Two basic questiosn before I buy BCM

[hbsseller]

Sorry for the basic questions. But my company currently has Norstar with 40 users. I am considering buying BCM this week. I have two basic questions:

1) We have remote users in 14 cities working from "service office providers" where we get shared T1 access. We have no control over the firewall and network settings, other than getting a static IP. Assuming that the firewall is blocking everything but port 80 and 25, would VOIP phones be able to connect from these offices, over the internet, to our BCM?

2) I know this forum is biased - but I would still like to ask if you think BCM is stable enough, and worth it to replace Norstar with? For the money is there anything better?

Thanks,

Jonathan

 

[NARSBARS]

I am biased, I like the BCM, but the firt question you should ask is "what do I need that the Norstar is not providing?" With no control you cannot get the stability you need.
First, I cannot recommend putting VoIP equipment where you have little or no control of the network. How will you ever troubleshoot your problems?
Need better voice mail? Buy a Call Pilot
Need Limited Voip? Buy a VoIP Gateway.
Remember a new BCM may make some of your phones stop working properly if the vintage is too old.
You may need to upgrade to 6.1 or to 7 to buy a Call Pilot but it might be worth it.

NARSBARS

 

[bcmpimp]

Assuming that the firewall is blocking everything but port 80 and 25, would VOIP phones be able to connect from these offices, over the internet, to our BCM? You could set up the BCM firewall to allow IP phones if yo are concerned with security. Have you considered a IPSEC client into the BCM? You should be ok, I would go with a BCM over a Norstar anyday. But I do agree with NARSBARS...you should look at what you are trying to accomplish. Look into a Contivity or a BCM IPSEC client for the romte users. If you only need IP phones turn on the BCM firewall and use NAT. Good luck~

 

[Serenitynow109]

Take a look at the BCM50