Hello, as our business expands we are opening up another location in Chicago.

My boss asked me to find companies that provide VOIP services as there already in internet services through the ComCast.

I would like to know if anyone knows and recommends any of the companies that provide such services within downtown area.

Also, the recommended equipment to be used with service, Cisco, Awaya.

We're looking into about 8 lines and about 10 extensions, and ofcourse the ability to expand over time to say about 16 lines and 40-60 extentions.

Same post is in Phone Systems / Voip Systems » Other Systems, as I wasn't sure if this is appropriate category.

Thank you.

I think you need to be a bit more specific. Are you looking for SIP trunks? an IP phone system?

From the companies that I've been calling so far , looks like they provide the hosted VoIP services , all one has to do is to buy the phones. As far as the system goes, I would like to have an input on it as well , as there are some significant costs can be involved into a purchase, maintenance, and upgrades of it. I've read that those can be rented as well from the service provider, but again fees and fees involved, and I haven't had any luck finding a company that does that, meaning service and the system to go with it. There are quite a number of the companies that provide system only and support, but the service is not through them which makes it difficult for me to research being at different location in different state.

What is your motivation for wanting VOIP? In the long run, it is usually more cost effective to own your equipment and just pay for the monthly service you need. With hosted VOIP, you are basically renting your equipment most of the time. I am not a big fan of Cisco due to cost, but obviously I am a big fan of Avaya. A small IP office would do your chicago site quite well. You can choose from a variety of sources to get local service. With the IP Office, you can sign up with any number of nationwide SIP providers to get phone lines.

That's it. No advertising

I have to agree with Z. If it is a choice between Cisco, hosted services or Avaya, go with Avaya.

Look up Coral Tech on here.... he is in your area and extremely knowledgable .... he knows phones and computers so he is perfect for you!

Here is the thing, management still deciding, going back and forth and what not. One thing for sure they seems to like the system that is a hybrit type.
We had a case of merylin voice mail module crapping out , so I had to jerry rig the communications using regular phones at the receptionist desk , sure not convinient, but gave the ability for a receptionist to have a direct line in to answer incomming calls, use the merylin internally to communicate within the office to pass the message for some one to get in touch with a caller. Not the best solution, but temporary, somewhat inconvinient, managing voicemails on an answering machine was a nightmare to sort through and relieved to appropriate place, but worked until I received replacement. With true voip I would not of been able to do that , if isp would of crapped out, business would of been in a soup.

Why would you have to mess with regular phones if the voice mail went dead? ..... you should still have the phone system working ..... a quick call to your vendor to change ringing and you would have been all set!

There aren't many people around familiar with old school equipment, and those who knew it can't remember last time they worked on such extinct dinosaur.

Our regular guy was out on some other job that day unreachable, voicemail module was configured as auto atendant and only used a couple of main lines, so in a pinch I was able to hook up the 4 line phone and have it running. Without the working module the incomming calls were just ringing on callers end , and all we had was silince and blinking lines on mod 20, but who knew it was an incomming call, it looked like someone was just on the phone using a line.

If your phone guy is unreachable i would look for a new one ....... that is unacceptable in the telecom industry :bang: