Phone Features 3

[rhack5565]

For those of you that have converted from a conventional PBX to the Call Manager, do you find you have all the feature functionality you had before? I am going to be setting up a test shortly and was hoping to mimic our exisiting environment as closely as possible.

For example:
Same line appearing on multiple sets
Call Pickup Groups
Intercom Groups
Call forward busy and don't answer
etc...

Thanks!

 

[munsonbrown]

Intercom groups are not available for call manager unless you buy it from a 3rd party like berbee

 

[rhack5565]

What a pain to have to get add-ons for basic phone functionality. I can imagine what a nightmare troubleshooting can become as third party packages are added to the Call Manager environment. Imagine the finger pointing.

 

[BarbiQ62]

We just converted over from a PBX to CM 2 months ago. We were told that we could have same line appearing on multiple phones, and you can easily configure that in CCM admin, BUT let me tell you there will be problems. It will work swell if all the devices that display the shared line do not have separate voice mail boxes. However if you have a device (phone) with voice mail and a shared line displayed on the phone which also has voice mail of its own, the system gets "confused" as to which mail box to send the message to. It doesnt matter which way you set the 'forward no answer' and 'forward busy' to, (believe me I tried all combinations) it will work sometimes and not others. In the end we solved the problem by removeing all instances of the shared lines. When Cisco was asked about this the answer did make sense, it was 'if you are setting up a shared line, the point is so that the call can be answered by a human. And if that is the point, there is no reasosn for voice mailbox to be configured for that extension, right?' True....
The bottom line is that IP telephony is NOT the same as a PBX system, although it does a decent job of emulating it.
You will be extremely happy with the added features and benefits (totally free phone calls inside your network, complete traceability of every button pushed and calls placed/received, see the company directory online, manage users, devices and speed dials, extensions at HOME via VPN connection to CCM) but you may miss some of the old features that you are used to in a traditional PBX system.

 

[rhack5565]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate the feedback. The issue you spoke of with multiple lines alone and voice mail would kill us. We have phones that may have 20+ numbers on them. Basically, its an admin that screens for multiple managers, she does not neccessarily need to answer the lines, but may if she knows the manager is out of the office. The admin can then transfer the caller into voice mail, if the phone does not roll to vm before being picked up. I don't think Ciscos response holds water, it shows they don't understand the need for features. I would assume they also can't do call pickup or intercom groups. How about paging through the telephone set? Granted there are benefits and some cool things that can be done with the CM I don't see it as a system capable of replacing our 15,000+ line PBX's (Nortel SL100).

 

[BuckWeet]

My company works with both Avaya DEFINITY and Cisco Callmanager, unfortunately I'm more Cisco minded, their system leaves alot to be desired. Cisco has the infrastructure down packed. I personally don't think AVAYA could touch the infrastructure. But its the features that Cisco can't touch yet. DEFINITY has so many more features and capability that Callmanager could even dream about now.. And now with AVAYA releasing the Multivantage package for DEFINITY call processing, Cisco better get their act in gear and add mega features..


My 2 cents


BuckWeet

 

[rhack5565]

My company has large investments in both Avaya and Nortel PBX's and HUGE investments in Cisco gear. I have been primarily a Nortel person, but amy very impressed with Avayas new IP product lines. The Eclipse stuff looks awesome.

Also, I have dabbled in the Nortel line side IP with an option11C. The i2004 phones worked great, had all the features that one would have on a conventional phone.

Cisco may find a niche market, but I cannot see replacing our feature rich key systems and PBX's with a Cisco solution. Right now Gartner group sees Avaya with the strongest VOIP and IP telephony solutions, they are not too sure about Nortel, and see Cisco as being hurt by lack of features.