BCM 50 Alternative 2

[Martin30]

I am looking for replace my old bcm50 by something more recent.
I don't want spend 2000$ us for that.

I have 2 Analogue Trunk line Telco
6 station

and auto-attendant

What would be your advice.

Thanks for your help

 

[curlycord]

What is the reason for changing will be the biggest question.
Is there certain features that you require?

Grandstream might be an option since you have a tight budget.

________________________________________
We take the time to try to answer your questions for free, please return the favor and take the time to answer back and include any resolution you found elsewhere, thanks.

=----(((((((((()----=

http://www.curlycord.com

Toronto Canada

http://www.telcopc.ca

 

[RLSbutton]

So how much do you want to spend at most?

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[telcodog]

You can go with an Avaya IP Office as it supports the Norstar/BCM phones but if you do, well, you have to deal with Avaya (no fun).

With a BCM50, your best option is to go with the emetrotel UCx. They have several models to choose from but given you're replacing the BCM50, you would be looking at either a UCx20 (good for 25 sets) or a UCx50 (good for 80 sets). They support all Norstar/BCM phones and work pretty much exactly the same as they do now. You don't get rid of the BCM, you replace the drive in it with an SSD from emetro which turns it into a Digital Gateway that supports the digital sets. If you have all IP sets, then it's not even required. It supports all DSM type modules so you don't have to mess with any wiring.

There's a lot of info on this site regarding this system so have a look at the emetrotel forum. You can also go to their website at emetrotel.com. You may have noticed that they are running an ad on Tek-Tips right now as well.

Hands down this is the best option for anyone who has a Nortel based system looking for a replacement/enhancement for it.

Good luck in your search.

 

[phoneguy610]

have to agree with curly cord, if you want to go the inexpensive route, hosted solution is your best bet as long as you have a reliable internet connection.

6x2 systems usually run anywhere from 100-150 a month (replaces your phone lines) with little to no up front costs (usually just the handsets)

 

[telcodog]

Stay away from hosted.........it always sounds good up front with low numbers, but remember, this is monthly for as long as you have a contract.

I work for a big telecom that offers it on a few different platforms and about half who jumped on the bandwagon can't wait to get off it and go back to their owning their own stuff.

The Grandstream is a nice little SIP system but you do have to rip and replace as well as retrain.

 

[phoneguy610]

telcodog i beg to differ. We have a reference sheet of over 100 clients that rave about it. Its all about who you use and your internet connection. And many existing telcos have a contract. The one year you sign with a hosted provider is no differnet then the one year you sign with verizon.

6 phones and he wants his up front costs to be minimal what would be a better alternative? To buy a pbx for 1-2k minimum and that doesnt include installation, handsets or ongoing support and warranty?

 

[phoneguy610]

theres a reason major pbx vendors such as avaya have almost completely killed off their SMB line of prem equipment. It doesnt make much sense anymore

 

[phoneguy610]

i think prem equipments best fits now a days are :

1. places with poor internet
2. Hotels and hospitals

but what do i know =)

 

[RLSbutton]

Hosted is wonderful if you have a great dedicated internet connection. I've used Aastra, Nortel SIP, Polycom and Cisco SIP sets, all on hosted service and have experienced stellar results. I would recommend it for an installation such as a small restaurant that needs a phone at the bar, host stand and managers office. When you start getting into multiple extensions and there is a need for paging call park etc, I would go with the Ucx from Emetrotel for Nortel lovers or the Avaya IP Office for those that love Avaya.



Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[RLSbutton]

And stay away from call manager from Cisco unless you want to drop $20k for a small system. Cisco SIP sets in a hosted service will perform just as well as a big enterprise call manager platform.

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[phoneguy610]

Our hosted platform does call park (with slots just like Avaya) paging and voice call intercom. You can run it
Over shared broadband as it uses minimal bandwidth (about 64k per call). Anything with over 6 phones we recommend having a qos router in place to prioritize voice over data to ensure the best quality but still really isn't necessary with 50-100 Mbps being he average bandwidth in our area. Plus most smb firewalls such as sonicwall do a great job with qos for only a few hundred dollars. I just couldn't imagine spending 1-2k plus maintenance and support plus having to pay more in the future for something you could get for free and future proof with a hosted platform.

Ps you emetrotel guys can install it to I can show you some stuff if you're interested

 

[phoneguy610]

Also I love polycom phones but I've had good experiences with yea link also. Not a big fan of the Cisco sip phones though have had issues with them and reliability. Grandstream also has a pretty cool new line.

 

[RLSbutton]

I recently bought an Aastra 6869i set and was quite impressed with the audio and quality of this set as well. I know Yealink is a good product too, especially for the low price point!

Joseph Sus Jr. Nortel Emetrotel Consultant

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[phoneguy610]

Agreed ! New aastra line is pretty sweet as well

 

[Martin30]

Thanks for your answer guys .


I think my old bcm 50 have a bad board,,, dead, replace power supplies , same problem.

My problem is, here the internet connection is very bad.

The you have good experience with UCx20 ?

Do you have any idea about the price ?

Thanks

 

[yyrkroon]

check out ring central.

You can be setup and running in a couple of days from the time you place the order...or try it out for 30 days at no cost and move on if you don't like it. You will need a reliable internet connection is the only gotcha, doesn't have to be real fast 1M both ways is sufficient but must be reliable.

I'm testing out their solution now, 10 phones, voicemail, efax, tele and web conference, mobile client (android and ios) desktop client (mac and pc) paging, park, ivr, all for 39.00 per phone/per month. So far it has been working great, phones are polycom 310, 410, or 500.

Each number and phone include a mobile and desktop app, all the other telephony services are standard services that you get with each line.

 

[phoneguy610]

^39$ a seat!??!!

Give these guys a look syntelsolutions.com almost half the price

 

[yyrkroon]

39.00 per line/number - phone is included....i.e. 39.00 for DID 123-456-9876, which can be use on physical phone, mobile app, desktop app, independently or all 3 at once. If you provide your own phone, the rates lower.

 

[phoneguy610]

Our plan is 29.99 with phone included, we have everything but the web meetings but that's coming out this summer hopefully

Plus we have voicemail transcription and a bunch of others I'm not sure if ring central has