AT&T IP Flex Service on Magix 4

[bryandj23]

Hi All.

We've had AT&T reps coming to us the past few weeks, proposing we move to their IP Flex service. The cost savings looks good on paper, but I'm curious as to how this is all going to work out.

The AT&T tech I've spoken with says that our Incoming bonded T1 at the main location, and standard T1 at our satellite office will connect to a Cisco 2800 series router, which will then connect to the 100DCD card. The translation of IP to "PRI" will take place on the router, and the merlin magix should work just fine.

Given the fact that our trunks are all currently analog POTS lines, I'm assuming there's going to be quite a bit of programming to be done at both sites on the merlins.

Has anyone ever heard/seen/worked with this type of setup, and could you maybe shed a little flicker of light as to what I'm looking forward to in regards to programming?

Thanks in advance.

Bryan

 

[bryandj23]

This is AT&T/SBC/Ameritech/Michigan Bell/Hand Over Your Mortgage So You Can Pay Our Bills/or whatever they wish to call themselves this year.

The $5,000 is the total bill; our first bill was to the tune of $1,400 for the data services; the original design called for two bonded T1's here at our main office, and a single T1 at our satellite office. They installed two bonded T1's at the satellite office as well; that's another complaint for another time. Why they didn't follow their own design...not my problem (at least the way I see it).

Since we technically are using those circuits for data purposes, I don't dispute that we owe them SOME money; but when our finalized contract stated that our flat-rate charges (before calculating call paths, etc) would be to the tune of ~$800, there's obviously a billing problem. That was the November/Early December Bill. Our latest bill charges us for the same "services" as before, but this time the bill is $3,000 something.

Like I said, a bunch of clowns on the top floor dressed in expensive suits rolling the dice to decide what gets printed on paper, and sent to us in the form of a bill.

 

[bryandj23]

This is what I love most about our implementation. I received an email from our "Service and Delivery" guy for our satellite office. He describes the PRI handoff from the cisco router: "It is NI2, B8ZS line code, ESF framing."

After telling these people time and time again that we need 5ESS protocol, not NI2. I reply to him, explaining our requirement. The reply I get:

"IF that is the case than engineer at the day of turn up will change it to 5ESS. It wont be any problem.

If you can please inform engineer at the day of turn up that you want 5ESS and they will do it."


I was thrown back. Isn't that this guy's JOB? To assist in providing us a service that is compatible with our infrastructure?

I wish the billing department worked this way. "If you could please inform the billing specialist that you want to pay just $250, and they will do it".

 

[CarGoSki]

You could try replying with "hey ya stupid f**kers NI2 does NOT work with Merlin. You should know how the ATT/Lucent/Avaya Merlin works."



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Test sig

 

[CarGoSki]

Excerpt from IAD "show isdn status"

Global ISDN Switchtype = primary-5ess
ISDN Serial0/0:23 interface
******* Network side configuration *******
dsl 0, interface ISDN Switchtype = primary-5ess
----------------------------------------------------------

Excerpt from IAD "show run"
isdn switch-type primary-5ess

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My good deed for the decade.

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Test sig

 

[dagwoodsystems]

I continue to stand behind post #2. They're getting better, but their centrally-located implementation group has far to go. These things come and go in wide waves. Two or three years ago I would have never steered anyone toward XO, but their single T1 flex product is rock solid (I can't say the same for their bonded T1 stuff). I'm still partial to Paetec and Telepacific these days. TPac tends to have a slightly smaller recurring costs, but it takes them many times longer to implement changes to EXISTING services than just about any other provider. Just 2¢ from a) an old goat or b) a guy that's been in the biz for 19 years or c) a little of both.

Tim Alberstein

http://www.dagwoodsystems.com

 

[bryandj23]

Hey all. I've have some updates and latest news on this project; just too burnt out from being on the phone with AT&T all afternoon discussing issues. I'll post back more tomorrow.

To make a long story short...if it ain't broke...don't fix it. We're 99.9999999% sure we're pulling the plug on this whole ordeal.

If the beancounters say the 2k, 3k, or 4k in annual savings is worth it, point them to this thread. Once you take into consideration additional equipment and services needed (or, if AT&T would have been up front with us about things in the first place), you'll find that the labor and parts aren't worth the savings....at least if you're on a networked magix system.

 

[dagwoodsystems]

Three stars and an archive, but I still don't know what I'm talking about.

Tim Alberstein

http://www.dagwoodsystems.com

 

[bryandj23]

Tim..

Trust me that your expertise had not fallen on deaf ears. Unfortunately, it was not my choice to move forward with this solution; it was only my job to (attempt to) implement it.

Had the final decision on this been mine, we would have not even wasted our time with this. I was only able to stress concerns to the Owners.

I highly value everyones advice and opinions on this forum.