From: Spolidoro, Guilherme (Guilherme.Spolidoro@unisys.com)
Date: Fri Jul 01 2005 - 10:29:55 GMT-3
Asterisk is a great solution but has limitations:
1- You can purchase support through Digium - although I never used the paid support (only the one that comes when you buy a T1 card) I'm afraid you might be disappointed when compared to a Cisco TAC for example. I think Cisco's support is more professional.
2- I'm having serious problems when someone that is using Vonage, Packet8, etc dials Asterisk to check Voice Mail to join a Conference (meetme) bridge, DTMF is not recognized properly - it typically miss many of the digits. I've posted messages at the Bug list and called Digium (since we've purchase the T1 card) and no one was able to help me. The Bug list said that since I'm using the card this issues should be resolved through Digium. Digium says I need to purchase support. It might be both Asterisk and Vonage/Packet8 problem since Vonage/Packet8/many others use inland DTMF signaling. Still these people can join other conference bridge and check other voice mails - therefore I think Asterisk doesn't have a good DTMF decoder. This problem doesn't exist if you use a Cisco router as the Gateway (with a T1 card for example) - in this case the router will send these calls to Asterisk using SIP signaling - the downside here is that I never could completely get rid of the echo on!
the Asterisk meetme bridge.
Finally, when I talked to Digium I asked for a demo card along with some explanation of the scope of the project and how much $$$$$ was involved they said they won't do demos. Cisco is dying to get this business while Digium practically ignored it. Like I said before I fell like they have a completely different behavior from companies like Cisco, Avaya or Nortel for instance.
If you want to try Asterisk (I highly recommend) try downloading Asterisk@home, it install the whole thing for you on a PC with no effort. Just keep on mind that it will wipe out your entire hard disk. It also doesn't work on VMWare (it installs but I had some audio issues).
Between Cisco, Avaya and Nortel I would probably still pick Cisco. We use it in many locations including a CallCenter (with IPCC, Unity and all) and it works great - in my opinion as good as the other CallCenters that have Nortel/TDM switches. My only concern with Cisco is that CCM and the phones still use SCCP (Cisco proprietary protocol) instead of SIP. Yes you can convert the phones to SIP but CCM is not a SIP Proxy and won't manager your phones. I've heard the new release coming next year (CCM 5.0) might support SIP and Linksys terminal adapters (maybe even Sipura since Cisco acquired them?)- but these are just rumors...
I've looked at Shoretel in the past and seems like a good solution - although not as scalable in my opinion as Cisco but since I never tried I cannot comment much on that. I've tried (successfully) other smaller IP PBX's such as OnDO and it works fine for a small environment in my opinion (50-100 people maybe) - but costs little as well (around $1-2K).
Hope it helps. Good luck in your research.
BTW, I've used Cisco 7940, 7905, 7912 (all converted to SIP) and XTen softphone with Asterisk successfully.
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com]On Behalf Of
Patrick Lynchehaun
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 5:01 AM
To: john matijevic
Cc: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: voip solutions
John,
If you looking for the cheapest solution, take a look at the Asterisks pbx software server (freeware) SIP & AIX and can also connect to a standard pbx via T1/E1 card, so can route legacy voice over it.
Thanks,
Patrick.
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com]On Behalf Of
john matijevic
Sent: 30 June 2005 21:59
To: Group Study
Subject: voip solutions
Hello Team,
I am in the process of evaluating several VOIP design solutions for our
business. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Cisco, Avaya,
Shortel or any other solutions. Please contact me offline to discuss.
Sincerely,
John
-- John Matijevic, CCIE #13254 U.S. Installation Group Senior Network Engineer 954-969-7160 ext. 1147 (office) 305-321-6232 (cell)
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