ECN VOIP Services?

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malcolmm

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Hi everybody

I wanted to get some feedback from the forum about ECN and its services to the public. We are in the process of migrating our existing voice services from Telkom and LCR provider to a ECN solution. We are not a particularly large customer, we have around 40 employees with a PRI and 6 LCR's.

We are looking at keeping the PRI for incoming calls, and routing outgoing calls via ECN's SME VOIP Solution. The solution is based on a 4MB ADSL service, which is managed and monitored on our behalf by ECN.

Has anyone had exprience with ECN?
 
Hi,

ECN is a major player in the Enterprise market and were also very big in the cell routing days. The thing that strikes me about your post is that you only have 40 staff and you want to keep the PRI and look at a VoIP option on a 4MGB DSL. I would suggest that you cancel the PRI, you can do this even if it is still in contract (you just repay your discounts) port your numbers and run your whole solution on a 4MGB DSL, you can get enough capacity using such technology as IAX2 & ViBE (both only requireing 256Kbs upload for 28 concurrent calls) there are many other benifits of doing this above and beyond cost saving. I have written plenty regarding these two protocols recently and will be glad to give you further info if you want. I would also advise you implement 3G fallover so if the DSL bombs your service stays up.
 
You should look at the options out there. ECN is one of the better providers, but they do focus on the wholesale and corporate markets. There are a handful of other good providers who are more focused on your sized business.
 
Do you really want to become a Reunert Customer (most likely sitting somewhere in the Nashua Mobile sales mix) as the merger is already underway?
 
Friend!!!!
If you have a PRI which is 30 lines and 6 LCRs, this means that you have an average concurrency of 8 to 12 calls.

If they plan to run this over ADSL, you are in for VERY ROUGH SEAS.

Ask ECN to rather connect you up via Diginet, cancel your PRI and port your numbers to digital VoIP/ECN.

DO NOT run this setup over ADSL, you will regret it for life!
 
ViBE allows 30 simultaneous calls over 4MB adsl line

If you look at providers offering ViBE you can comfortably run 30 simultaneos calls over a 4MB adsl line linked to a decent exchange. The reason I say this, there are some Telkom exchanges in dire need of an upgrade, they are so old your get 50% line speeds with lots of jitter! Not good for anything really. Euphoria offers ViBE, you can learn more about it here or at www.vibesa.co.za
 
paulcolmer said:
I would suggest that you cancel the PRI, you can do this even if it is still in contract (you just repay your discounts)
Click to expand...

Paul, don't know where you get your info, but according to clause 8 of the telkom PRI contract it clearly states that ifyou cancel, you will have to pay telkom the full outstanding amount for the remainder on the contract period ?
 
Regarding the PRI, you pay the full outstanding amount if it's less than 12 months into the contract. Past 12 months you'll pay in the difference between the term discount rate structure you opted for and the 12-month undiscounted rate.
 
Thankyou gmza for clarifying the PRI issue. Now you know you can dump the PRI, what is the best solution to gain the cocurrent call rates you require ? Well, as George recomened ViBE, or IAX2. Both will give you the call concurrency you require but there are differences. ViBE can run off any IP PBX or can be hosted to any provider that supports it. It is however licensed and reqires additional hardware. IAX2 can run on any Asterisk based PBX, requires no additional hardware and no licence fees and connects to any provider that supports it, however hosting using IAX2 gives no bandwidth savings as the other two options.
So you make the decision, do i want my own PBX or do i host ? ViBE although it involves additional costs has some very nice features beyond compression, such as seamless failover and bandwidth management, George has given the link for the ViBE site.
You may want to look at an artical i wrote 'IAX2 & ViBE because Isaak Newton was wrong' http://www.linkedin.com/groups/IAX2...roup_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=.gmp_3381346 The reason i include this link is that it includes lots of feedback regarding IAX2 & ViBE and more importently input from Adam Hill who is the creator of ViBE software in the UK.
 
mo_to said:
Friend!!!!
If you have a PRI which is 30 lines and 6 LCRs, this means that you have an average concurrency of 8 to 12 calls.

If they plan to run this over ADSL, you are in for VERY ROUGH SEAS.

Ask ECN to rather connect you up via Diginet, cancel your PRI and port your numbers to digital VoIP/ECN.

DO NOT run this setup over ADSL, you will regret it for life!
Click to expand...

Yes don't terminate 30 channels over one ADSL, but you can do +/- 8 to 15 easily over ADSL via PPPoE. We are running 30 channels over 2 x ADSL , no problem. Most problems usually can be attributed to mixing data and voice, COS, QOS and physical line / copper issues.
 
Definitely worth shopping around. There are some good providers really transforming the market. We alone provide wholesale services to more than two dozen service providers, each of whom has strengths and weaknesses in different geographic areas and market segments.

One or two companies, especially with very critical inbound services, have opted for a BRI to replace the PRI, thus saving substantial costs by reducing capacity, but still maintaining that backup on incoming calls. Not my first choice, but I mention it for the sake of completeness.
 
The previous post is interesting in the fact that if companies have critical inbound services, the last thing they need is a BRI ! If the line goes down, your inbound numbers go with it ! In a VoIP enviroment with a 3G DSL router, your DSL goes down and you still get your inbound calls via 3G. In super critical situations we can even agregate the ports into a single trunk so that if any port fails, such as the DSL line not only can we continue to recieve calls but active calls are not affected, so we have what is called 'seamless failover'. Try that with ISDN (inovations that subcribers don't need !)
 
Best ADSL modem for 3G failover

Any recommendations for a reliable, cost effective ADSL/3G failover modem for VOIP?
 
mo_to said:
Friend!!!!
If you have a PRI which is 30 lines and 6 LCRs, this means that you have an average concurrency of 8 to 12 calls.

If they plan to run this over ADSL, you are in for VERY ROUGH SEAS.

Ask ECN to rather connect you up via Diginet, cancel your PRI and port your numbers to digital VoIP/ECN.

DO NOT run this setup over ADSL, you will regret it for life!
Click to expand...

I agree here I've met too many clients that tried the ADSL route and got burned badly.

If you really want to use ADSL then leave your incoming lines with Telkom and switch your outgoing calls to ADSL, this way atleast when things go south your incoming lines still work.
 
I will gladly assist you but have to ask the question with regard to VoIP. Do you want a VoIP router. ie FXS/FXO ports or just a DSL router that you are going to SIP via the LAN and require QoS ?
 
LouisMo said:
Any recommendations for a reliable, cost effective ADSL/3G failover modem for VOIP?
Click to expand...

You should try the Billion 7404VGOX router. We have over 300 users on our network using the router since 2008, and it works like a charm. ADSL with Multiple PPOE and 3G Failover. We customised it for SA standards and re-labelled it O-Box. We've moved on since then to Enterprise Leased Lines.

You may contact Nology.co.za for this model, although I do not think it's available in South Africa, but you can get the nearest compatible model (7404 VG/7401) , Ensure you take your 3G stick with you to test the router's compatibility. You can also get these routers from any Matrix store or call JC at HSN Solutions on 011 826 5555.

Note: this router is strictly for home or Small Business use.
 
TheGuy said:
I agree here I've met too many clients that tried the ADSL route and got burned badly.

If you really want to use ADSL then leave your incoming lines with Telkom and switch your outgoing calls to ADSL, this way atleast when things go south your incoming lines still work.
Click to expand...
+1

Another suggestion,
Port your main number and link up using a Leased Line. This way you'll be fully on Digital Telephony and a stable connection.
You'll save plenty money before you make a single phone call as you will then not need to hire Telkom lines!

See Leased line prices here:
www.otelafrica.com/services/leased-line/
 
I agree with Mo, the Billion 7000 series are solid routers and the QoS is easy to set up, i have many in the field, just remember one thing when using these routers for VoIP, the SIP ALG is enabled by default, i would strongly advise that you disable it, there have been many issues with this in the past.
 
TheGuy said:
I agree here I've met too many clients that tried the ADSL route and got burned badly.

If you really want to use ADSL then leave your incoming lines with Telkom and switch your outgoing calls to ADSL, this way atleast when things go south your incoming lines still work.
Click to expand...

Or use the Telkom for failover so that you can still make calls regardless of ADSL status. I mask the outgoing calls to look like they are going out on Telkom lines so no one really knows which trunk is active.
 
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