Would you recommend a BCM system? 4

[BarnacledBill]

I am looking at installing a BCM for a small office. It will need to connect through VPNs to 3 SOHO offices and another small office in China. All SOHOs have cable modems but China seems to be somewhat bandwidth challenged (even with a 10Mbps fiber optic hookup). I wanted to utilize toll avoidance to the China office but realize the bandwidth issues need to be resolved first. All in all, I have heard that there are a lot of problems with this system. I need uptime and reliability over all else, should I get a BCM system or look elsewhere? If elsewhere, then where?

 

[acewarlock]

I have over 40 BCM's in 14 states and I have very few problems. I find them very reliable.

 

[senk1s]

bcm is just a part of the reliability factor, the network is the other part. Yet another important part is to get a knowlegeable vendor to complete the project for you

the bcm had its share of bugs eedge1.0 was really bad ... 2.5FP1 was a good cleanup and 3.6 seems to be stable even with the applications ...

 

[mitelman]

I wouldn't buy one, but that is my personal opinion. I don't like installing them. Too many patches, poor support, etc, but the end user doesn't have to deal with those things. The customers I have installed for seem to like them.

 

[BarnacledBill]

Has anyone experienced the unreliable voice mail problems I have heard about here and there?

 

[NARSBARS]

I have twenty five BCMs, and I am adding more. All units are currently between 3.0 and 3.6 with the older units being upgraded to 3.6. All of my units are on a private WAN and operate nearly perfectly. If you or your vendor have a good telephony and data grounding I highly recommend the BCM. Be sure you understand the BCM before you purchase one, as the main danger to a BCM is not knowing how to configure or manage your purchase. If you have doubts, get a Norstar.

NARSBARS

 

[BarnacledBill]

Judging from the feedback, I think I will take the plunge. Can anyone recommend a good vendor in the NY/NJ area?

 

[senk1s]

goto the nortel website , they have a locater for partners

 

[aragon]

For the record there have been three stop shipments issued by Nortel in the past two years.
The hard drives fail consistently and the BRU utility is for the birds.
Don't even get me started on the replacement process and regenerating keycodes when Nortel wants the old unit back for replacement.
The required patches make the thing a shoddy quilt.
On the GA release date of BCM 3.5 Nortel had already issued 15 patches on the password protected website.
3.6 incorporated the previous 3.5 patches but within a week or two there were 9 more patches released for 3.6.
UGH.
And my shares aren't doing to good either
Wait until you try to set up BCM VPN's or remote IP phones.
You'll be in deep @#$%

 

[aragon]

Try these guys on for size

http://www.allworx.com

Very reliable system, great remote IP phone support.
VPN's not required to do toll bypass or to support remote IP phones.
L2TP VPN supported for remote data users via cheap keycode.
Pretty plug and play.
Nice web interface.
100% VoIP
Great voicemail.
Perfect for small offices.
Nice firewall.

 

[cimex1]

Make it yourself with a low budget but some linux/technical skills:

http://www.asterisk.org

http://www.digium.com

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-iFon

 

[Spanning]

No, never we had it removed and replaced it WITH an IP OFFICE.

 

[Bcpaul]

this is another vendor in NY/NJ area

http://www.Tauto.com

1212 363 9200 XTN 502

Chris

 

[eartel]

I have used the Cisco product and it works great with many features. But for the price and varied sizes, I bought the BCM and I am really satisfied.

EARTEL
888 416 4327
310 549 0387 Fax
rluna@eartel.net