Telephone Switchboard?

[jjtoymachine]

Ok,

A client has requested me to setup a switchboard for them. Is it possible to do such a thing on your own? I was sure that telkom would have to do it, because how would the extensions work?

If anyone could explain this to me I would be really happy

And looking around I can only seem to find VoIP switch boards, this wouldnt work in the same way right? Because this would be over the internet...and would be pretty pointless in SA, right?

 

[Franna]

The switchboard or PABX is what routes telephone calls in a company. Some of the best known names in SA is Alcatel and Avaya.

 

[jjtoymachine]

ok, now can you use one on a single telkom line? and route calls around the office while still recieving calls?

 

[WonderBob]

You will need multiple telkom lines.

I just installed (read: got a company to install) a new PABX for our office. We have 3x ISDN lines and 4x analog lines.

You need all the extra lines to enable people to dial out and calls to come in, if you only have 1 line only 1 person would be able to receive/make a call and potential customers will get a busy tone when they try and call.

Our system is a Ericsson and the installation was done by northen telecoms / hymax.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[jjtoymachine]

Thanks now it makes sense!! I was wondering how they were hoping to make multiple calls off one line!

Thanks a lot!!

 

[graviti]

Think of a switch board this way. You have 8 telephone lines coming in. You have 24 employees. Not all employees use a telephone at all times. So they can share lines. A switchboard basically takes those 8 telephone lines and shares them out as needed. A single telephone would be pointless for implementing a PBX. VOIP is a viable solution and does not necessarily require a Internet connection. If you run an office network, where you primarily share Word documents, and have a fair number of people, you can set up a VOIP server that allows you to put in telephone points without running telephone cables, as it uses the existing networking cables. If you operate branches, with a WAN connection, this is where VOIP can save you dosh. You can get a custom build, or get a commercial one. Siemens offer one of the better commercial VOIP PABX's.

All you need are X number of telephone lines from Telkom to share out, and an Interface (the PBX) to share those lines amongst X*y people.

 

[Jeeva]

Asterisk! Open Source PBX software - just get a machine load it up and all the intercompatibility hardware. And there you go.

Also check out www.openvoice.co.za

 

[BradDC]

I kinda agree with Jeeva. This is a bit of an old review but take a look http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/07/196222

Asterisk is deffo a robust economic solution.

 

[bdt]

Aye to what Jeeva said. You can buy the physical hardware that you have to connect the phone line(s) into and from there Asterisk (possibly ~@home for an easier to deploy solution) does in software what the (usually breathtakingly) expensive PABX hardware usually does.

..and can be expanded upon, and is ready for lots of other funky stuff that the $$$ PABX may not be able to do/yet do - at least without spending rather more $$$ in the process.

 

[Milano]

Have a look at:

http://www.telkom.co.za/attheoffice/services/huntingfacilities/index.html

The hunting facilities will allow the company to advertise one number although they have several lines.

When the call comes in to the one number, the call hunting service will search for a free line thus increasing capacity and distributing calls evenly.

If I am not mistaken most switchboards use call hunting.

 

[Tassidar]

Help with new switchboard

I am currently investingating installing a PABX system into our new offices. I have four quotes from:
Hymax
Plessie
Panasonic
Telkom (pretty much out of the picture)

Has anyone had experience dealing with these companies? I have the prices already, but am interested in service and support levels.

The system I am looking to install is a two-incoming, 4 extensions set up, with voicemail.

Thanks in advance

 

[JTech]

Hymax - incompetents
Plessey - Ex-telkom staff
Panasonic - Average to OK
Telkom - shocking! Even the telkom techs who maintain the lines hate these okes!

 

[bdt]

Asterisk may still be worth looking at but AFAIK it has a steep learning curve. The traditional (as in whenver a *NIX solution for anything comes out, some other bunch release a liveCD/precooked edition for all the n00bs out there) alternative is Trixbox that, considering their opening page says:

Trixbox enables even the novice user to quickly set up a voice over IP phone system. Trixbox can be configured to handle a single phone line for a home user, several lines for a small office, or several T1s for a million minute a month call center.

..may be worth looking at. And while the service/support aspect may be a bit more fiddly to set up in the short term, between this community (yay us!) and there being NO shortage of *NIX geeks out there, it's quite possibly something you could get sorted in short order. BTW, if you're bandwidth capped, I've got the cd downloaded; you're welcome to a copy. Oh, before I forget: Trixbox is the rebranded Asterisk@Home project, so this isn't some dodgy new thing that's not to be trusted or anything like that!

 

[Tassidar]

Hymax - incompetents
Plessey - Ex-telkom staff
Panasonic - Average to OK
Telkom - shocking! Even the telkom techs who maintain the lines hate these okes!

Jtech, I am specifically looking at Plessie (spelt differently from Plessey) and Hymax, as they offer the cheapest prices. Can you tell me a bit more, please?

@bdt
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I am not involved in IT, and don't really have the time to learn a complicated system. Also, to avoid telkom DSL, we are going to use Vodacom HDSPA, since our data requirements are quite low, which makes VOIP unviable. Will definately be interested in a couple of years, though, when VOIP becomes more mainstream.

 

[bdt]

@bdt
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I am not involved in IT, and don't really have the time to learn a complicated system. Also, to avoid telkom DSL, we are going to use Vodacom HDSPA, since our data requirements are quite low, which makes VOIP unviable. Will definately be interested in a couple of years, though, when VOIP becomes more mainstream.

Heh, your reply confirms your assertion that you don't know from IT. a 'soft'PABX solution like Asterisk/Trixbox is SO not (only) for VoIP: there's some very breathtakinly expensive hardware (relax, it's for the upper end of the game) that would go with this to interface to bog-standard phone lines, etc. The big difference here is that you're getting the PABX in software ..that make it less muddy/a little more appealing? Seriously though; while you may not be involved in IT, I have no doubt that if you try even a little, you'll find a tech or few you could ask (yes, even down there in the shadow of the Great Pebble *duck* ) for input..

 

[Tassidar]

Heh, your reply confirms your assertion that you don't know from IT. a 'soft'PABX solution like Asterisk/Trixbox is SO not (only) for VoIP: there's some very breathtakinly expensive hardware (relax, it's for the upper end of the game) that would go with this to interface to bog-standard phone lines, etc. The big difference here is that you're getting the PABX in software ..that make it less muddy/a little more appealing? Seriously though; while you may not be involved in IT, I have no doubt that if you try even a little, you'll find a tech or few you could ask (yes, even down there in the shadow of the Great Pebble *duck* ) for input..

Just so I understand (I am a bit slow at times ), I would get a plug-in board to a PC in the office, then install the free software, which manages the PABX, get an electrician in to install the lines, set up the PABX to how I want it configured, and everything should work. Is this right? Do I need a dedicated PC? Approx how much would this cost?

Thanks

 

[bdt]

Just so I understand (I am a bit slow at times ), I would get a plug-in board to a PC in the office, then install the free software, which manages the PABX, get an electrician in to install the lines, set up the PABX to how I want it configured, and everything should work. Is this right? Do I need a dedicated PC? Approx how much would this cost?

Thanks

That's the big picture idea, yes. You'd be dedicating a PC (which, compared to what's needed for today's 'doze desktop is pretty low end) to the task 'n putting in some telephony hardware (see these guys in your area: ask for Chris (but wait until Monday at least, right now he's up in Jozi at their Securex stand)) and not long after you (should) have a PABX. I can't comment on exact costs and such, but from a budget perspective, it's definitely worth looking at. If you don't like it, all you've done is used up some time and been exposed to the future of comms anyway ..not ALL bad, no?

 

[Tassidar]

That's the big picture idea, yes. You'd be dedicating a PC (which, compared to what's needed for today's 'doze desktop is pretty low end) to the task 'n putting in some telephony hardware (see these guys in your area: ask for Chris (but wait until Monday at least, right now he's up in Jozi at their Securex stand)) and not long after you (should) have a PABX. I can't comment on exact costs and such, but from a budget perspective, it's definitely worth looking at. If you don't like it, all you've done is used up some time and been exposed to the future of comms anyway ..not ALL bad, no?

Thanks, I will investigate it.