sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Nortel Telephones & Systems Advice on multiple locations

I have a customer that has 30 locations and a headquarters.They want to find the most cost effective way to link these all together.

They have a MICS system at the headquarters.At each location they have 3 to 4 POTS lines.They are checking into putting PTP T 1's at each location for data.They would like to do away with the POTS lines (except for maybe one) and doing VOIP.

What is the popular solution and also what is cost effective?

All replies will be appreciated.

Multlink makes some VoIP products that may interest you. But, that would be a lot of bandwidth and some interseting routing to setup on a MICS. Plus, you need to account for 911 calls from the remote sites.

BCM 400 at host with BCM 50's at remotes on a Net VPN. You could also use IP phones at some of the smaller sites where you don't need a BCM 50.

I think BCM is the route to go. You can use MICS at remote location.

Good Luck!!

Maybe more of a question but why not Norstars VOIP gateway since they have a MICS? It will allow for interoffice calling and transfer of calls......It is reasonably priced and solves the problem. Why this is a question more then a statement is because I can't figure out why these aren't being sold.

Beth

Not to rain on anybody's parade. But there is no cost effective way to for this solution. 3-4 pots lines, implies a very small remote location and the time an materials to complete a job like this would be very cost ineffective. Basically they would never recoup the cost. Have them shop around for the cheapest LD rates, and possibly add Centrex features that would allow for transferring. Don’t bother with Nortel GW, it’s no better than any other third party VoIP solution.

Now if they have a lot of money to blew, then sell them a thorough IP solution, BCM or Cisco

What if the customer were to change out the MICS to a BCM 400?

Would I not be able to use the IP phones at the remote locations?Could I not use the PTP T1 for the IP phone? As long a I have the IP addresses assigned from the network to the BCM and the addresses assigned to the IP phones this should work right? The remote locations only need one phone.They could plug the phone into the network at the remote site and utilize the PTP T1 for VOIP. What am I missing?

Thoughts anyone??

Since they are looking for a data solution as well, my solution would be A MPLS service from a carrier using IP phones at the remotes and a BCM at HQ. Point to point t's are distance sensitive and can be costly and I agree that they would never see a ROI.

As with many applications there are a number of ways to solve the problem as well as pros and cons with each solution. It all depends on what risks and requirements the customer has...

JMHO,

Beth

Yes, the BCM 400 would accomplish what you described but are these locations within the same Toll Area or are they more spread out? Because if you want to keep a single POTS line at each location the IP phones (of course) cannot interface to them. I suppose you could connect an SLT at each one though.