atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX 3Com Telephones & Systems VOIP

I agree with Milestone. I don't think in some applications it makes sense though. I really hesistate to jump total IP unless it actually makes sense and has some legitimate redundancy. I prefer Hybrid tech for now. PBX systems have a proven 99.999% rate and you can't beat the quality of TDM voice. VOIP still has issues with fax/modems as well as well as having a true 90V ring current on analog lines. I delpoy quite a bit of IP and I can say that it's here to stay...is it equal in quality to traditional phones...negetive. Take a good IP phone sometime and a TDM side by side in real world conditions. You will see what I am talking about.

In this area 3Com saturated school districts, especially those that are rural with multiple locations. The VOIP is cheap, the IT guy at the school looks like a hero to the school board because of the cost ---until --- yep, the school news letter comes out saying the phones aren't really working so e-mail us. Then the data network is too weak to handle the load. Several years ago 3Com dumped hubs and routers at a reduced price to schools, now they're trying it with VOIP. Same poor results.

No doubt about it the network has to be up to the task and as always it will only be as good as the weakest link. On bigger installs we use VLANs to separate voice and data traffic.
I never really cared too much for the 3com product when we first looked at it when they first came out as NBX they definitely weren't ready for prime time and now there are so many choices.
I agree with Coral that there are still a few rough edges fax over IP definitely one of them on the majority of our jobs analog ports are used for doorphones, paging and lifelines.
The bad news for all of us is that VoIP networks if properly installed require very little maintenance and MAC's are as simple as unplugging your handset and walking over (or in some cases flying) to your new desk and plugging it in. Administration is done through a GUI interface which most IT guys can handle which means less visits from the white truck in the parking lot for the customer btu by the same token they can also be remotely administered so we can tell the customer that in most cases we can correct any issues remotely at an reduced hourly rate with no travel time all I need is a laptop and I can be anywhere which frees up our time for more important jobs like sales

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