system with their HiPath Xpressions 8000 system for voicemail. We have put
all of our switches on a UPS and wired the UPS to the main school emergency
generator. (Our server room generator is separate). Certain cell phones can
have a client installed that allows them to act as part of the phone system
over our wireless network. For example, when my desk phone rings, my cell
phone rings simultaneously and I can answer either one.
Issues we have had are:
1. Some choppy voices. Siemens has tweaked the system and upgraded codecs t=
o
reduce this.
2. Dropped and improperly routed calls due to software and firmware upgrade=
s
on servers and handsets being out of sync.
3. Inability of Siemens to understand their own system. It was a new system=
,
but their organization seemed to struggle with implementation, which caused
dissatisfaction among our users. Unfortunately, this occurred when
Telefonica was even more unreliable than normal, but people tended to blame
the Siemens system for all phone issues, even though more than half of the
issues were caused by Telefonica.
4. We connected the phones to the switch and then connected the computers t=
o
the phones. When we had handset problems, the connected computer stopped
working.
5. Poorly implemented system design for connecting to cell phones acting as
handsets. When the phones were not logged into our wireless system, the
calls would route through the cell system and drop the call on the desk
phone so users couldn't answer calls if their cell phone ran out of power o=
r
they accidentally left it somewhere.
We now have:
1. A website (feature of the system) where users can log in to listen to
their voicemail or look up an extenstion.
2. Fewer problems than with our system. I'm not sure that any of the others
(Cisco or Avaya) would have been any better as all have had problems in our
market.
One thing you do want to have is the ability to plug your main switchboard
directly into the phone server in case you have a network problem.
--=20
Derrel Fincher
Director of Information and Communication Technology
Graded - The American School of S=C3=A3o Paulo
http://www.graded.br | (55 11) 3747-4800 x160
On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 6:52 PM, Jack Hardcastle
<jwhardcastle@mcdonogh.org>wrote:
> We're in the initial discussion phases regarding converting our existing
> NEC PBX system to a modern, VOIP-based solution. The primary driver for =
us
> (beyond all the great new features we'll get and the ease of maintenance)
> are safety concerns. Putting a network-attached speakerphone in every
> classroom for public address and emergency broadcast messages seems like =
a
> no-brainer to us.
>
> With that said, I don't see many recent discussions on this list about VO=
IP
> solutions or VOIP providers. For those that have already made the switch=
,
> are there drawbacks? Unexpected benefits? What about recommendations
> regarding hardware and service providers? How did you handle loss-of-pow=
er
> or loss-of-Internet concerns? We're looking into redundant broadband
> (copper and fiber) and we're working with a local UPS reseller to beef up
> our batteries.
>
> For those who haven't switched, what are your concerns (other than cost)?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jack Hardcastle
> Director of Technology
> McDonogh School
> Owings Mills, MD
> jwhardcastle@mcdonogh.org
> (410) 581 - 4754
>
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