Hey all. I was given the task last week to see how difficult it would be to move 10 phones from 1 building to another while staying on the current CTX 670. Ive boiled it down to 2 different scenarios: buy 10 IPT1020 phones and program them in my BIPU-M2A so they use the internet in the new building, or should I network the 2 buildings and install a base cabinet in the new building? What is the easier route? What would you recommend? Before this job i'd never administered a CTX phone system so my knowledge on them is small but growing. Thanks in advance.

I think it would be less expensive to just add the phones at the other location assuming you have enough bandwidth. Assuming they won't all be on the phones all the time that would seem to me to be the easy and less expensive solution.

Setting up a VPN for the IPT's would be easiest I think.

Are the 2 buildings close to each other?

Well they aren't even sure. They said it would probably be just down the street so I would say less than half a mile at the most.

We just set up a WiFi bridge between 2 buildings and it supports voice and data for about 10 users in the remote building.

There was obviously some up front cost involved for the equipment but it is giving them a solid 160 Mbps link without having to pay for a circuit at each end.

I confirmed today that it is in the same business complex as we are in now, so not even a quarter mile. It seems like they will just go with the 10 phones. If they were to go with connecting the buildings, I would need an expansion cabinet in the new building with 2 RRCU1A cards (1 in each building) correct?

Do you have a path to run a new fiber cable to the new building? You could use 2 fibers for the PBX, then another pair to link the data.You should be able to have a run up to 3 Kilometers for the PBX. It's been a while since I have specified fiber for data, but 2 K feet should be fine.

Sadly I don't, and I know they wouldn't want to pay to have it done. I gave them the choice to do wireless between the buildings through a 3rd party carrier but the monthly cost is too much for them. Buying used IPT phones is what will happen in the end I assume. I will just put the phones on a separate DSL and the computers on another DSL.

could figure how many of those 10 phones would be in use at the same time? A standard Async DSL usually does not have a great upload speed. If you used G.729A compression then each phone would use about 40-50 Kbps. With most DSLs having upload speeds of about 384 or up to maybe 512, you would have a hard time using all 10 phones at the same time.

I think seperating phone and data will really help quality issues. You would also have to consider the bandwitdh up and down and QOS on both ends.

Check out EZ Bridge. We have set a few up, they go in in a matter of minutes and are very stable. Require line of site, and our longest jump is about 500 yrds, although they to go much longer.

At most maybe 5 phones will be used at once. The DSL that would be in the building has 768 upload which should be enough for just phones.

I looked at the EZ Bridge. It seems like a good and cheap idea but I still would need to spend around $3000 just to get the cards to network the 2 cabinets. That's twice what I'm looking at for just the IP phones.

You've got the IP card, you COULD get used phones if you had to save money. The DSL lines for just phones is the way you go and you'll have plenty of bandwidth for just 5 phones active at a time, not likely an office of ten people will all be on the phone at a time if they are not telemarketing.

We use the EZ Bridge with just the IP phones with no remote cabinet. EZ Bridge -> PoE Switch -> IP Phones.

One time cost as opposed to monthly DSL service. A ton faster than the 768 DSL connection, so it will support voice and data for a good number of users.

So you just have 1 EZ Bridge at each building, then plugged into a switch at each end?

At the main location the EZB plugs directly into their network switch.

At the remote location, the EZB plugs into a network switch which also supports the IP Phones and PC's.

Think of the EZB as a log patch cord connecting 2 switches in the same building. All you have to do is make sure they are addressed correctly, and if I remember correctly there is one QoS setting that we had to change.

Hmm, I guess it wouldn't hurt to put this in the proposal. Does the weather seem to have any affect on the signal from what you have seen?