Has anyone implemented a corp. VOIP?

[DuffMan]

particularly interested in if your ISP is Telus, and really interested in if your VOIP was using MS Lync.

[simmer2]

I would like to know if this is worthwhile as well...

[Superflyer]

I implemented a new VOIP system about a year ago, out telco is Bell and our VOIP system is ShoreTel. We have recently implemented Lync but they are not tied together yet. Is there any specific questions you have? I can try to answer them if I can.

[GoinAllTheWay]

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We just installed ShoreTel last year too but we are with Shaw. What is "Lync"?

[Superflyer]

Lync is the newest version of Microsoft Office Communicator.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

Lync is the newest version of Microsoft Office Communicator.

Actually, Lync is just flat out awesome.

Not sure I'd want to admin it full time (I set up a small pilot for testing), but our corporate Lync system is amazing and game changing in terms of quick ad-hoc communications between team members.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

I implemented a new VOIP system about a year ago, out telco is Bell and our VOIP system is ShoreTel. We have recently implemented Lync but they are not tied together yet. Is there any specific questions you have? I can try to answer them if I can.

Yes, I probably have a bunch, but here's a couple for now.

Did ShoreTel do all of the interaction with Bell for this?

Do you still have a pbx?

Are your phones on a seperate vlan with there own ethernet cable or are they in line with the pc?

Tell me what all is inbetween a phone and the line out to the isp?

I looked into ShoreTel but they do not seem too keen on Lync, which is what I am going with. I think I found another company that does Lync. Eventually our corp HO is going to be putting in a main Lync box that I will connect up to.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Yes, I probably have a bunch, but here's a couple for now.

Did ShoreTel do all of the interaction with Bell for this?

Do you still have a pbx?

Are your phones on a seperate vlan with there own ethernet cable or are they in line with the pc?

Tell me what all is inbetween a phone and the line out to the isp?

I looked into ShoreTel but they do not seem too keen on Lync, which is what I am going with. I think I found another company that does Lync. Eventually our corp HO is going to be putting in a main Lync box that I will connect up to.

Yes they did all the work with Bell once we gave permission.

No we do not have a PBX now. All the work is handled by the ShoreTel system.

We debated the vlan but ultimately decided to not create one since the amount of traffic was not substantial enough to worry about and go through the work to create one.

OK I will try this one, first there is no connection to the ISP, it goes back to our Bell line and then a phone call is handled the same way as usual. As for the connection we start at the phone and then the data travels back to the hardware switches then it goes out to the Bell trunk line. Really there is not much in between.


Yes it does not work with Lync yet, they say it is coming but right now it is only OCS 2007.

I hope this helped if not I will try again.

[DuffMan]

Thanks for the info.

So are the phone and pc sharing one line back to the switch or are they seperate?

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Thanks for the info.

So are the phone and pc sharing one line back to the switch or are they seperate?

They are sharing one line but we could have separate lines. Due to lack of ports in the offices we had to share the line. It comes into the office then to the phone then to the PC.

[GoinAllTheWay]

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That's exaclty how we have ours setup as well.

[DuffMan]

approx. how many phones do you have?

how did you deal with fax/analog lines?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Not sure if your question was directed at me but....

We have 20 phones.

Fax line is a bit of an issue actually but that's because it's an older model. The fax line runs through the same network as the phones. It works for the most part but it is an analog fax machine and doesn't always like being on a digital line. If you have a newer fax machine you are probably going to be just fine.

[HotHotHeat]

I know my work piggybacks off Telus Internet to connect to the company wide AT&T VOIP, if that helps at all I have no idea.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

approx. how many phones do you have?

how did you deal with fax/analog lines?

We have about 150 phones.

For fax and a credit card machine we had our ShoreTel tech use the existing phone lines. They took the lines as they ran into the old PBX and run them instead to a switch. They then take the lines from the switch and run them into their ShoreTel switch which makes it function as if it a phone and sends the data back out the Bell lines like normal.
I know that is kind of an odd description but it is hard to explain. Basically the faxes plug into the same phone ports on the wall and the lines are run to the ShoreTel hardware to communicate with the outside world.

[Ashartus]

We've got a VOIP system we just started using a few weeks ago, but sounds like it's a bit different than what some of those above have. It's through RingCentral. Our ISP is Shaw - mostly because the Telus business plans had lower bandwidth. For senior people who tend to use the phone more we made sure we had separate data lines for phone and computer; for everyone else they use the same line.

Instead of having an actual fax machine it's basically all done by email. If we receive a fax, it is converted to a PDF and emailed. To send a fax again we basically scan (or otherwise create a PDF) and email it to the fax number (there are other ways to send faxes but I haven't bothered with them). We have no actual phone or fax lines operating.

The system definitely has some advantages, including being able to take my phone home if I'll be out of the office for an extended period of time and use it there with my work phone number. We can also have people working in other provinces have a Calgary phone number (or conversely we could get a BC phone number, for example, and use it here). I also get an email whenever someone leaves me a voicemail, which means I don't have to keep calling in to check voicemail if I'm out of the office. It does require a decent internet connection though, and even with that once in a while a call will have quality issues or just not go through.