first BCM today

[jsaad]

I put in my first BCM today. Not my idea, customer had a BCM 1000 version 2.5 that they wanted to deploy. 5 phones, 4 CO lines. I was a bit bewildered by the slooow Java applet (My laptop is a PIII 466mhz) Each time I went to make a change to a phone it was a bit cumbersome. And I felt the interface was hard to use. to add a line to appear and ring, you go to line selection and then click on Add discretely tucked away in the top left corner. then a popup appeared. duh.

The serial interface should let you make more configuration changes, it was a bit faster.

Perhaps the newer BCMs are better, please comment.

I still like the Norstar better. Give it a web based FastRad and (like someone else wrote here) it will be good for another 10 years.

 

[jsaad]

It is clear to me that remotely making changes with a fastrad on a Norstar is faster than being onsite with the direct Lan connection to the BCM. What I hope is that the newer BCMs are improved in this regard. Are they?

 

[Sphoneman]

I thought you were talking remote modem connection.

I still use PII laptops without a problem.

It's the browsers interface which puts us back to the PBX needing a terminal to program days.

I can still program by phone on a Norstar on site quicker than most can do by Browser interface remotely.

Steve
tele-dataservices.com

 

[MarvO1]

jsaad, each version is getting a bit better than the one before, but still nothing to brag about. Or, maybe I'm just getting used to it. Did you use the pre-installed client? The problem is not your laptop. It is an ugly situation, when you think about how cumbersome it really is.
It is workable, but there are so many nicer interfaces out there.
Someone will probably reply that they love it.

MarvO said it

 

[joverly]

I stopped using IE and use the Firefox browser to Admin the BCMs. It may be all in my head, but it sure seems a WHOLE lot faster. My hunch is Firefox handles JAVA better than IE. With the battle M$ had with Sun over Java, I wouldn't doubt the integration between the two isn't exactly the best. Load time to get to the initial logon screen is at least twice as fast with Firefox.

 

[joverly]

I forgot to add Firefox will have an issue with the certificate if you are running SSL and managing multiple BCMs. It ties the certificate to a IP/URL and doesn't like it when it sees the same certificate coming from a different URL.

Since we are behind a firewall (two) and these BCMs are not exposed, we shut off SSL and it is not an issue. There is probably a workaround for Firefox regarding the certificates, but I never bothered to spend a lot of time looking into it.

 

[3Sixty]

The firefox web browser seems faster in my experience. But you can not use the wizards or backup or restore a bcm.

 

[redcomet]

Just wait for the new BCM50 and it's "Element Manager". It's still a java applet but much more faster and much more better to handle. It also gives us the long awaited feature to view phone settings in one line!!! No more senceless clicking through 500 sub-menus

 

[senk1s]

do u have any docs that you can share ...
is there anything on the nortel website?

 

[3Sixty]

Hi Senk1s

I have the product overview and details but would need someway to send it to you.