Small office pbx
December 10, 2009 5:29 AM Subscribe
Small office (4 people) PBX options and differences?
A small group I work with has 4 employees (possibly growing to as many as 8 in the next 2 years) and is looking at a PBX system that will allow calls to passed through to a pair of "operators", if they don't answer, go to a IVR with a directory and independent voicemail. They feel DID is important.
It seems as though many PBX systems aren't setup to grow to over 4 lines and still allow DID affordably. Options such as the Talkswitch and Digium AA50 are compelling.
A small group I work with has 4 employees (possibly growing to as many as 8 in the next 2 years) and is looking at a PBX system that will allow calls to passed through to a pair of "operators", if they don't answer, go to a IVR with a directory and independent voicemail. They feel DID is important.
It seems as though many PBX systems aren't setup to grow to over 4 lines and still allow DID affordably. Options such as the Talkswitch and Digium AA50 are compelling.
I used to be an administrator for a phone system with about 25 extensions or so using a pretty ancient PBX, and at the time I left I was researching alternatives including Asterisk.
If I were in your shoes I would totally avail myself of a hosted IP solution. There are lots of little companies out there that'll sell you IP phones with those capabilities with no equipment needed at the office (save for the phones of course). After being responsible for dealing with hardware, I'd have to say the less of it I have to deal with, the better.
For a large company? Sure. But for something small just let someone else deal with it. Less capital outlay too.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 6:54 AM on December 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
If I were in your shoes I would totally avail myself of a hosted IP solution. There are lots of little companies out there that'll sell you IP phones with those capabilities with no equipment needed at the office (save for the phones of course). After being responsible for dealing with hardware, I'd have to say the less of it I have to deal with, the better.
For a large company? Sure. But for something small just let someone else deal with it. Less capital outlay too.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 6:54 AM on December 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
I would consider two alternative approaches.
One is hosted solutions like voipfone (UK), sipgate for teams (USA) and give each one of your agents a sip phone on their desks (which they can take home if they want to work from home). All features such as call waiting, hold, transfer, forward etc work just like your own PABX at the cost of per extension costs. This option is great especially if you are in the business of receving calls (making calls can be expensive as you pay the providers rates. All this configurable on the web.
Second option, which is more DIY, is to use something like Fritzbox which is a small device which allows you to programme 10 incoming sip numbers (these can be your DIDs), you can attach a number of DECT handsets + two normal phones via RJ45. Each number can be routed to a different dect handset. Calls can be forwarded from one handset to the other. If you have outgoing calls you can route them via your favourite cheap provider using dialling rules and all such stuff. I think you can put 8 DECT handsets.
I use the second option and it works very well.
posted by london302 at 11:19 AM on December 10, 2009
One is hosted solutions like voipfone (UK), sipgate for teams (USA) and give each one of your agents a sip phone on their desks (which they can take home if they want to work from home). All features such as call waiting, hold, transfer, forward etc work just like your own PABX at the cost of per extension costs. This option is great especially if you are in the business of receving calls (making calls can be expensive as you pay the providers rates. All this configurable on the web.
Second option, which is more DIY, is to use something like Fritzbox which is a small device which allows you to programme 10 incoming sip numbers (these can be your DIDs), you can attach a number of DECT handsets + two normal phones via RJ45. Each number can be routed to a different dect handset. Calls can be forwarded from one handset to the other. If you have outgoing calls you can route them via your favourite cheap provider using dialling rules and all such stuff. I think you can put 8 DECT handsets.
I use the second option and it works very well.
posted by london302 at 11:19 AM on December 10, 2009
I too would suggest an asterisk based system. At home, I run PbxInaFlash.
In order for it to work properly though, you need good hardware. There are a lot of horror stories about how someones server crashes all of the time. What you usually find out, is they took the oldest junk computer, and tried to use it as their PBX.
You also need to know about networking, phone systems and not be scared of linux. While I don't always hear about a significant cost savings, the features usually make up for it.
posted by Climber at 11:51 AM on December 10, 2009
In order for it to work properly though, you need good hardware. There are a lot of horror stories about how someones server crashes all of the time. What you usually find out, is they took the oldest junk computer, and tried to use it as their PBX.
You also need to know about networking, phone systems and not be scared of linux. While I don't always hear about a significant cost savings, the features usually make up for it.
posted by Climber at 11:51 AM on December 10, 2009
Is a simple 4-line analog (eg. Panasonic) keyset too primitive?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:49 PM on December 13, 2009
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:49 PM on December 13, 2009
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You can also talk to someone like Digium and their switchvox SOHO offering (1-20 users) if you want it to just work. Or you could choose the free option and pay for support to get you over any hurdles you might encounter.
posted by Static Vagabond at 6:06 AM on December 10, 2009