atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX VoIP & Cloud Phones, Hosted PBX, General IP Phones what are the biggest downfalls with cisco, shoretell, and 3 comm?

Verizon is pushing FiOS because they are not required to give access to clec's. It will also be cheaper in the long run because they will not have to provide power. You get 4-hours from a back-up battery in a black out, then you lose phone. They are also not maintaining the copper plant anymore here. They patch it as needed. Most new developments are only getting FiOS pulled to them. And wherever they install FiOS they pull the copper out and refuse to re-run it if you decide you are not satisfied.

It seems like half of it is to be competitive and the other half is to not.

Time Warner/Brighthouse is definitely using a privatized IP network over their CaTV. You can actually see the IP on the diagnostics screen. The serial numbers are the MAC Address' of the boxes that they program into their provisioning servers.

While I don't want to get into the endless debate of why VoIP is better than real phones systems, I would like to correct this statement you made. It is simply not true.

You'll probably find that most of us HAVE deployed VoIP with positive results. We use it to network systems via an existing (hopefully managed) IP pipe. Or, we use it for a few remote phones. That is where VoIP works well.

What we, who have been doing this for years and are accustomed to systems that run problem free for years, don't believe is that VoIP is the best method for everything. TDM systems, POTS lines, T1's and PRI's are still much more reliable than pure VoIP systems.

I agree. I should have worded my post better. VoIP is not the end-all answer.

To get back on topic. Not into another endless debate.

I have been in the industry on the carrier and interconnect side for many years. VOIP is good in the proper enviroment.

In my opinion. I repeat my opinion.

If I were to advise an IP system I would probaby go with several that I have seen customers like.

Shoretel is probably the most liked from the many I have talked to. Although as brought up earlier is currently in a law suite with Mitel.

Mitel I have not seen but have been told it works well.

Allworx is an up and coming player in the complete IP system industry. Works well on SIP Protocol.

Alitgen. I haven't seen much of, but the ones I have seen it is about 50/50 on like/Dislike. Not good enough for me personally.

Cisco don't advise. I have not had one customer that has been installed with a cisco system that has liked it completely or even mostly. This is a over priced boat anchor. Not very feature rich or very flexible. Stay clear.

3com. This has not been really changed a whole lot since it's introduction in the 90's. Don't advise.

As for systems that are traditional with VOIP options. There are many that work well. NEC, ESI, Panasonic, and Vodovi are the ones that come to mind. I have seen all these in place and customers very happy with them.

Hope this helps.
Brian.