[geeks] IP Telephony

[nate at portents.com]

> Hey all!
>
> Here at $WORK we're evaluating a slew of new Telephone Solutions, most
> of which use VOIP to some extent or another.  Do any of you have
> real-world experience with VOIP in the office?  Any favorite links to
> *useful* sites (as opposed to the information overload Google seems to
> provide)?

I've used Switchvox for a couple of years now, has worked well for what
I've used it for:

http://www.switchvox.com/

You basically buy a turn-key PC that has their front end pre-installed
running on top of Asterisk running on Red Hat Linux, and pay annually for
support (software updates and phone/email support).  Compatible with a
wide variety of SIP phones, which I've ordered primarily from here:

http://www.voipsupply.com/

There's a lot more I *could* be doing with the system, which I'm not, due
to time constraints, so I'm not sure I'd be the best person to talk about
the full range of it's features and how well they all work.  It's been
reliable though and I've been happy enough with it.

- Nate