[OPLINTECH] VOiP feeler

[Joe Knueven]

My initial inclination is to tell you that it’s ok to go to the SIP server level.  Here, we are running FreePBX, which is really just a web-based GUI for the Asterisk PBX system, which is built on linux and runs on common pc hardware.   Our phones are low end multi-line business voip phones.

In our case, our current iteration uses the full OS with PBX system available as an ISO installer here:
https://www.freepbx.org/downloads/freepbx-distro/.  If one was so inclined, one could install FreePBX by hand, or even Asterisk by itself, but then you would have to configure the system using text files on command line server, rather than in a web interface.  It’s do-able, but not worth the trouble if it can be avoided.

We’ve been using versions of FreePBX for at least 3 years now.  We have had occasional issues, though none of which were game stoppers, and this system allowed us to move up to voicemail, auto-attendants (in our case, for when we are closed), and other little things that one expects from a business phone system in the 21st century.

The big gotcha that I would recommend looking up now, whether you go with a SIP trunking service or a hosted PBX solution, is to look up who can offer phone service in your current telephone exchange.  One of the things we discovered was that because of the legacy of a local phone company in town here, the only places offering any phone service to a 937-855-XXXX number were the local POTS provider and TimeWarner.  In our case, we realized this about halfway through the process, and in the end purchased analog adapter boards for our PBX pc and went with TimeWarner business class for our phone service.  This didn’t save nearly as much money as a full on sip trunk provider would have, and our PBX cannot do as many interesting and useful things as I had wanted, but in the end we now have a modern phone system, long distance in the US and Canada are included in our TWC service at a cost that saves us a few bucks per month over the local POTS provider.  Our system is currently pushing 12 phones with 3 analog phone lines connected through the adapter.
One other gotcha I would mention is that you will want to be especially careful about your firewall settings.  I’m not sure what it would be like working with a hosted PBX voip provider, but with the sip providers I worked with, they all recommend port forwarding several ports to the PBX system through your firewall, and at one point I had to rebuild the installation because “something” on the PBX started sucking up pretty much all of our bandwidth any time the PBX pc could see the internet.  (I consider myself lucky at that point that I had the PBX and phones physically segregated from all of the ordinary PCs in our building)
I’ve since learned that there are ways to open ports exclusively to specific external URLs or IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses, and I would recommended that you either know how to do that on your current firewall, or find a firewall that can do such things without a lot of suffering on your part.

One nice thing about a system like FreePBX/Asterisk, is that because it is built on top of command line linux, it requires very little hardware.  For the first few years, we were running the system on retired public PCs that were somewhere in the 7-10 year old range.  This year we upgraded the system to where we are now using an off-lease thin client with a USB stick for a hard drive.
So, long story short, if you go this route, just about any current PC hardware will be adequate for your needs.

If you are tempted to try to go this route, one thing I would do is setup a rudimentary test system, to ensure that there are no odd networking issues that would interfere with calling when you have a PBX at your main library and some of the phones in remote locations.

If it works, a freepbx setup with a sip trunking service would likely minimize your monthly phone costs.
That said, something like a hosted PBX system with the same off the shelf phones is liable to show a decent savings over your current setup and would require less work/learning on your part on the front end and would be one less system to maintain in the long run.

Best of luck and have a good day.

Joe


Joseph Knueven
Director
Germantown Public Library
51 N. Plum St.
Germantown, OH 45327
937-855-4001
joe at gtownlibrary.net

From: OPLINTECH [mailto:oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org] On Behalf Of Tim Burns
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2016 12:29 PM
To: oplintech at lists.oplin.org
Subject: [OPLINTECH] VOiP feeler

Dear Brain Trust,

Today I am interested in (reconnoitering) a replacement phone system.

The way I understand it, my library (4 geographical locations) currently has 4 POTs circuits connected to a NEC-Aspire system. (I want to call it PBX, but it may not be exactly that.)

We have (not less than) 30 desk stations. We use voice mail, and an automated attendant gets first crack at incoming calls.

Please help me with sizing a system, finding a vendor, understanding quirks and gotchas of VOip…  Value is a big driver for this project.

I would be thrilled to train and understand on-site configuration, and expansion (using phones purchased at discounts … ). I like to think I can handle this as a do-it-yourselfer.  (I don’t think I’m going to the SIP-server level … unless you tell me it’s okay)

Wondering about eRate and OPLIN ramifications?? Internet is internet, right? Experiences and horror stories are welcome.

Tim Burns
Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County Ohio
tim.burns at birchard.lib.oh.us<mailto:tim.burns at birchard.lib.oh.us>
telephone: (419) 334-7101 extension: 239





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