[geeks] Phone system suggestions?

[Patrick Giagnocavo 717-201-3366]

On Thu, 2005-09-22 at 21:55, Phil Brutsche wrote:
> Nate wrote:
> > So day job is moving, and not too long ago added the phone system to
> > the list of many things I manage.  It's a Panasonic hybrid system 
> > (analog/digital over two wire RJ-11), and maxes out at 96 lines (half
> > digital, half analog), but the company could outgrow that (and 
> > managing it is a PITA), so it's time to look at something else. Would
> > you guys recommend Asterisk?
> 
> Asterisk is not appropriate for a business unless you use something like
> http://switchvox.com. Besides, the base Asterisk distribution, and even
> Asterisk at Home, fails on your first requirement: easy to manage.
> 
> For 96 phones, you *are not* going to find something that meets your 3rd
> requirement: not crazy expensive. Even with Asterisk you could easily
> spend $20k US just for the (Cisco or Polycom) phones.

The Budgetel VOIP phones are what, $65 each at retail (which means $6500 for 100)?  

And even the more expensive VOIP phones will have more features at the same price.  Nortel Meridian phones are $175 plus and then you still have to punch down the connection and program the switch properly...with these phones, you just plug them into Ethernet.

The Switchvox stuff looks nice.

--Patrick