Connecting MICS to remote system

[Zerf]

I'm a bit of a newbie to this phone stuff so I was wondering if someone could help me out.

My company was recently acquired and now I'm trying to find out a way to connect our Modular ICS to another's plant's Lucent Merlin phone system (~100 miles away).

I've heard from one person that I should consider using a tie line to connect our two plants but I'm wondering if they're might be a cheaper solution. I'm looking for something that would be under $500/month and would be capable of handling around 2-4 simultaneous voice conversations.

I have been looking at the forums a little bit and it looks like an ISDN/BRI line might be a possibilty. Could someone tell me if this is a good idea or if not, maybe recommend something else?

Thanks for any help!!

 

[Zerf]

Oh yeah, just in case anyone needs to know, we plan on doing around 120 hours worth of calls per month.

 

[commsguy]

Do you currently have data connections between the two sites? What kind of data?

commsguy

http://www.convetech.com

 

[Zerf]

First of all, I'm sorry if I'm not answering your question correctly. I'm a bit of a newbie as I said before.

There currently is no type of direct connection between our two plants.

As for Internet data connections, we have a 512/256 kb/sec DSL line at our plant and the other plant has frame relay (about 128 kb/sec I think).

As for phone lines, our plant currently has 10 phone lines. It looks like they all come out of a much thicker cable (I imagine this is a T1 line? I've never played around with T1 lines before). I don't know any more info about the other plant at this time.

Hopefully that answers your question. Thanks for the help.

 

[commsguy]

I don't think you can do what you are looking to do for the budget you stated.

T1s come in on two pairs of wires. The size f the physical cable has nothing to do with it. You probably have a 50 or 100 pair cable and that is what you are seeing.

I asked about data connections because you might have been able to put the channels across an IP network using extenders. It does not seem like you have enough bandwidth to try that.

I think you will probably have to go with the tie lines.

commsguy

http://www.convetech.com

 

[Zerf]

Thanks commsguy. I think you're probably right, that's about the same conclusion I came up with. I just don't know much about the ISDN/BRI stuff so I wanted to get some second opinions.

Just for a moment though, suppose that both of our plants got a DSL line solely for phone use. Our 512/256 line with a static IP costs $60/month (plus about $20 for the cost of the line). So two lines would then cost around $160/month total at the most.

256kb/sec between the two plants probably would be enough to handle 2-4 conversations and I imagine the sound quality is pretty similar to a regular phone line, right? Does the latency cause much of a problem?

What type of hardware would I need to make this work and roughly how much would it cost?

Thanks!

 

[Arr]

zerf,
you could just do some kind of coordinated dialing plan and use regular loop start co trunks... such that when some one at the merlin plant dials 221, the merlin add digits dials the norstar, the norstar could be set up with did or aa or disa, the merlin could add digits to punch through what ever interface you have. The reverse process could be done from N* to merllin. I hope some of this is clear.. its late.. lots of wine... why am I doing this late of Fri?? Oh well good luck.

PhM

 

[commsguy]

I am not sure of the hardware you need. I would look for something to encapsulate E & M across the IP network I am pretty sure Cisco could do this. You would also need E & M trunks on both into both systems. I think the cost would be at least a few thousand, probably more.

commsguy

http://www.convetech.com

 

[RedHawkFla1]

When you said Merlin System, are you talking Merlin Legend or Magix? Or is it Merlin 1030/3070, 820D etc....group? Big difference on potientials.

darnold@americaii.com

 

[Zerf]

Arrr,

Thanks for the idea. This is the same thing that I had in mind as the original/backup plan. I think the cost for this route would be around $500/month though because of all the long distance charges (this is where I got the $500/month number in my original post).

I'm wondering if there could be a cheaper method to accomplish this task by using some sort of small dedicated line (ISDN like line?) or VoIP on DSL lines at both plants. From what commsguy is saying, it looks like the hardware for the VoIP route might require more of an upfront charge for the hardware, but in our case it could actually pay itself off after a year or two because we would be saving around $300/month.

Once again though, thanks for the help!

 

[Zerf]

RedHawkFla1,

The other plant is using a Legend system. When they emailed me some of the info about their system, they also said something about Intuity Audix. I believe the Intuity Audix thing is related to their voice mail system though.

I hope that helps.