sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems digital vs ip phones

Have a customer w/ multiple locations. All but two currently employ IP Office systems, that we have installed. All with 5410 or 5420 digital phones. They want us to replace the phone system in their main location (currently Nortel) w/ a new IPO and ultimately tie all of the locations together w/ SCN. The customer has asked that I quote him digital and IP phones. I have not put in an IP phone on the IPO yet, so not sure what to expect. None of the phones are off-site. All would be on-site, and their current system uses digital phones. The phones I am quoting are the 9508 and 9608. Am I correct in assuming that there is not a thing that the 9608 IP phone can do that a digital 9508 can't do?

In my quote (needs about 40 phones) the digital option is higher than the IP phone option, but that does not include them having to get new network gear that would provide PoE. I would imagine that after buying those, the quotes would be close to each other. I am really thinking digital is the way to go here, but should I just bite the bullet and go IP instead if those phones give me any advantage? Also, is there a general rule of thumb on how many VCM channels one should plan for on a system w/ IP phones?

If they do not have a network that can already handle voice, i would stay digital.
There is no magic feature that they will get by using VoIP. on an IP Office, you can do the same thing on a voip phone that a digital phone can do.

If there is no added advantage, then I think that digital is definitely the way to go. No having to worry about PoE, QoS, ot other random network issues affecting the phones (ie DHCP, network congestion, etc.) Would also eliminate the phone system should they ever have any network issues arise.

The facility is all wired w/ CAT 5, just would be a matter of switching gear that would have to be installed. I just need the know the re-assurance that I am not going to be missing some sort of "must-have" feature if I do not go the IP phone route.

On upgrades where the customer already has voice (Cat 3 or lesser)cable installed we recommend digital also.
But on new build outs we always recommend VoIP to the desktop. Cuts down on the cabling and most customers love the ability to move phones with just plug and play.

mdaniel,

On those new installs, are you running the IP phones and all of their LAN equipment on the same cabling/network?

On the same cable but segregated networks.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions guys. I appreciate it. Beings I do not gain any real advantage using a 9608 IP phone over a 9508 digital phone (minus the ease of moves and changes perhaps) I think I am going to push the digital phone option, simply for the fact that we wont have to re-engineer their network to make it work.