Hello,
Our organization is looking to move from our old workhorse, the Rolm 9751 Model 10, to a VOIP system. I am the company IT guy and phone tech. I have some questions I hope will fit well with this thread. Other PBXs I have experience on are the NEC Electra elite, AT&T Partner II, and the Samsung OfficeServ 7400.
My first and most important question is this: Can VOIP phone systems do a Page All / Intercom to all other VOIP speakerphones on the system at the same time? (no over head PA speakers available, not an option for us)
In case of emergency at our facility, we would like to pick up one phone and Page All / Intercom to all stations at the same time and give them verbal instructions over their speakerphones, without anyone having to pick up their phones. Ideally, If this can be set up in groups by building, then we can pick up a phone and let's say there's a safety issue in the lab, we can just Intercom to all the phones in the lab and tell them to leave the building, or lock doors and stay put, etc.
If this is easy to accomplish with current systems, which brands of VOIP systems can Page/Intercom to all other phones on the system, and is this feaure already built in without having to buy 3rd party equipment or software. We also cannot install overhead PA horns or speakers, I know some PBXs have a PA out to Page using overhead horns, unfortunately we have too many buildings to be able to wire that and install PA amps etc.
On my current system, the Rolm has a COM_GROUP feature where if you are member of the group, one can pick up a phone, and intercom direct to any other member of the group, without them lifting the receiver, but it is a 1 to 1 call, not 1 to All.
Here are some specs on what we have now and some questions about VOIP as I am completely new to it.
Layer 2 switches and VLAN setup for a VOIP system
We have a pretty big computer network here, all HP Procurve Layer 2 switches, a Layer 3 core, but pretty much 1 default VLAN and everyone one the same subnet making for a big flat network. I've started to tinker with the VLAN options on my switches, I believe I have to have the VLANs in place and all ports documented before I get a VOIP system. I also have some POE switches, but not many, do most of you have a customer go all POE or do some opt to use a wall wart with each phone? If anyone can speak to this and give any pointers or any pro tips so I can avoid headaches please let me know from your experiences.
T1 channel bank / how does that plug into a VOIP system?
Current phone lines come into my Rolm PBX as a T1 broken out to 24 analog channels, and a T1 (non PRI) going right into the Rolm which does DIDs and some inbound and outbound calling. Do the VOIP systems of today have a way to bring our 24 analog lines into their cabinet? Are there cards that fan out to an amphenol cable and over to a 66/Krone block so I can cross connect to my telco handoff? I'm pretty handy with a punch down tool, but VOIP to me is a whole new beast, so I dont know how things plug into a VOIP cabinet/system.
WiFi VOIP telephone sets:
If I have some courtesy phones in lobbies right now, and only a phone outlet and no ethernet in the lobby, are there WiFi enabled VOIP phones that would work with the rest of the VOIP system? Would that also require a seperate SSID/VLAN on my access points just for the phones?
3 port switch built into phones / VLANs
I understand that some VOIP phones, or is it SIP phones (what's the preferred name?) have 3 port switches on the back, are those managed so I can set different VLAN tags on them? If I have a room with 1 ethernet outlet and need to have a computer and VOIP phone there, I would want to use the switch built into the back of the phone, but only if I can separate the traffic so PC and phone data are not on the same VLAN.
class of service on VOIP phones
Do VOIP phones carry with them their Extension number, so no matter where they plug into the network the Extension follows them? I know in a traditional PBX, a port on the PBX is hardwired to a physical location and any phone that plugs into that location becomes that specific extension number, on VOIP I would imagine that the extension number is programmed into the phone or is somehow tied to it's MAC Address.
Can a VOIP system have class of service to an office phone can dial local, long distance, but a lobby phone can only dial extension to extension and local and 911?
Lastly, and thanks for taking the time to read this and answer any of it that you can, I'm used to a PBX having a dedicated proprietary cabinet, are VOIP systems like that as well, or do they run off a computer tower and it's more or less the software that does all the work? (Sorry if these are "duh" questions, but I'm totally new to this technology, so I'm sure you guys get these "newbie" questions a lot.)
Thank you for your help, sorry for the long post,
Squelchtone
