BCM Voip Trunks help

[DigitelD]

I have 3 BCM 50's and 1 BCM 400. I would like to network them all together. Can anyone tell me the best solution for doing this?

 

[biv343]

As you mentioned, IP trunks is your only real solution. If the 400 is the "hub" and the 50's are the "spokes", you could put 6 IP trunks on the 400, and two each on the 50's. That'll depend on how many calls you want to support. If you use CDP (each site has unique digits), it's a piece of cake.

What's your connectivity between sites? T-1, frame relay, MPLS, VPN? What do you want to accomplish? Dialing between sites, least cost routing/toll bypass, etc?

 

[acewarlock]

What is your Definition of NETWORK Them Togeather?

 

[DigitelD]

We are right at the beginning of this solution. Some of the info is not real clear yet. We would be setting up a VPN from the BCM50's. We would like toll bypass. All of the calls will come into the BCM400. The problem is the location of the 400 is long distance from the 50's. I understand that VOIP trunks will be the best solution. Do we need any kind of router to make this happen? Will using a VPN be a good solution? How would VOIP using a VPN work?

 

[biv343]

VOIP over VPN works fairly well if you have the same ISP at both ends. It can get a bit shaky going through multiple ISPs - do a traceroute sometime to another IP address out in Internet land - you might see somewhere around 15-20 router hops. Thats what your voice traffic has to go through.

I wouldn't use the built in router in the BCM50's. Not very flexible in my opinion. Spend a few extra bucks and use a Contivity 1010 or 1050. Much more flexible in terms of QOS and routing.

 

[DigitelD]

I have more info on this solution. There will be a 400 and two 50's. All three systems will have their own POTS lines coming in to them. I will need to network the three systems and they would like to have station to station calling within the three sites. We will have to use VOIP trunks through VPN.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)

 

[RYLSFAN]

my only recommendation is, make sure you have a complete dialing plan in place before you start. My small network of sites was a bear because of ext numbering at each location. I'm not the best with VPN solutions, but the dialing plan is the biggest key to me. hope that helps.

Thats not my fastball, thats my hurry up and get by you pitch... Satchel Paige

 

[DigitelD]

Another question, should I go with H.323 or SIP?

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)

 

[biv343]

H.323. SIP almost seemed to be "expiremental" on 3.7 and prior releases. It only works between BCM's, and is somewhat flaky in operation. Full SIP support is coming with 4.0.

Make sure your VPN routers will forward tunnel to tunnel traffic, unless your network will be fully meshed. Some cheaper VPN routers don't do VOIP from site to site in a hub and spoke environment very well.