
Professional Welcome for All Callers
Single Number Access to All Employees
Guaranteed Call Completion
Fast, Easy Set-Up and Maintenance
Automatic Call Distribution / Routing
Bridged / Shared Line Call Appearance
Call Transfer
Call Forwarding
Local and Corporate Directory
Call Pickup
Group Paging
Intercom
Call Hunt Groups
Direct Inward Dialing (DID) and Voice Mail Integration with ITSP
Music on Hold
Do Not Disturb
Three Party Conference Calling

== QUOTE END

What does the "Voice Mail Integration with ITSP" ability mean?

Hmmm... found it on their PDF datasheet... the service provider provides the voice mail (yuck).


Thank you.

Aptela phones are great, but don't expect too much out of their customer service department. They don't follow through, and if you are even thinking about doing their reseller program, don't count on getting a check for commissions. I have been waiting for close to 6 months for mine. I'm glad it is only a few hundred dollars!

Hi numaria,

This post may be too late. Hope it can help others anyway.

From your requirements, I would suggest Asterisk because it is stable (cos of opensource) and have most of the advanced features you need (VoIP, etc). Those that is not available from within Asterisk itself can be added on from many third party vendors at a relatively low cost (opensource community).

Second choice are services like Aptela. However, costs have to be understood. $128/mth will be $3072 in 2 years which is the equivalent of purchasing your own phone system. However, it may be classified as expenses.

Third choice is the purchase of VoIP phone system. Entry level VoIP phone systems have limitations or the VoIP PBX big boys would have been wiped out overnight.

If you choose 1st or 3rd choice, remember to pay someone to do it unless you plan to go into this business yourself. This is because the phone is quite different from the PC (even for Asterisk that runs on a PC). For some idea of the difference, you can visit my website's articles.

Good luck.

packet8.com

If you already have a network setup with plenty of bandwith, I would suggest setting up a Asterisk box. Because it rans on Linux, and is opensource, it's fairly cost effective. The only cost is the server hardware, bandwith, and minutes.

In terms of minutes, you might want to try out: www.junctionnetworks.com
They are VERY good and cheap for DIDs and minutes.

Just my two cents :peace:

There's also Asterisk@Home, but don't let the name fool you. Asterisk@Home is a preconfigured copy of CentOS bundled with Asterisk and a few other tools.

Now been renamed Trixbox which we use. :) Very useful too.

Thanks guys, thanks EVERYONE.

Well, although we've gone with Aptela, the idea of renting a service for which one has hardware "on the shelf" is not letting me close this subject. Yes, Aptela does pretty much everything we want it to do, however, it'll be a set expense every month... I'm just thinking in the longrun. - Which brings me to Asterisk/Trixbox. That sounds like the best solution, however, I have a few quick questions, which I hope you guys can answer:

1. If we install it on one of our servers (maybe no too busy ones), do we NEED to install hardware on it, or, as its in a DS, we'd just use VOIP to connect our physical phones in our offices to our DS/Trixbox box?

2. ericclg, you mentioned that $3000 are basically going to set you up with a box. How can it be 3k if we're talkign about a computer with opensource SW on it? Do you mean the extra money is time and/or maintenance as well as PCI cards? Why would we want them if in question 1 they're not "needed"?

Sorry if I'm missing the obvious by asking the above...

.

You need a server and Trixbox (comes with CentOS).

The server doesn't need to be that great. We're running ours on an old 800Mhz with 128Mb ram. Works just fine. Admittedly we've only got 5 lines running off it - haven't tried anymore.

If we install it on one of our servers (maybe no too busy ones), do we NEED to install hardware on it, or, as its in a DS, we'd just use VOIP to connect our physical phones in our offices to our DS/Trixbox box?

I believe it'll just connect by VOIP without issues. You won't need additional hardware unless you want it linked in with a real line.

Didn't see the $3000 figure myself as I haven't read it thoroughly, but it cost us all of £50 (the value of the server effectively at eBay!).

PS: www.trixbox.org

would this help/work for anyone outside the USA or the UK ?

im facing the same issue and was looking at something similar to * back then and opensource too, but didnt look into it much

does * handle incoming faxes too and archiving/forwarding to emails or so?

Sorry, I meant that if you choose to subscribe to services like Aptela, then your $128/mth will cost you a total of $128 x 24 = $3072 in 2 years. For this amount of money you could have bought a small PBX system and use it for 10 years. This is how we normally explain the high running costs of such services.

The cost of Asterisk is very low compared to even a small PBX. However, it is not recommended to try install it yourself unless you plan to go into Asterisk business yourself. From a business point of view, it is more cost effective to hire someone who have experience to do it for you.

Yes, Asterisk handles fax but I have yet to try it out myself.

Hope it is clearer to you now.

would this help/work for anyone outside the USA or the UK ?

im facing the same issue and was looking at something similar to * back then and opensource too, but didnt look into it much

does * handle incoming faxes too and archiving/forwarding to emails or so?

Yes it would work just fine with USA / UK too! :)


The cost of Asterisk is very low compared to even a small PBX. However, it is not recommended to try install it yourself unless you plan to go into Asterisk business yourself. From a business point of view, it is more cost effective to hire someone who have experience to do it for you.


Bit of self promotion there? Come on, typically Asterisk isn't that hard to setup and have working just fine. ;)

Yes it would work just fine with USA / UK too! :)



Bit of self promotion there? Come on, typically Asterisk isn't that hard to setup and have working just fine. ;)
i meant im outside the USA/UK would it work for me?

also would it wor kfor regular analog phone lines?

OMG the cards is hell expensive !! http://www.digium.com/en/wheretobuy/digiumdirect/

it wont work without those cards or what?!

you dont need the cards. we dont use them.

i saw the junctionnetworks earlier, but does anyone have further suggestions for voip origination services to use with asterisk?

You only need those cards if you plan on connecting to the PSTN or using analog phones ("normal" phones).

Make sure you can provide network connectivity for the VOIP phones. You may also use Softphones which is just software that allows a computer to make VOIP calls, you will still have to buy a headset.

i mean i have analong lines which i want when people call a local call to our regular phone lines i can take the call and then redirect it via VOIP to another location and visaversa

anyone can recommend a company or freelancer to setup astreisk for me?

First a little voip jargon lesson:
an FXS interface is what you plug analog phones into.
an FXO interface is what you plug PSTN phone lines into.

You cannot do that without a card (or a standalone ATA)

Now assuming that you want to be able to call between "regular phones" and VOIP phones you will need (the number of phones required) FXS connections.

Frankly, depending on how many regular phones you have, it's probably alot cheaper to drop them in favor of new VOIP phones. (cheap ones will run ~$80USD, if you were looking at using analog phones it'd probably cost in excess of ~$120 per phone for a decent ATA).

Now how many PSTN lines do you have(you can still route calls from the VOIP phones over the PSTN)? (thats how many FXO interfaces you'll need, you can buy the cheapo single port cards for ~$30USD + shipping on ebay and various online stores)

Gives us some numbers and some info on your existing network and phone infrastructure?

How many phones do you need to add?
How many existing "regular" phones do you have?
Will you need to have cable pulled if your using only VOIP phones?
Will you need to buy additional switches/routers?
What kind of budget do you have?


anyone can recommend a company or freelancer to setup astreisk for me?


This would depend on your location, I don't remember seeing you mention it?

Edit: btw, you may want to start your own thread *grin*

Hi,

May I recommend GotVMail.com. We use them and they work well. I think they have all the functions you are looking for.

...
if you were looking at using analog phones it'd probably cost in excess of ~$120 per phone for a decent ATA).
...

linksys ata $50@officemax.

you said "decent" but how "decent" does it have to be to be acceptable?

linksys ata $50@officemax.

you said "decent" but how "decent" does it have to be to be acceptable?

Only linksys ATA's at officemax (I assume officemax.com) are locked in to vonage. This may not prevent some people but I definately wouldn't want to be stuck unlocking 10 or 15 of these not to mention dealing with the cabling and support issues.
eg.

Employee: "My phone won't work"
Tech: "Is your phone plugged into the ATA and is the ATA Plugged into the wall"
Employee: "What the hell is an ATA"
Tech: "The boxy thing that your phone is plugged into"
Employee: "Oh.... that thing that was taking up my cell phone chargers plug"
*grin*

While it still is possible, and hell I'd probably do it for a home setup, but for a office setup where reliablity matters -- I wouldn't bother.

Only linksys ATA's at officemax (I assume officemax.com) are locked in to vonage. This may not prevent some people but I definately wouldn't want to be stuck unlocking 10 or 15 of these not to mention dealing with the cabling and support issues.
eg.

Employee: "My phone won't work"
Tech: "Is your phone plugged into the ATA and is the ATA Plugged into the wall"
Employee: "What the hell is an ATA"
Tech: "The boxy thing that your phone is plugged into"
Employee: "Oh.... that thing that was taking up my cell phone chargers plug"
*grin*

While it still is possible, and hell I'd probably do it for a home setup, but for a office setup where reliablity matters -- I wouldn't bother.

The officemax site says "Status: Unlocked" last time i checked

Numaria, where did you get a SIP 0800 DID in the UK? I'm having trouble finding one and have had to setle for an 0845

And Asterisk can do everything you meantioned so far and I'm sure any thing else you'd need to do.

When a caller comes through on the main number here there is first a menu Tech support/Billing

After this the call is placed into what ever queue and a logged in agent picks up the call. During the call there is the option to quit and leave a voicemail. Voice mail is emailed to support staff.

Agents login to the system by either dialing the main number and selecting a hidden menu option or just dialing 10 from the office. After that they give thier login number and a PIN and last the extention or phone number they can be reached at, and the system will call them back if a call comes in.

I login from my mobile when I'm not in the office to people can tranfer to my queue.

You said you haven't been able to transfer calls internaly.. that must be a real pain.. its EASY with asterisk.

If you don't have a Linux server I'd get a little one. Asterisk doesn't need a hign end spec since most of the calls ar the same codec coming in and going out so it has very little real work to do.

hi Xeentech,

thanks for you message. Our 0800 isn't SIP. Is't PSNT, then diverted to our 020 SIP number from Gossiptel. They're really bad with support, and havn't answered any of my messages (voice and email) since before January!

We're going to go with Asterisk. Can we just install it onto a web server, or is it better to have a dedicated machine?

I run ours on a 1Ghz ITX machine (very under powered) and have tested it will a few inbound and outbound calls and a few on hold with the high-quality music on hold playing and the server load didn't come above 0.00..

Theres a firmware for the linksys routers that has an asterisk install on it so it can't be that demanding :P

The only thing you have to make sure is you have enough bandwidth. We have a 10Mbps line at the office so thats not an issue here but I've heard (duno if this is right) that its best to have around 192-128Kbps avaliable for each call otherwise they'd get choppy..

Install the tc and QoS on your webserver to prioritse your VoIP trafic and you should be ok. You've been using SIP so far so you know what it needs for bandwidth.

For help setting up check out voip-info.org

Oops.. voip-info.org isn't just for Asterisk but all voip.. it has a LOT of pages on Asterisk (wiki) and its often WAY better than the docs that come with :P

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk is the Asterisk start page!

thanks. Are there different types of tc and QoS software available?

Theres lots of differernt modles or modes of QoS in the Linux kerner, they're all in the networking/filtering section of the kernel config.

with the tc program you can actualy rezerve a certin allocation of bandwidth to a particular 'class'. SO generaly you'd make a class for VoIP and every thing else would go into the other class and you could keep say 256Kbps free and only used for VoIP trafic.

The more popular approch is 'fair-queuing' and qdisks.. The way this works is for each 'class' you setup theres a disc and trafic in more important classes jumps the queue of the other trafic or packets. This means you get to keep your bandwidth but also get garenteed bandwidth for VoIP and ssh etc.

I use it at home so I can run bittorrent on full blast and still have a ping of 8-15 on CS:S ;)

Again voip-info.org comes up good with info on QoS and how VoIP can be effected with Jitter and etc..

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/QoS

I found this thread very interesting as I am looking for a system too, but not on a windows box rahter on MAC OS. does anyone know is there anything out there on a mac or will we have to get a linux or windows computer ( :( )?

In order to keep things separate, as well as keep the phone system running in case of server problems or downtime, wouldn't it be good to rent the cheapest VPS money can buy? or is this false economy?

It might be an idea to keep a copy of the config files on a second machine, just incase.. That way you can just set the new one in to action if anything happens to your webserver. Wouldn't need to be anything fancy, maybe just a linux box that could sit in yor office powered off in the hope you never have to use it.

If anything did go wrong my phone system would be out.. but since teh same machine is the router for the office I'd be pritty screwed as it is ;P

And ldshoster: Asterisk works on MacOS X, and as a SIP Softphone on Mac OS I use SJPhone, theres a version for windows two.

i meant getting a $14,99 vps for PBX, so that it's "always online". Indeed, if the office router dies, couldn't one quickly set the remote pbx to divert to PSTN?

Thats easy, and in your situation I would actualy do that but we actauly don't have PSTN here.

Worce case.. I'd put my mobile on the site and have the 1800 and 0845 forward there. Put we have back up conectivity here and quick replacment hardware if that router was to pack in.

I'd set it up on one of your machines and if you like it yeah I think I'd get a VPS, or maybe if you had machines on another network I'd sick a back up copy on there and just start it up if the main one dies.

Yes it would work just fine with USA / UK too! :)



Bit of self promotion there? Come on, typically Asterisk isn't that hard to setup and have working just fine. ;)

Hi KI-ChrisE,

I don't do Asterisk consultation for phone system implementation. But I understand where you are coming from. I have seen a few customers learn to program keyphone system themselves and is happy to have all the phones ring together when there is an incoming call. However, if you need the operator phone to ring 3 rings before ringing the secretary (backup) after which all phones will ring together when the call is still unanswered, then it is pretty difficult to DIY.

The deciding factor is the complexity of the call flow and what you are paid to do. If I need a wheel and someone can supply one efficiently and effectively, then I would not bother to build my own.

Eric
phone-system-guru

The only thing you have to make sure is you have enough bandwidth. We have a 10Mbps line at the office so thats not an issue here but I've heard (duno if this is right) that its best to have around 192-128Kbps avaliable for each call otherwise they'd get choppy..

For help setting up check out voip-info.org


That bandwidth requirement really depends on the codec you're using. I belive there are commerical codecs that will reduce that amount greatly, but having a lot of bandwidth available is certianly a good idea.

Hi KI-ChrisE,

I don't do Asterisk consultation for phone system implementation. But I understand where you are coming from. I have seen a few customers learn to program keyphone system themselves and is happy to have all the phones ring together when there is an incoming call. However, if you need the operator phone to ring 3 rings before ringing the secretary (backup) after which all phones will ring together when the call is still unanswered, then it is pretty difficult to DIY.

The deciding factor is the complexity of the call flow and what you are paid to do. If I need a wheel and someone can supply one efficiently and effectively, then I would not bother to build my own.

Eric
phone-system-guru

I setup the phone system at my isp. We have an auto attendent and depending on which number you push a group of phones ring if no one answers then another group rings. We also have on hold music and some other things going on. Unless you have alot of time to become friendly with asterisk then I'd certianly recomend using a service like this. I did it myself, because I like to know how things work. If something breaks I know for a fact I can fix it. I'm not sure, but I belive something like asterisk@home might make this really easy. I haven't really got to play with it much. Hope this helps!

--freebsdmike