VOIP installation/support needed in Stellenbosch area.

[dogphish]

I’m on a farm in Stellenbosch and am in the process of moving our admin team out of their current office into a bigger one as the team has outgrown the current location. As we’re starting anew I’d like to get a decent network infrastructure in place and install an Elastix/Asterix system at the same time.

Ideally I’d like a Stellenbosch based contractor/company to do the VOIP installation and configuration, and then any post-installation onsite support that is needed. We have an ADSL line currently and I will be upgrading the account to Webafrica 10Mbps uncapped business. My requirements are as follows (assuming an ADSL line is sufficient):

• 14x SIP hardphone installation and configuration (hardware to be provided by me)
• 1x SIP Switchboard phone installation and configuration (hardware to be provided by me)
• VOIP provider connectivity for outgoing and incoming calls
• 2x backup POTS lines for incoming/outgoing calls
• 1x Elastix/Asterix installation and configuration as a minimum (hardware to be provided by me)​

o Fax to email
o Voicemail
o Call recording (all calls recorded by default)
o Call hold
o Call waiting
o Conference calling
o Central phonebook
o Hunt groups
o Caller ID
o Call logging & reporting
o Call forward on busy and no answer
o Dial from Outlook
o Disaster recovery procedure for installation & recorded calls​

 

[gmza]

Snowball Effect are based in Stellenbosch. I have no idea whether or not they'll do a pure Elastix install for you without supply of hardware or phones, but you can try call them and see. Otherwise there are quite a few companies in Cape Town who can help you.

Personally, I wouldn't touch an asterisk installation on 3rd party hardware unless the hardware was ordered new to my exact specification. If I think back to how many nights I lost sleep discovering the eccentricities of particular servers, I'm just grateful that I discovered them before the devices went into production. Now I stick with hardware that is tried and tested and I know will cost a bit more but save 10 times the cost in man hours.

You run a very real risk that if you push a consultant into using your hardware, that you'll land up paying a whole lot more in hourly fees while they search for linux drivers, familiarise themselves with your hardware, etc. Also, don't skimp on hardware; Asterisk can be resource hungry, particularly when you throw the Elastix (FreePBX) GUI on top of it and when it has to conference multiple calls.

 

[InfinityMVS]

Hi DogPhish,

We will be glad to assist you with the solution as per your spec, I have pm'ed you my contact details should you wish to discuss further.

Regards

Eugene Meyer
InfinityMVS

 

[dogphish]

Thanks for feedback so far, I'll definitely be in contact in the next month or so.

With regards to hardware I would be sourcing the hardware myself but based on consultants recommendations, unless of course it proves to be more expensive, which 8 times out of 10 is not the case. Hopefully this will be one of the 2 exceptional times!

 

[InfinityMVS]

No problem, we will wait for your call, as far as the hardware is concerned we supply the hardware at wholesale pricing - you pay what we pay. I'm 100% sure this will be one of the two times.